What makes a good Anomaly?

Brought to you by Peter Elbow. I'm deep in revisions for Triangle U and working through some thoughts on what makes a great Anomaly for play. I share those with you now! An Anomaly acts on the world in the service of one thing only: the psychic impression that created it. It moves towards this feeling with drowning desperation. It reshapes the world such that its desires can be more easily fulfilled. Like we do. It just does this by warping Reality. An Anomaly performs its Impulse in such a way that the Agency notices. A proper Anomalous event should be rich and interactive immediately. Someone to talk to, somewhere to go, something to do. This activity needs to balance being weird in the service of pursuing the Anomaly's Focus, but still comprehensible enough that the Agents can later exploit it. I once wrote a bad Anomaly with the Focus "Delight at clouds". This Anomaly had a clear Impulse: create clouds in shapes a 5-year-old would enjoy. It had impact, I thought --- it was…