Polaris: "But Only If" vs "And Furthermore"

#1

These two phrases seem to do very similar things:

But Only If - suggest additional event or compensation, may be followed by any phrase

And Furthermore - require additional event or compensation, may NOT be followed by “It Was Not Meant To Be” nor “But Only If”. Must exhaust a Theme to use

I’m not sure how “suggest” and “require” are mechanically different here. IIUC, the player using And Furthermore pays the cost of Theme exhaustion to narrow down the possible responses.

Can any Polaris players chime in on how each phrase plays?

#2

I see it as : “But only if” is standard negotiation. “And furthermore” is a blow.

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#3

“And Furthermore” is a commitment, that’s why. Because you can’t respond to it with “But Only If” or “It Was Not Meant to Be”, you lock in the previous statement.

Person A: X happens
Person B: and furthermore, Y

Now, X will happen no matter what. In exchange for locking this in, you get to force the other player into a very limited space–they can only respond by also saying “and furthermore” (which locks in your statement), by “you ask far too much” (which requires theme exhaustion and then allows you to suggest a different thing that you want), by “and that was how it happened” (which gives you what you want), or by “it shall not come to pass” (which means they might fail–and you’ll get what you want).

Going “and furthermore” is basically a way to, in exchange for exhausting a theme and accepting their point, almost guaranteed get what you want in some form.

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#4

Thanks for the replies, that’s very helpful!

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