A colleague of mine recently abandoned a game after complaining that his group had turned into “murder-hobos”, i.e. sociopaths with no reason to come together. I suggested DW’s system of Bonds to him as a way to alleviate this problem.
Have you ever tried forming Bonds with things besides other PCs? Maybe places or major NPCs? How did it go?
“Murder-hobos” – love it. DW meets GTA.
I haven’t tried bonding with a place – like a sheriff?
Definitely something that’s possible. You’d have to rework how the Aid / Interfere move works – how do you give a +1 bonus to something that can’t roll?
My first thoughts were a lord/king or a druid.
Someone(s) have previously mentioned using Bonds with places (a particular city, or kingdom) here recently, which strikes me as a great idea.
Adam Koebel, In a case where the player wanted to Aid an inanimate object or place they had a bond with, I would just handle it in situ – it wouldn’t even trigger a move.
This reminds me of White Wolf’s “Wraith” and the Fetters and Haunts those characters had.
Seems a bit close to Burning Wheel’s Beliefs, rather than a Bond, although sometimes they can be pretty interchangeable.
For those not familiar, a BW Belief is a statement that acts as a pillar of the character’s world view. “Princess Alpha is the one true monarch of the Kingdom” to “Hobbitss is tricksy and will always betray Precious and me.”
Doug Pirko I don’t consider that to be a bad thing. I like BW.
Depending on how much you consider Bonds to go two ways, perhaps the place could help (or hinder) the PC when they wanted to Carouse or Supply there.
Jeremy Riley , if you like that, read the monster entry for “adventurer.”
I’ve been playing with bonds on NPCs and ‘organisations’ for some time, especially when playing one-on-one. It works great for driving story and engaging with the narrative xp engine. As Adam suggests, you just need to jig Aid/Interfere to how you like to play.
I also like to add a custom move from AW as an additional player-authoring ‘special move’ to the mix.
When you retroactively declare that you have set something up, roll + Bond. On a 10+ its just as you say. On a 7-9 you set it up yes, but here and now at the crucial moment the GM can introduce an unexpected hitch, delay or tight spot.
On a Miss, you think you have set it up, but the GM will tell you otherwise…
Also, don’t forget that bonds are class limited, so I like to proffer an extra bond as an advance if the player is keen.
Since Bonds are a means to generating XP/grist, its important that if you can, to follow the bond writing guidelines pretty closely, otherwise the bond system can drive the game in some inane directions.