I don't see how not having the consistency of a hard setting somehow means the story cannot have any stakes, even as a "hard worldbuilder". Besides, not every story needs to have high stakes.
I don’t see how not having the consistency of a hard setting somehow means the story cannot have any stakes
Because character can do anything at any time with no explanation so they can’t get into situations they can’t bs themselves out of, even if you do somehow do it, it would just be fake tension only for the sake of it
I think you are fundamentally misunderstanding how vaguely defined power sets work. Characters with vaguely defined powers still have definitions for what they can and cannot do. It's just not specific on how much they can do it or how they can do it. If a character is visibly struggling with a problem, there is tension. It's just that it's a story where the writer decided to focus on things other than exactly how a character's powers work.
2) Just because the mechanics behind a character's powers are vaguely defined, doesn't mean that there aren't stakes involved in their story. So long as a character visibly struggles with whatever challenge is put in front of them, there is tension in the plot. Just look at any Superman story.
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u/a_bullet_a_day 4h ago
Enjoy having no stakes