I’ve been planning a West Marches style campaign and didn’t want to use Bonds because of changing group composition. I looked at Flags but they weren’t quite what I wanted either. So as one does, I wrote yet another alternative to Bonds. This is strongly influenced by the Experiences system in Vincent Baker’s games Amazons and Freebooting Venus. Those are more of a replacement for XP though. This system (I call it Chronicles) tries to leverage the Experiences idea to create some mechanical framework around character backgrounds. The Chronicles are supposed to preserve the collaborative world building aspects of Bonds and the mechanics of +BOND modifiers.
None of this has been playtested in the slightest. Would love to hear feedback though. If nothing else, there’s a d100 table of experiences/ back stories that someone might be able to take some inspiration from.
Thanks for taking a look.
This is what I came up with for Bonds in a West Marches-stlye game:
● At the start of the session, everyone can write one Bond with another player in the group, based on prior history or first impressions.
● When you Aid or Interfere, roll+Bond like you normally would. If you have no Bond with the recipient, roll+nothing. After your beneficiary makes their move, write a Bond with them inspired by the outcome of the move.
● If you are at your limit of Bonds available to write, Bonds written with characters who are not in the group may be erased as needed, with no XP awarded.
I dig it. I use Mouse Guard style Beliefs and Instincts with my group – I used something more similar to Fate’s Phase Trio to have people explain Beliefs at the outset.
I really like this. I also appreciate that you specifically thought about what you wanted to accomplish in terms of the game experience and then designed from that – most people don’t take that step and end up with rules that don’t “align” with each other or with what the author thought they intended.
Man I keep coming back and reading this system. I really really like it a lot. My favorite part is the idea of like “surpassing” a Story on your sheet. That seems to perfectly encourage people to be more of the kind of character they created.
So a village hero who “fought off an orc to save his mother” might need to fight off an orc warband or protect small groups to one-up that story.
Surpassing can mean bettering like in your example but it can also mean transcending. The new story doesn’t have to follow from the one it’s replacing if your character is going in a different direction. You still need to do something significant to have a new story to tell though.
One thing I changed on purpose was having the XP trigger from gaining something (a new Story) rather than losing something (resolving a Bond). Although I realize it doesn’t have to be played this way, I feel like people hang onto a bond that will probably never “resolve” in the hope that it will eventually so they get the XP. By changing the XP timing I’m hoping if someone has a Story they don’t feel is appropriate for their character anymore they can replace it without feeling like they are missing out on something.
Love this. We’ve all but abandoned bonds since switching to “Freebooters on the Frontier” but this might bring an interesting undercurrent…
Okay. I want to keep track of this. I think this is easier and maybe better than flags, but I will definitely have to edit it to get it to work with what I’m doing.
Harrison s Curious to hear what your edits are. I still haven’t been able to playtest it.