Controlled Keys

[Judd]

Has anyone given a list of controlled keys that players can buy for a given campaign or session in order to mantain a given tone in a game?

It seems like Keys would be a great way to go about letting the players know what the game was about and it'd only take about ten or so, made up with the players that might be kind of fun.

Thoughts?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Has anyone given a list of controlled keys that players can buy for a given campaign or session in order to mantain a given tone in a game?

It seems like Keys would be a great way to go about letting the players know what the game was about and it'd only take about ten or so, made up with the players that might be kind of fun.

Thoughts?

Judd,

I don't know anyone who's done this, but it's a perfect idea for setting a tone and emphasis for a campaign. It's also a good way to make things that traditionally wouldn't be a Key into one. If, for example, your campaign had a sweeping plague that turned people into starving, waxy, hollow-looking bodies that went near out of their mind and could barely think through the pains of hunger, well, that'd be an excellent thing to have as a Key.

[Keith Senkowski]

Judd,

Wasn't there a list of controlled keys over on RPG.net for Star Wars a ways back when first edition tSoY first came out?  I could have sworn someone worked up all the keys and secrets you would need for a Star Wars game.  Oh and Brennan Taylor I know was working on a word using tSoY as the base system and I think he worked up a controled keys/secrets list.

Keith

[Twobirds]

I don't get it.  How does a plot device - such as 'zombies!' - become a Key?  Rather than, say, a specific set of Key Scenes?

I could see chances to buy different Keys that react to events in the story - like vampiric desires suddenly occuring during eclipses, and players can take advantage of the effects versus resisting them - since players can easily pick a path and run with it.

[Judd]

I don't get it.  How does a plot device - such as 'zombies!' - become a Key?  Rather than, say, a specific set of Key Scenes?

I could see chances to buy different Keys that react to events in the story - like vampiric desires suddenly occuring during eclipses, and players can take advantage of the effects versus resisting them - since players can easily pick a path and run with it.

Zombies?  I don't see how that could be a key either at the moment.  But give me a bit to think it over.

What I'm saying is that if you make special keys (hopefully even with the players) to reflect the kind of story you want to tell, then the players will be gaining XP from acting in that manner and that will greatly effect how the game goes.

I'm not sure where you are going with zombies and vampiric desires during eclipses.  Ya lost me.  Could you explain?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I don't get it.  How does a plot device - such as 'zombies!' - become a Key?  Rather than, say, a specific set of Key Scenes?

Zombies?  I don't see how that could be a key either at the moment.  But give me a bit to think it over.

You guys aren't trying hard enough. Keys are there to encourage behaviors from characters. So, if you want a story where transformation into mindless hungry beings, and resisting that hunger, are part of the story, a Key like the following can help develop that behavior.

Key of the Zombie
Gain 1 XP every time you eat carrion in front of the living. Gain 2 XP every time you eat dead human flesh in front of the living (who are uncomfortable with this, to say the least.) Gain 5 XP every time you kill a human to eat them. Buyoff: Refuse to eat flesh and instead starve.

[Judd]

You guys aren't trying hard enough.

I was at work man; gimme a break.

Nice key.

[Kaare_Berg]

hi Judd,

Has anyone given a list of controlled keys that players can buy for a given campaign or session in order to mantain a given tone in a game?

In my Shadow of the Vampire Tsoy conversion I am making the players pick one of three Keys.

Key of Conscience
Key of Courage
Key of Self-control

I've made other Keys, like Key of the Hunter (you get XP for each scene the Hunter is involved in, kill the Hunter and you buy off the Key) and so forth. This is a wrok in progress so it is not typed up yet.

In my, now currently on hold, Shadow of Stars campagin I reworded the keys from the original TSOY to set the tenor of the game.e.g Key of the Tribe became Key of the Crew for the Captain of the spaceship in question.

It is part of the adaptability of the Solar System that really kicked me on it.

Just don't tell Abzu I ever said so.

[Twobirds]

You guys aren't trying hard enough. Keys are there to encourage behaviors from characters. So, if you want a story where transformation into mindless hungry beings, and resisting that hunger, are part of the story, a Key like the following can help develop that behavior.

Key of the Zombie
Gain 1 XP every time you eat carrion in front of the living. Gain 2 XP every time you eat dead human flesh in front of the living (who are uncomfortable with this, to say the least.) Gain 5 XP every time you kill a human to eat them. Buyoff: Refuse to eat flesh and instead starve.

That was exactly what I was thinking.  You said the presence of zombies would be an excellent Key, not that it would MAKE for excellent Keys.

Semantics, whatever.  I get it now, and I like it.  Using Keys seems a lot more interesting now.