Troublemakers: A Little Respect
I’m currently making some changes to the rules for gaining Will points in my PbtA game of Childhood Adventures; Will was inserted after the first round of play tests to moderate the use of the weird & wondrous.
The issue lies in getting Will back at a sensible rate, so that players neither run dry not have a surfeit: previously this had been covered by the chow down move, where you gained 1 Will each time you ate your favourite food.
Comments after the second round of play tests, however, lead me to consider end-of-session moves amongst other things and, as a result, I now have two versions of the playbooks for the game, each using a different method for gaining Will.
Version 1: End of Session
Each playbook gets a unique question to answer at the end of the session; they award 1 Will to another PC based on their answer to that question.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1iTjRUomaBXM2lNR1Z1TURWSDA/view?usp=sharing
Version 2: Respect Meters
Each playbook lists a unique condition or event relating to the other kids in the game: each time that condition is met, they mark respect. When respect reaches 3, they reset it to zero and take 1 Will or mark experience.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1iTjRUomaBXcFZNNEJJN3k1Rmc/view?usp=sharing
Please vote and share opinions.
As much as a like that end of season moves make the table think about what happened and firm the story retrospectively, it’s ultimately time I think can be better spent.
The choice between gaining Will and advances sounds like a stressful one.
That looks amazing. I’m not sure what will does though, so I do not feel comfortable voting.
My only issue with respect meters is that they might go unnoticed in the heat of the moment – often things like fan mail and so on do. Still I do prefer it as a mechanic.
I’m leaning more and more towards the end-of-session question model: the respect meters seem messy, unnecessary and may well distract from game play, as players seek opportunities to mark respect instead of just playing their character the way they want to.
I’ve also had a thought re: end-of-session questions that makes them a bit more open and less likely to end in one PC getting 3 or 4 Will while another PCs gets none.
New versions of the playbooks up now https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1iTjRUomaBXM2lNR1Z1TURWSDA/view?usp=sharing