Motivation and Bonds

 

I believe this started as a Goblin Punch post that then influenced Rise Up, Comus’ Bond system in his soon to be released His Majesty the Worm game; to which I am now filing the serial numbers off of and remixing a bit. Has he spoken about it before? I don’t recall. 

The original intent was to use this system in a Firefly themed game, but we can all see I ain’t getting around to it anytime soon. It would’ve probably have been most of Some Weird Sin rewritten in the voice I used for that one dragon post. 

Bonds and Motivation

No man is an island. Except for, of course, Island Pete. Though he’s technically an AI operating a colossal party barge out in international waters. The idea is sound, however. Everyone is connected to someone, whether we like it or not. We’re social creatures and tend to form bonds with others. In our grim, dark time, struggles these bonds are what tend to spur us on; to motivate us. To that end, and to squeeze more role playing out of the players, a few changes are getting made to the Conviction system. 

These may make Stable play cumbersome. I have no solution for that at the moment. 

Motivation

Let’s start here. What was called “Conviction” is now “Motivation.” Honestly, the name is more inline with the intent of the subsystem. “Why did you become a mercenary?” “What are you willing to risk your life for?” - Your motivation. 

Now, Conviction had a pool of points connected to it, that filled by one every time you put yourself in trouble for following your Conviction. Points could then be spent to add a bonus to a dice roll based on circumstances. (Also, in reviewing the system for fixing, I’ve realized the bonuses are going the wrong way. In a Roll Under system, the +4/+8 should be -4/-8.)

The points are remaining, but the pool is getting a little bigger. Each Bond (explained below) has a condition associated with it and, when the condition is met, that Bond is considered Filled and remains so until used. 

Filled Bonds can be used a number of ways:

• Provide a -2 bonus on d20 rolls unrelated to your Motivation

• Provide a -4 bonus on d20 rolls related to your Motivation

• Modifying a roll made in combat by the Bond’s Target, up or down, by 2. Both characters must be present (and alive) in the combat. 

• Remove a point of Lethal Damage from yourself. Must be accompanied by a motivational affirmation. 

I seem to have just talked myself into modifying the Assists system as well. No one made it to level 5 anyway. 

The values in the bonuses are lower, but you get them more quickly and they stack. You can spend as many as you wish in a round, even on other people’s turns, but the -2/-4 must be declared before the roll is made. 

Bonds

A bound is made between two players, one for each pair of players. Each Bond has a condition associated with it that must be met in order for the Bond to be considered Filled. I’ve provided examples of the bonds, but they’re mostly Neuromancer related as I’ve just read the news about the TV show and it is freshest on my mind. Don’t you worry, I’ll probably have opinions on that as more news comes out. 

Allies 

Other crew members that you’re professional and amicable with. This is the default bond. 

Example: Case and the Finn

Filled When: You make an ally laugh in and out of character. 

Antagonist

They may be part of the crew, but there’s no love to be lost between the two of you. This is not an excuse for being an ass to the other player, mind you. 

Example: Molly and Riviera

Filled When: You witness your antagonist fail a check. 

Best Friend

Maybe you’ve been best friends since childhood. Or maybe you met at a some weird guy’s basement to play roleplaying games. Either way, best friends tend to know each other better than themselves, and totally don’t get mad when the other steals content from their soon to be released game.   

Examples: John Anderson and Tina Bonemeal; Case and Molly

Filled When: You share a secret with your best friend

Bodyguard/Ward 

Someone on the crew needs a little extra protecting, and the Bodyguard sees that this happens. 

Examples: Turner and Angie Mitchell; Molly and Kumiko

Filled When: 

• Bodyguard fills when their Ward survives a lethal encounter (combat) without taking damage. 

• Ward fills when they get into lethal danger

Business Partners

The bloody gears of capitalism keep on grinding and, even though it’s enslaving and killing you, that doesn’t mean you can’t make a little something for yourself. 

Examples: Cowboy and Roon

Filled When: Business partners fill their bonds when a significant capital venture pays out 

Codependent

Codependent characters tend to rely on the support of each other, both emotional and physical, to shake off the crushing loneliness and isolation of modern society. 

Examples: Sarah and Daud

Filled When: Codependent characters fill their bond when they seek out emotional support and validation from the target of the bond. 

Drug Dealer/User

The Dealer is a man with love grass in his hand. The User, uh…uses. Uses drugs. 

Examples: Zone and Case

Filled When: 

• Dealer fills when they sell drugs to a User

• User fills when they buy the drugs from their Dealer

Employer/Employee

Turning players into the hired help. This is what it sounds like: One player is the employer, the other is the employee. 

Examples: Molly and Armitage; Wage and the Joeboys

Filled When: 

• Employer fills when they pay their employee an agreed upon payment or other reimbursement. 

• Employee fills when they perform a significant task to the benefit of their employer over themself (a Job). 

Lovers

Despite the cold harshness of the world, you two have found each other. If both players are okay with it (seriously, don’t get weird) a Lovers bound 

Examples: Bobby and Angie Mitchell 

Filled When: This bound is filled when you do something romantic for the other in character - be it tagging an overpass with their name or making them an 8-bit chiptune mix tape. 

Mentor/Protege

The mentor is someone with a wealth of knowledge to provide (or at least fake it). Their protege is someone they’ve taken under their training and guidance. Think jedi master and padawan.

Examples: Case and Dixie Flatline

Filled When: 

• Mentors fill this Bond when Protege follows your advice

• Proteges fill this bond when you ask the Mentor for advice and it is given. 

Ride or Die

This isn’t the first crew the two of you have been part of, and you’ve seen each other through thick and thin. With unquestionable certainty, you know they have your back. 

Examples: Hiro Protagonist and Y.T.

Filled When: You assist your partner in making a check. 

Rival 

A friendly competition never hurt no one. “Friendly” being the keyword. 

Examples: Molly and the Yakuza assassin (it’s not a perfect fit) 

Filled When: You see your Rival succeed in making a check. 

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Pog Mechanics

 Few days back (holidays) I was digging through the artifacts of my youth. Strangely, amongst the detritus was a huge collection of pogs. I say strangely because I have zero memory of playing or even owning said collection of pogs. At what point in my juvenile delinquency did I sink so low as to spend ill gotten currency on pogs? Had a backwater swamp witch cursed me into possessing such frivolous and deranged items? There are dark marshes in the woods of my childhood home. Marshes I swore never to set foot in again, less the evil there follow me out. Perhaps the answer lays there? It will remain, if so.

Confused, I returned the junk to the cubbyhole allotted to me in my mother's attic. 

Days later, I discovered this challenge issued by Reginald Prismatic of Prismatic Wasteland. I assume that's his name. I didn't...I didn't look very hard. 

I don't know what that damned swamp witch intended, but this seemed the time to inflict the curse on others:

Pog Mechanics

"You remember mechanics, Bart? They're back. In pog form." 

You got yourself an Attribute. I don't know what it is or how you determine it, but I DO know it has a [value]. This [value] determines how many caps you get. 

Whenever you're called to test that Attribute, be it a check or a save or what have you, you place [value] caps into the center of the table. You then take a Slammer and knock the shit out of the stack of caps. Any cap that lands face up is a Success. Certain Difficulties require a certain number of Success in order to succeed. 

If doing damage, then Damage Chips are placed into the stack. Any that land face up is a Success AND a point of damage. 

Essentially it's 20d2. Which is basically just a 4d4. 

But, unlike common dice rolls, the stack itself can be messed with and other meta values adjusted:

• Effects can add or remove caps. 
• Fatigue can force you to stack Fatigue caps first before the rest of the stack is added. These are required in all stacks until healed, but Successes don't count for nothing. 
• Some Monsters have Effect chips which, if Successful, cause effects.
• Wyld Fire elemental's Effect chips inflict Fire damage if Successful, from you being so close to the unnatural fire.
• Those Infected by the Mind Worm add a Parasite chip to the stack, which causes a whole new set of problems should it be Successful. 
• Spells can effect your throwing (i.e, make you throw the slammer from your off hand; make you stand farther from the table)

It'll take ten times as long as just rolling dice, but it'll get ya playing pogs again. 

This started as a pogs only post, but I've had other mechanic ideas that never went anywhere. Seems a good time to dump them out of my brain meat:

Success Pogs: Each player throws once at the start of the session. Each Success is kept by the player to use as tokens to be traded in. Attempting an action? Costs you one token. (Actually in hindsight, not great. Might cause players to not try anything and over ration the tokens)

Mechanic based on playlist. "No stats, just vibes"

Number stations. I feel like there's something gameable in them, I just need to crack it. Every time I try I blackout and wake up in the basement of a foreign embassy.

Random Number Books. Back before we had these fancy-dancey high speed processors to generate random numbers, thick books of random numbers were printed and useful for statistics and cryptography. At the start of the session, the GM rolls secretly. That result tells you where to start in the book and which way to read the random number tables (row wise vs column wise). As the game progresses the GM pulls success and failures from the sequential digits in the book, never stopping to roll again. 

Gom Jabbar. Part of a Dune themed GLoG I got too side tracked to complete, the premise was rather simple: just as Paul was tested via the Gom Jabber using a pain box, so too shall the players be. This requires one of them hand shocking toys, specifically ones that increase their power the longer the triggers are held. The last person holding the buzzer takes the Win. 

Another rule from the Dune GLoG was drinking ipecac to determine who could play the Kwisatz Haderach, just as Paul had converted the Water of Life

I have suggested these rules to Modius for the next version of Dune. I have not heard back. 

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