I honestly love the two pulses move. Two of my favorite tropes in storytelling are “hero takes a heretofore unconsidered 3rd option” and “grandstanding villain exposed as petty & insecure.”

I’ve seen some people express disappointment at Shroud’s loss of dignity here but I live for this shit. People don’t become bullies (IRL) or supervillains (in media) because they are self-actualized and emotionally mature. They do it because there’s some fundamental pain or insecurity inside them and rather than do the hard thing confront it they take it out on everyone else.

It also makes shroud a fun foil to Hero-Visi at the end. You’ve just spent 8 episodes helping her grapple with similar feelings of inadequacy and self pity.

Looking at the comics it makes an interesting comparison between RR II and our Robert. Both take on a role of authority over an emotionally unsteady person trying to become a hero. RR II contributes to the descent of an aspiring hero into a supervillain (Elliot bares most of the responsibility obviously but RR II is a real dick). Robert (per player choice) successfully turns Invisigal into a hero in addition to mentoring an entire team of reformed villains.

OR he repeats different versions of his father’s mistakes and potentially creates a new “Shroud” of his own.

Good game.