I’m wondering how the definitions of things like Story Costs (costs incurred while trying to achieve the goal) and Dividends (dividends accrued while trying to achieve the goal) apply for the characters that are working against the Goal?
For example, if the Goal in Captain America: Civil War is to split the Avengers apart, and many of the characters like Cap himself are working against this, do they not still incur Costs related to Subconscious and gain Dividends related to The Future, like those working towards the Goal?
It seems to me that they do (e.g. Antagonist Cap gains a dividend of a potential Future relationship with Peggy Carter’s niece; the Scarlet Witch initially hides because she’s unwilling to bear the cost of people fearing her, but eventually becomes willing to bear that cost in order to join Cap).
Furthermore, I think this would extend to Requirements, Prerequisites, and Preconditions. For example, in The Princess Bride (Requirements of Playing a Role and the Prerequisites are Doing), the Story Goal is to prevent the Prince’s plot to get the people Florin to conceive of Guilder as their enemy:
- Prince Humperdink (Antagonist) has to meet requirements of pretending (that he loves Buttercup, that he will spare Westley) and prerequisites of doing (he fails to send his four fastest ships, which is why Buttercup eventually sees through his pretense that he spared Westley)
I’ve also noticed in my own stories that if you state the Antagonist’s own goal as “prevent the story goal”, the Antagonist seems to still need to meet requirements and prerequisites of the same Type as those working towards the goal.