Working on a PbtA hack when I had this idea:
What if instead of highlighting stats and shifting Hx up and down, I have the players and MC highlight relationships, so you get Xp for interacting with the characters you have a highlighted relationship with?
The hard part, as I see it, would be determining what merits an Xperience point, because “interact with this character” is harder to quantify than “roll this stat.” There’s also the question of who highlights whom, and I’m not sure whether I should ban highlighting someone’s relationship to your own character.
Cool idea!
What if it were fictional triggers that go with that playbook’s archetype or the nature of your relationship:
* when you show your love for [fill in]
* when you lie about love to [fill in]
* when you risk for your friend [fill in]
* when you teach [fill in]
* when you listen to [fill in]
* when you protect [fill in]
In 1e you could highlight Hx. Sagas of the Icelanders had you mark relationships until you mark 4. Marking a relationship meant they were a target of a move.
In Sagas of the Icelanders, it’s “mark this relationship when you use any move involving that character, when you have four relationships marked, erase the marks and take an advance”. That makes it a bit clearer than “interact with”, while getting a very similar effect—most especially as there’s a great pair of moves that often trigger marking a relationship: giving a gift to get a Bond, and spending a Bond to read a person.
Oooh, compelling!
Robert Bohl almost like keys in lady blackbird! you could also put a mechanic for getting XP when you change the relationship (between keys and bonds). If you get XP for “risking for your friend” and you betray them you mark xp and write a new one (“when you justify/explain your actions to [fill]”?)
listening
Or perhaps you could use flags? In the games I’ve been playing we use flags so a character can define what they want to see in a session or what discussion they want to have with another character. Whoever hits the flag gets the XP. If you’re looking to have it be MC directed, then the MC might have to create the flags…
Robert Bohl That could work! I did something similar in MASHED, where you mark positive or negative Hx based on intimate situations (which may or may not include sex). For instance:
Mark +1 Hx when…
: You are pinned down under fire and share a deeply personal conversation.
: You ask for casual sex, but it becomes about more than just getting off.
: They comfort you while you cry.
: You perform surgery on them.
: They put themselves in danger so you don’t have to.
Mark –1 Hx when…
: You confess your attraction, but they reject you.
: You tell a secret, but they pass it along to someone else.
: You get in a fight with them.
: They don’t support you when someone disrespects your sex, race, or gender.
: They tell you a lie and you find out.