Update- What can contain what?

This should be the last post before I post the Element Summary - likely some time tomorrow.  That post will contain up-to-date definitions for the Elements which I'll fix as the game matures. I'll use it as a reference in future posts. 

After I get through these mechanical posts, I plan to try to put up some material that may be more interesting to people other than system junkies. I admit my posts have been getting a bit dry.

Frames and "Loose" Effects

Now that I'm handling INFLUENCEs as Powers, it's become much clearer that having loose Effects (Effects that aren't part of a Power) inside Frames makes little sense. It wasn't sitting right with me even as I wrote that it was possible. I think I was just trying to avoid cutting off options. The result was fuzzy thinking. 

Constant Effects inside a HOUSE or other Frame should have been represented by INFLUENCEs even when they were Frames. Without a Power containing them, they couldn't be used for actions inside the Frame- they wouldn't actually  do anything because the Effects would have no acceptable target type (such as an ATTACK's "unwilling Target").  

So, another change is in order.  For now, I'm going to try the rules that:

• Frames can contain other Frames, Attributes, and Powers, but not loose Effects.
• Powers can contain other Powers, and Effects.
• Effects contain Functions.

All this gives me an inkling of an idea for allowing people to run a simplified subset of the total system at their table by abstracting lower levels of this hierarchy, but I won't speculate on how to do it in this post. It would need some real thought to work and I can't give it the proper effort at the moment. 

A Note

If you're frustrated by all of the changes I'm making to previously stated concepts, I apologize. The purpose of the blog, however, is to help me write a solid playtest document, and to take it from there.  

I'm avoiding correcting posts except for ones with the "Reference" tag as much as possible, because I want them there as a record of the process. 

I just thought that an open design process would be helpful, and it definitely has been so far. I appreciate all the comments and the help I've been getting in refining my ideas and the way that I express them.  

Thanks for reading.  

-Scott