Kaare Berg
05-13-2005, 10:04 AM
Since I illegitimately have been credited as one of the originators of the Persona for Complication rule I like to steal from yet another source, the game Thirty by John Wick (http://wicked-dead.com/thirty/) and his idea of Fraternitas.
To summarize this is meant as a way to mechanically enforce and support the growth of trust between groups of soldiers. By applying some cold Norwegian logic to it and way to much time alone in the car I’ve come up with the following.
This is thought of as a part of the Rogue Trader idea I’m working on so bear with me the ship references. Also let me point out that like the original idea this is to enforce/support the creation of trust between a tight crew or squad.
The Complication Pool. or Trust
The Complication Pool is a pool of persona points. Persona points that can be spent by any member of the pool to buy a complication instead of disaster pr. the Persona for Complication rule. For this rule to have any point (pun not intended) the Persona for Complication rule only applies to points in this Pool. Personal Persona can not be used for this purpose.
Every member of the crew can from the beginning only add one point to the pool (long time friends, crewmembers who have been through the fire ect. can add two to the pool). This first point is free if given upon creation of the crew.
The Pool is refreshed at the start of the session and only the characters present (i.e. the players present) may add to the pool, because tonight’s story is about them. When the Pool is empty, it is spent for the session.
As the crew learns to live and trust each other the pool can grow. This is done when a player earns a persona point for his character. He can then choose whether to keep it himself or to add it to the pool on behalf of another character, let’s call it Trust. This character notes how much Trust is added to the Pool on his behalf. Until everyone has that amount of Trust he can not gain any more. You need to get the new guys broken in fast or they will hurt you.
However, if a character does something that hurts the Crew, these points may be revoked. A character with zero trust can not pull from the Pool. Revoked points will go to the betrayer. Representing the short term gain of betrayal.
Lets have an example.
The crew of the Gnostic Avenger has been through many though scrapes. The three characters Malicant, Severous and Feeber have built up Trust to 3 points each. Then Feeber gets caught by the Inqusition with some forbidden Xenotech and condemmed to Acroflagellation. He is not rescued in time. His soul is redeemed; the character is dead (or rather unplayable).
Enter Laertous at the next port. Malicant and Severous includes him in the crew, Malicant giving him a point, but he can only add one to the Pool. They trust him, but barely. The Pool sinks from 9 to 7. The group as a whole is weakened by the loss of their trusted comrade and the arrival of new blood.
Playtesting is long time coming, but wadda ya think?
I would further recommend each character having a Belief or an Instinct to the effect of trusting once crewmates, like B: I can trust the Crew with anything or B: I won’t betray the crew. Instinct : protect the Crew. Anything that can give persona if acted upon when inconvenient to do so.
To summarize this is meant as a way to mechanically enforce and support the growth of trust between groups of soldiers. By applying some cold Norwegian logic to it and way to much time alone in the car I’ve come up with the following.
This is thought of as a part of the Rogue Trader idea I’m working on so bear with me the ship references. Also let me point out that like the original idea this is to enforce/support the creation of trust between a tight crew or squad.
The Complication Pool. or Trust
The Complication Pool is a pool of persona points. Persona points that can be spent by any member of the pool to buy a complication instead of disaster pr. the Persona for Complication rule. For this rule to have any point (pun not intended) the Persona for Complication rule only applies to points in this Pool. Personal Persona can not be used for this purpose.
Every member of the crew can from the beginning only add one point to the pool (long time friends, crewmembers who have been through the fire ect. can add two to the pool). This first point is free if given upon creation of the crew.
The Pool is refreshed at the start of the session and only the characters present (i.e. the players present) may add to the pool, because tonight’s story is about them. When the Pool is empty, it is spent for the session.
As the crew learns to live and trust each other the pool can grow. This is done when a player earns a persona point for his character. He can then choose whether to keep it himself or to add it to the pool on behalf of another character, let’s call it Trust. This character notes how much Trust is added to the Pool on his behalf. Until everyone has that amount of Trust he can not gain any more. You need to get the new guys broken in fast or they will hurt you.
However, if a character does something that hurts the Crew, these points may be revoked. A character with zero trust can not pull from the Pool. Revoked points will go to the betrayer. Representing the short term gain of betrayal.
Lets have an example.
The crew of the Gnostic Avenger has been through many though scrapes. The three characters Malicant, Severous and Feeber have built up Trust to 3 points each. Then Feeber gets caught by the Inqusition with some forbidden Xenotech and condemmed to Acroflagellation. He is not rescued in time. His soul is redeemed; the character is dead (or rather unplayable).
Enter Laertous at the next port. Malicant and Severous includes him in the crew, Malicant giving him a point, but he can only add one to the Pool. They trust him, but barely. The Pool sinks from 9 to 7. The group as a whole is weakened by the loss of their trusted comrade and the arrival of new blood.
Playtesting is long time coming, but wadda ya think?
I would further recommend each character having a Belief or an Instinct to the effect of trusting once crewmates, like B: I can trust the Crew with anything or B: I won’t betray the crew. Instinct : protect the Crew. Anything that can give persona if acted upon when inconvenient to do so.