As people were so helpful before, I’m asking for more feedback.
Single-minded
At the start of the session, write down a goal you are working towards if you don’t already have one. At the end of the session, mark XP if you made noticeable progress towards reaching that goal. When you achieve the thing you were working towards, cross it off your sheet.
Eh. I dunno if I’m happy with that move. Again it’s for The Ox, and is trying to encourage the player to be a single-minded, goal oriented type character. Slow and steady, one foot in front of the other, one thing at a time.
Maybe there’s a way to do something similar without actually forcing the player to write down the goal. Or maybe it needs to be a roll move. Something like:
Single-minded
At the start of the session, write down a goal you are working towards if you don’t already have one.
When you make clear progress towards achieving your goal, roll with Dark. On a 7 up, the MC will tell you what the most likely next step is. On a 7-9, choose one:
– the next step involves heavy physical labor;
– the next step involves working with someone, the MC will say who;
– the next step involves sacrificing something, the MC will say what.
Hmm… Still not sure about that one either. I think I need to sleep on this. :/
I can’t see how all the moves fit together, so maybe you’ve already covered this elsewhere, but again I feel like the focus should be on how it makes the character interact with the others. Example: “Whenever someone tries to divert you from your path, and you refuse, carry 1 forward to shut them down, and if you exchange conditions you take the condition Bull-Headed instead. If you agree to change directions, they gain a String on you.”
Discourages the main character to change their mind, gives them more power in the ensuing conflict (including limited control over the fallout), and also offers an incentive to other characters to get in their way and try to change their mind; stubbornness as a trait is easiest to reveal/explore if you can get others to challenge you.
This one also sort of reminds me of the Hidden Agenda move front the Anansi Skin, if you want to take a look at that as a foundation you could modify to fit the Ox.
Maybe turn it on it’s head: instead of pursuing only one goal at a time, pick something (could be a goal, could be anything) and relate everything the character does to that one thing to show your single-mindedness: an ox farm boy might relate everything to chickens: size, weight, noise, behaviors, expenses, etc. A backpack weighs about three chickens, lunch at the fancy restaurant could buy three weeks of chicken feed, the nervous guy acts like a chicken in a slaughtering shed, etc. RP fun comes from relating the unrelated rather than limiting yourself to a single goal.
The thing that I really like about the Rat is that the general characteristics; being adaptable, greedy, opportunistic, etc., were very well focused on how that character tries to control other people and how they see other people. They use money to charm people, instead of ignoring people to get money, etc.
Maybe apply some of the same thinking here? The Ox uses patience to wear people down, they’re stubbornly resistant to other people’s ideas. Maybe they’re really persistent in romance? They don’t give up after being rejected or shut down, or they refuse to give up on a relationship, they’re honest to a fault. All potential drama instigators.
So, I think that you’re struggling with a couple of related problems that make the Ox tricky: The first is that it seems to move away from the core concept of MH skins: a teenager that is also a monster. You at least have a very clear teenage archetype in the rat, and if it’s not a monster it at least has the capability of being a villain. I’m not sure I see either the teenager or the monster in the Ox that you’re describing.
The second is that the Ox is by definition a slow-paced character in what generally plays as a fast-paced game. That means you need to find ways of letting the ox be plodding and methodical even as the game is anything but.
That comes to the forefront in the moves you’ve written above, especially the first one: It’s much too weak, because it triggers once a session at most. XP granting moves are basically an investment. The that investment needs to pay off enough to account for the opportunity cost of not picking a different move and still provide a benefit, which means for a 5-6 game season of MH, the move should grant XP about twice a session.
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Thanks again for the great advice everyone. Looking at it again, I’m having problems with the Ox because I’m coming up with moves that encourage the player to avoid interaction. Which is no fun. As Sydney Marsing said, I need to find a way to make the Ox’s patience, stubbornness, and industriousness encourage interaction.
Rewarding other players for distracting the Ox from their current task, or getting the Ox to change their mind seems to be the way to go. And simple is often better, so maybe something like:
Stubborn
Whenever someone convinces you to change your mind or diverts you from your current focus, they take a String on you.
That encourages the other players to go mess with the Ox because they’re going to be rewarded for doing so. It also encourages the Ox to resist or ignore other people’s suggestions.
Mmm. I agree mine might be one step too complex, but as it is, I don’t see the incentive for a player to take the move. Unless they personally see the story advantage of having more conflict in their life, and even so they’re sort of giving up the chance to have a cool ability in exchange for hopefully encouraging other players to bother them; and bother them in ways they ought to ignore. Bribing the player to Shut distractors Down also has the advantage of escalating the situation a bit, making it less likely to just end at a “no, thank you”
Ah, sorry. I should have said that would be a mandatory move, similar to the Rat’s Show Me the Money or the Kitsune’s Nine Tales. I like mandatory moves, as I feel they help signpost very clearly what the Skin is about. I wonder if I overuse them, though. :/
Giving the player an incentive to do something that will complicate their character’s life is definitely a good idea though Sydney Marsing. Thanks for the help.