[BARBAREN!] First playtest results and The Woman revisited

[Frank T]

Hi,

this thread is about my game BARBAREN!. You can find a long breakdown of the concept in This post.

Now, the first three sessions of playtest went pretty well. I have written a long report in German, which you can find here. Apart from some minor corrections, the main result is that the wooing rules don't work nearly as well as the fighting rules. I will re-design them to match the fighting rules. The more I think about it, the less I understand why I made them so different in the first place.

The rest of the mechanics did a nice job overall. The relationship rules sure made the player create a great r-map and backstory. Since the relationship mechanics as they now stand serve more of a long term purpose, they will need a little more time to prove worthy.

So much for the news. Now, what I'm about in this thread here is Ron's idea of The Woman.

I suggest that there be some mechanism for True Love (not by that name of course).

In other words, most of the women are exotic or earthy fuck-bunnies (did I say that? better edit it out), but every so often one comes along who just is The Woman for this hero.

Now, she's still sexually accessible. The Woman is all woman, know what I mean? But he isn't going to throw her away. He'll stick by her, and choose her over gold, and even kill his chieftain for her, if she wants. And hell, even if she's a vile sorceress, he'll grit his teeth and remain her loyal slayer-dude.

I still like the idea and think about including it in the game. However, I begin to wonder if it requires additional mechanics, or if the mechanics as they stand already support that idea. These are the current relationship mechanics:

Relationships have ratings. Any newly established Relationship has a rating of 1. That rating is raised by 1 whenever, in an adventure, the player has adressed that Relationship through play. What "adressing" means depends on the type of Relationship: Fighting an enemy, protecting a ward, defending your chieftain's honor, etc.

The Relationship rating acts as bonus when involved in fighting, wooing or a check. It adds to the Combat or Attractiveness score, or it grants, say, half its rating (rounded up) of extra dice in a check. "Beeing involved" can mean something as direct as wooing for your desired, or as indirect as wooing for your enemy's favorite wife.

Now for the betrayal part: Betraying your Relationship results in the loss of the rating. However, you gain both Aggression and Horny at that rating (doubled for especially heavy betrayal). "Betraying" the Relationship can again mean different things, depending on the type: Helping your enemy, turning against your brother or chieftain, casting out your wife, etc. It would make sense to establish the vacant NPC (if he still lives) as a new Relationship, so a betrayed brother or chief would become an enemy, a "betrayed" enemy could become a rival or even a brother, each starting at a rating of 1 again.

Also remember the rules for preparing an adventure:

At the end of an adventure or the character creation, one participant (GM or player, this should switch each time) decides on the Frame for the next adventure. This means the main context of events, so it could be "a raid on foreigners" or "a feud with another clan" or simply "the fertility rites".

After this, every player requests a Central Person ("Bezugsperson") for his character. This person must be one of the five categories detailed under relationships: Enemy, Ward, Rival, Desired, or Wife. [Note: there will be more categories now.] The GM can request that the player make a suggestion how that person fits into the Frame. The person can be an already existing relationship, an NPC that has already been introduced, or someone newly invented by the player. In any case, she becomes a relationship.

Now think a player wants one of his Relationships, either a Desired or a Wife, to be The Woman for his character. He would try to address the Relationship as often as possible, through naming her Central Person and through just seeking her out with his character. He can even choose her demands or needs as Frame of an adventure when it's his turn.

Through addressing the Relationship, the rating increases, offering the player a big bonus in any conflict if he defends his Woman or pursues Her goals. The higher the bonus, the more he would do for her. The player would consult the GM and tell him he sees his character falling helplessly in love with this woman. The GM can then test the character's love through play. The player will have to choose if he keeps loyal to her or breaks free, each of which will grant him high rewards. It gets even more interesting if keeping her means betraying another one of his Relationships.

What do you think?

- Frank

[contracycle]

I'm a bit confised about the question - you seem to first say that the wooing rules don't work, but then that Rons proposition might be realised through the existing rules.

So my question is: what was it about the existing rules you found problematic?

[Frank T]

Sorry, to be clear: The wooing rules are something entirely different from the relationship rules, only linked insofar as a Relationship can grant a bonus in wooing. That particular part won't change, though, since it's the same in fighting. This thread is about the relationship rules as quoted above, which won't change. At least not now.

- Frank

[Frank T]

I just realized I posted the wrong link for the Game Concept. It is rather to be found here:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=14449

That happens if you are at work and post in a hurry. I apologize.