Starting Strings PC<->Npcs
During the backstory phase, every player get to give and get some strings…Did you ever feel the need to bend the rules and grant some strings between Pc’s and some Npc’s they can’t ignore, right at the beginning?
For exemple:
Between the witch and her abusive Mother…
Between the Queen and his ex-boyfriend…
Between the Chosen and her Mentor…
Short answer, no.
Longer answer, it varies. Mostly I just use those established NPCs and relationships to establish some fictional positioning for later scenes. Remember “Take a string on someone” is an MC move. This can happen when they fail rolls, or when everyone just turns to you and waits expectantly. If PCs include these NPCs in their backstory they want to see them in play. The first session part of the agenda is to follow the PCs around, these are great places to set up scenes around and learn about the PCs in play, not just through backstory questions.
Evelyn, you’re a witch, your abusive mother is still at work, you probably have 30 minutes before she gets home. You know there are some sympathetic tokens in her room she probably won’t notice being missing… but her room is locked, what do you do?
Drake (Queen), as you walk down the all with the rest of your clique, you see you’re ex-boyfriend Harry get led into an empty classroom by his new boyfriend. There are no teachers in sight… what do you do?
Vicky, your mentor Sabrina, has you training every evening, which is great it keeps you in shape and active and sharp… but not much time for anything else. BUT this week is homecoming, you don’t have a date yet… you can see Todd the captain of the football team, walking towards you… he looks a little nervous, and you notice a bunch of other football players doing a terrible job of being inconspicuous, watching you. Rumor has it he’s got a crush on you… but Sabrina needs you to train the night of the dance… what do you do?