Here are three alternatives (or supplements) to the basic Bond system.
To encourage character history and story (more like AW Hx, bonds are non-descriptive):
Fireside Chat
When you get to know one of your companions while making camp, ask them something about…
– Their life before adventuring
– The culture of their people
– Somewhere they’ve been before
– Their intentions after fulfilling the party’s current goal
– What they think about another companion or an NPC
If your character is intrigued by the answer, the character answering marks XP, and you gain +1 bond with them. They can then ask you the same question; if you answer, they also gain +1 bond with you and you mark XP. Max bond is +3.
When you fail (or should it be 10+?) Help or Hinder, remove 1 bond with that character.
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To keep groups together (inspired by Star Wars movies):
Starting bonds describe why your character finds themselves with the other characters, either focusing on a certain other character, or the group or its goals as a whole
Test the Fellowship
When you have reason to part ways but circumstances keep you together, or when a situation forces you apart but you find reason to return, resolve your bond, write one describing your new relationship, and mark XP.
When you Help or Hinder a character, add the number of bonds that you have with that character, plus any group bonds that character has.
–
To kickstart story, each character chooses one of a few:
Quest Bonds
__ and I are searching for the location of the great artifact, __
__ and I are being pursued by bounty hunters for __
__ and I are contracted by __ to keep them safe
etc.
Very cool!
I really like the kick start bonds
Thanks. Now that I think about it, I’m vaguely remembering one or more supplements that have kickstart bonds like that.
Oh, man. Those ”
quickstartkickstart” bonds are a great idea.The kick start bonds are very Sword and Sorcery. It’d make a solid episodic game if the GM prepared a few similar bonds like that before starting a session, having them choose bonds and then asking where they find themselves.
The kickstarts are great! I think they’d work great as part of a Dungeon Starter. I’m working on one now and may add a section for Bonds. Good stuff!
I like these way more than the flags alternative.
I really dig it. Good stuff!
The kickstart bonds are great!. They are essentially what bonds in DW should have been more like. I tried to incorporate this style of bonds as it actually provides a clear destination to build on your bonds.
Though, my favorite is the fireside chat. Stays in the fiction and it is all about keeping it in the game. Love it.
Savage Worlds used something similar to Fireside Chat. They called it an Interlude, where during a journey or a break a random party member got to tell something specific about their character, based on a card draw (Savage Worlds uses regular playing cards for a few different things. During an interlude you would flip a card and if a Heart came up the player would tell about a person they cared about, a Diamond would lead to a story about desire, etc.) .
When I’m DMing I do that with my characters anyway, but I like the Move you made for it!
Totally stealing these for my game.
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