I’m new to Worlds of Adventure, but absolutely loving what I see. Thanks so much for doing this beautiful thing.
The elegant new bonds are one of my favorite things in any system. I wonder if there’s any reason that PCs shouldn’t be able to forge bonds with locations, factions, or maybe even causes?
I think that’s a solid idea. Having bonds with places, communities, and so on sounds like it would work just fine, should the opportunity arise!
Sadly v0.3 will be moving away from that style of bonds in favour of a different system for establishing connections. It just didn’t fit what we were trying to do. It’s a shame, because I liked them – maybe they would have a place as a houserule or in another game?
Cameron Burns Oh no! Well I’m eager to see what’s upcoming for that dramatic space now. From the earlier bonds design, I enjoy knowing it’s something you value.
I’m seriously considering converting my long-running 5e campaign to Worlds of Adventure after The Gauntlet podcast turned my attention to it. Is 0.3 still likely by the end of April?
Adam Minnie I hope so.
Cameron Burns Would you be willing to tease a bit of which direction Bonds are taking instead, and the rationale for the shift?
Adam Minnie The active component of Bonds will be managed by Keys, which are replacing Drives. This should allow anyone who wants to define their character through their interpersonal ties to do so excellently.
The more scene-setting component of Bonds should be covered sufficiently by our new introductory questions – like what you see in games like MASKS. They should fill the same role of getting us familiar with the characters, their relationships, and their place in the world.
Cameron Burns Very cool. I’m a big fan of Keys. The Keep Company move is still remaining right?
Adam Minnie I like the Keep Company move, but in play I’ve found it a little bit mechanical, so it’s not in the current v0.3 rules.
If you have any thoughts about it, I’d love to hear them.
Cameron Burns Hey thanks for listening and inviting dialogue! I don’t have a current DW or WoA game, so I can’t speak from play experience, but what the former Bonds and Keep Company were doing is spot on what I’ve long craved as a missing element in my long-running traditional campaign (5e at the moment). My group in particular craves character development and relational/emotional focus that many traditional rule systems aren’t concerned with (and even DW to some extent) with mechanical emphasis instead on pragmatics and logistics of task resolution. So I really like the idea of a rewarding reason for players to stop and consider their characters’ past, culture, drives, intentions, fears, and feelings, especially with the ‘safe’ out of keeping company with yourself but still sharing that with the ‘audience’ so they can enjoy the character development inherent to it.
While the v0.2 Keep Company move looks great in itself, I can definitely see how it could feel mechanical, especially when it is required or chained into by other moves like Make Camp or make a journey, rather than simply triggered in it’s own right. “Ok, somebody has to keep company again, who’s it going to be this time.”
Maybe deviating off topic, but as a lateral idea explicitly inspired by what WoA is doing with Bonds and Keep Company (in v0.1 and 0.2 at least), my 5e group are playing with less mechanical ways to reward playing to emotions, character development, classic plot structures, and genre themes. Inspired by secret quest cards in Gloomhaven and other games, we’re trying out having players draw from a deck each session and earning rewards for fulfilling what the card encourages. Basically simple one-use Keys I guess. We’re still brainstorming what works for the kind of stories we want to tell, but if you’re interested, for what it’s worth, here are ideas we’re playing with so far: docs.google.com – 5e Session Quest Cards
Cameron Burns My last post was pretty tangential, sorry about that. Have you seen what The Indie Hack does with bonds? It’s really neat and elegant.
Sort of like a mashup of DW back with AW, bonds are additive, where PCs gain descriptive statements with each other that become more complex over time like a real relationship, until they get to a sort of crisis or turning point (with 4 bonds). At that point, you gain advancement and consolidate the relationship into one overarching statement and decide if it’s either positive or negative (each player’s choice).
Adam Minnie They’re good points, though. Especially what the Indie Hack does with bonds – that’s interesting.
I’m not sure if v0.3 will have Keep Company, but I’m definitely going to be looking into possible improvements of that sort of mechanic in the future. Perhaps something like in Stonetop, where it’s integrated into the Make Camp move, for example.