Armature struggling GM here, I just wanted to ask for help on writing love letters for my players. Not actual love letters but the mechanic some people use to reward or punish players through a short story or tough choice about their characters to get the game rolling, especially after a long period between games. If you know what I’m talking about, any help would bee great, thank you.
Armature struggling GM here, I just wanted to ask for help on writing love letters for my players.
Armature struggling GM here, I just wanted to ask for help on writing love letters for my players.
I know what you’re talking about, but it going to be hard to give advice without knowing who the characters are, what’s going on in the setting, and what you’re interested in pushing them to address.
Love letters are game specific. You write a note to them, remind them of important shit going on, tell them what has happened since, and make them roll some dice to check the state of things.
So, I wouldn’t view it as a way to reward or punish players! Instead, it’s a way to hook a player back into the game. A love letter is a unique way that you’re being a fan of the character, by accounting for their absence from the story. It should basically address “what were they doing while the rest of the group was busy doing X?” It can also be a good source of conflict in an otherwise straightforward situation–if they roll a miss on a love letter move, that’s a great way to make their offscreen activities relevant!
From there, you can format it however you need.
~~~
You were hunting around for rumors about the Tribe of the Rat King; roll +WIS. 10+: hold three. 7-9: hold one. Spend your hold to answer the following questions during the session:
• Is this character under the influence of the Rat King?
• What is the Tribe planning next?
• Has the Tribe noticed my prying?
• Does this action advance the plans of the Tribe?
~~~
You spent a great deal of time meditating upon the secrets of St. Aria. Take +1 forward when you call upon her wisdom to accomplish something.
Would you like to tell us more about the game so far, and the focal points of your characters?
Andrea Serafini I have a lot of players, and I’m probably about to have a shift in who continues to show up, lots of new players. So I was kind of just looking for general examples for ways to implement love letters, thanks by the way to Andy Hauge . but yeah we have a cast away druid from a sea traveling circus, a pretty straight forward ranger, a dishonored fighter banished from his home, an asshole barbarian, a bard who is very bad at archery, and a paladin who’s religion is entirely militaristic and who’s god is actually elected almost like the pope. and if you’ve read any of my other posts I’m still at the friendly Orc camp because all but one of my players had a conflict so we still haven’t had our second session. so not a lot is known at this point, a majority of the characters have been roaming up until this point so must character traits are being figured out through play.
Do you need love letters? Like, I’m not saying you can’t use them, but with a lot of new players and characters coming in soon, will there have been enough going on in the story?
Why not just ask questions as usual? Treat it sort of like a second 1st session. That way all the new players get to contribute to the background and setting.