Hi! Has someone ever tried to create bonds with NPC? I think it could be useful for PGs because they became more “engaged” in the general setting of the world. Moreover, it could happen that, as a consequence of the fiction, a PG develop a relationship with the characters he met, both PG and NPC. What do you think?
Hi!
Hi!
Andrea Di Stefano Have you had a chance to look at Jeremy Strandberg’s Stonetop setting? It explores this very idea.
Ari Black Really? I downloaded it time ago but just had a quick look at! In this case, I’ll read more carefully, thanks! But I’d like also a feedback from players or GMs that have tried this idea in a campaign 🙂
I did it at a con, simply because: Con game. It works SO WELL! I had everyone start to create bonds with each other, and then introduced a young girl in the town / orphanage they were travelling to, and asked what bonds they had with her. This immediately create strong connections to the NPC, and made them all super invested when the local paladin sect was there and about to perform an exorcism on her (I was debating whether or not she was going to be a baby orphaned doppelganger coming into her powers, or something similar… innocent, but possibly super powerful).
Anyways, long and short: Worked super-well.
Andrea Di Stefano The various Stonetop playbooks all have PCs assigning more bonds than standard DW classes, and they are encouraged to make some of their bonds with NPCs.
The Steading Playbook for Stonetop then has a spot for tracking all the NPCs that come up in play, including those that PCs have bonds with.
The trickier part is finding a mechanical effect bonds-with-NPCs (because you don’t roll to Aid/Interfere with NPCs). The current approach is:
Aid/Interfere is now roll+the most appropriate stat (like Defy Danger) instead of +BOND.
A new move, Kith and Kin lets you tap a bond with someone when you make a roll against them or on their behalf. Doing so gives you a +1 to the roll. You can choose to do this after the dice are thrown, so you never waste it. (Tapped bonds untap at the end of each session.)
Tomer Gurantz great! Thanks for sharing your experience! And did you consider these bonds as “regular”, this is, you have given a px when the bond was resolved? If the answer is yes, as far as we’re talking about a character played by the GM, when could you consider the bond resolved?
Andrea Di Stefano Good questions. Didn’t think I thought that far ahead, to be honest. It was a con game one-shot, so I don’t think experience points was a big factor in my planning.
Also, it was an off-schedule, on demand, midnight game, and most of us were drinking heavily, so the end of the game is a little bit of a blur, I have to admit.
I’m open to hearing others’ thoughts on the matter.
When you declare that you know someone who can help you solve a task and have an unassigned Bond available, describe that person and write a Bond describing your relationship with them. Then roll+CHA. *On a hit, you can get help from your contact. *On a 7-9, there’s a catch, choose one and explain why this is:
• Your contact holds some enmity towards you, you owe him a debt, or his help will cost you.
• Reaching your contact will be inconvenient or dangerous.
• You contact can’t directly help you, but he can at least point you in the right direction.
*On a miss, choose one from the list, and the situation will be worse than you expected when you reach your contact. Your contact may still be able to help you, but expect a steep cost.
When you work with your contact to solve your problems, you may resolve the Bond and mark XP as usual, or you may keep the Bond. If you use an established contact to seek help from, you can make this move again without needing an unassigned Bond, and add +Bond to the roll.
Tomer Gurantz ahahahahah got it!
Peter J good move _____ did you create it on your own or took from a compendium or stuff?
I made something similar for my Scoundrel Class on DriveThru
OF MANY FRIENDS
You know people in many places and of different backgrounds. You start with a number of
Contacts equal to 1 +Cha. When you are in a settlement and require the aid of one of your
contacts, spend 1 Contact, tell the GM what sort of help you need. The GM will describe
what sort of contact you have there and how he can aid, roll
✴ On a 10+, You get the help you need, no strings attached.
✴ On a 7–9, You get the help you need but with strings attached.
✴ On a miss, you get the help you need in addition to whatever the GM says
It is best to see contacts as recurring NPCs and potential hirelings. Contacts can provide information, have influence
over others, or provide some sort of service. If the player requires a service then you can treat the contact or someone the
contact provides as a hireling with the minimum skills for that steading (2 for villages, 4 for towns, 5 for keeps, and 6 for
cities). Note that the scoundrel has some moves than can provide the same benefit. This is intentional, what changes is
the method on how the scoundrel can get such benefit to reflect his resourcefulness
Yes, we are loosey goosey with Bonds, letting them be with NPCs or even goals (“Recover the Song of Change” was one example).
Victor Julio Hurtado Interesting move! How do you recover or gain Contacts?
Can you give me an example of a bond with a goal? Storn Cook
+Jeremy Strindberg Sorry, I completely miss your text yesterday! Can you give me a link to stonetop? It’s very interesting
Andrea Di Stefano This is one way to do it: When you carouse and you choose to befriend a useful NPC, you can gain 1 Contact in-
stead.
Andrea Di Stefano Yeah, our Bard took Recover the Song of Change… a Song that could cure lycanthropism. She did recover the Song, it was resolved, she got an XP. This week, Renegar the mage took “Find a place to plant the Seed of Life”.. again resolvable. Where it loses some “mechanical teeth” is in Aid/Interfere perhaps, because you roll +Bonds to help/hinder another PC. As a GM, if Renegar was involved in an Aid/Interfere roll that was about the Seed of Life for some reason, I would certainly honor that Bond as being counted.