#ysog

So lately I've been I've been tinkering with YSoG's supplementary mechanics.

Insight, I think, is pretty much exactly where I want it to be -- there is no fat to cut. You're encouraged to ask questions about your surroundings, and if the answer gives your character concern, you mark an insight. There's an implied sense that you're adapting to hostile environments, and an expression of your character in how that concern manifests. Then, through your insight into hostile surroundings and knowledge of threats, you spend your insight to gain an edge. Gain insight, spend insight. Simple loop, works thematically, lovely stuff.

Beliefs & Bonds get a bit more complicated... Bonds do nothing by themself, and really just act to refresh Beliefs. Bonds almost act like an intermediary currency and I worry it might feel completely useless... Why not just do X to gain Beliefs directly? How valuable is a bond? How does the maths feel during play?

I could certainly cut down the system and remove the Bond currency and allow players to gain Beliefs through other means (maybe by taking 1d on a roll). However, I currently have three narrative targets I want to hit, but without adding additional mechanics, it's hard to implement these into the game loop.

Meaningful conversations: Gain bonds.

Nice Downtime Moments: Spend bonds to gain beliefs.

Expressing your values: Spend beliefs.

Bonds as +1d

This is the approach that a lot of PbtA games take, and I don't really resonate with it. I think it's quite dull from the perspective of a heroic fantasy, as you're all meant to be on the same team (unlike Monsterhearts and etc, where inter-party relationships are more complicated). I think there is a merit to affirming how an action resonates with your values as a person, and so Beliefs seems a stronger fit for +1d.

Bonds as Social Currency

Maybe Insight does too much, as it pretty much takes care of everything you might need in an adventure. Thematically, it does make more sense that as you befriend your companions, maybe that also implies you're able to meet people or make a good impression -- allowing it to act as a kind of "social insight" -- though it still doesn't make complete sense...

So I played a one-shot of Pathfinder 2e the other day, and ironically the majority of my enjoyment around the event was sitting at home, by myself, and thinking up a character. It's very compelling to check out the options and to come up with builds. Crunchy games in particular seem to incentivise (or even require) a lot of this kind of "lonely fun", since it's a great way to learn the rules. It's really enjoyable as a player, but I think I hate it as a GM?

Specifically, there's three different ways of making characters I've experienced, and only one of them I like.

1. "Lonely Fun" character creation. As described in my experience with PF2e, having players build characters in isolation leads to a crapshoot of uncoordinated characters. Since I like heavy roleplay and deep relationships between PCs, it then falls on the GM (me) to try build the connective tissue between characters.

2. "Classroom" character creation. Probably even worse than the lonely fun (since the lonely fun creation is still, in fact, fun) is having players sit at the table in complete silence for hours while they fill out their character sheet. From the GM perspective, it's boring as fuck to wait for people to fill in the sheets. It also can lead to pretty 2-dimensional characters, since players are spending much less time than the lonely fun approach.

3. "Group Project" character creation. This involves consistent talking between players at the table, and has steps during character creation that requires input from other players. It's the PbtA approach where players are collaborating to build their story together. This is the best approach to character creation in my opinion. For games that've done it well, there's the common PbtA bond mechanics, and Ironsworn's approach to worldbuilding (both already implemented in YSoG). Masks: A New Generation has a mechanic that details what happened when the heroes first came together, but I wanted to see if there was something deeper and more fundamental to the character.

Something Deeper and More Fundamental to The Character

From playtesting Your Source of Greatness (YSOG), I've noticed that coming up with an interesting background is a bit tricky. Given its OSR influence, a really obvious solution is to given nested tables that have potential background options (I'm pretty sure every OSR game has them).

However, what if instead of rolling, you asked everyone around the table which'd be the most interesting option, considered their opinions, and then decided. For the extra nerdy among you, this approach was inspired by Wicked Ones' Compel mechanic.

I'm trying to find the visual identity for my FitD fantasy game. I love this kind of "modern retro" aesthetic, though I'm unsure if it properly captures the game's tone. Looks cool tho

おしらせ

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▶︎▶︎新刊 シ.ン.・.ゴ.ジ.ラ.安.田.龍.彦.×.尾.頭.ヒ.ロ.ミ 「フラグっぽくて言わなかったんですけど」 B5／オフセット／48P／全年齢／600円（イベント頒布価格） あの日の苦しさから逃げられないまま頑張ってた安.田.課.長と、 そんな安田を見つけてしまった尾.頭.課.長.補.佐の話 ※ジャンルの特性上書店委託はできないため、在庫が許せば自家通販します。