[BESM 2nd Edition] "Ties and Bonds" Mechanic Flopped For Me!

[Elliott Belser]

There's an optional mechanic in a Big Eyes, Small Mouth supplement called "Ties and Bonds."  Essentially, you pick 12 points worth of things that are of critical importance to your character.  You can spend temporary points on them to heal when it's important that you survive to (insert your Bond here), can use them in situations related to them to edit reality, and you can refresh your pool of them by inconviencing yourself in a way related to the Bond.

Well, I tried using them and... no one used them, or the uses of them were punishing the players instead of helping them.  Ouch.

For example, one character had "Frightened of Girls - 6 on 2d6" as a Bond.  I introduced a female character to poke at that Bond and... he ran away.  Without having spent any points of Bond.

This seems like a failure to define the social contract on my end.  Any other comments or suggestions on implementing Ties and Bonds like stuff?  This is especially important, as I want to make a game with something similar to BESM style Bonds.

[mutex]

I don't understand Afraid of Girls as a Bond.  I thought a Bond would be something more like protecting the baby in Lone Wolf and Cub.

[Supplanter]

Elliott, it may just be the player temporarily confusing "ties and bonds" with a Champions disad. IOW, he's used to games where "good roleplaying" means that if you've got "afraid of girls" on your sheet and a girl appears, you're supposed to run away - and presumably get the "roleplaying award" for experience at the end of the session. Meanwhile, you're probably thinking he uses the "afraid of girls" bonus in her presence to prove himself in front of her in combat, or to win arguments because of his increased emotional intensity around her etc. Is that it?

Sounds like it's worth another, more explicit talk with the group about just what the mechanic is good for and how it can work, and a chance for people to rewrite their bonds too. I can see how "afraid of girls" COULD work as a Bond, but I agree with Mutex that it isn't the most obviously appropriate one out there.

Best,


Jim

[Elliott Belser]

Elliott, it may just be the player temporarily confusing "ties and bonds" with a Champions disad. IOW, he's used to games where "good roleplaying" means that if you've got "afraid of girls" on your sheet and a girl appears, you're supposed to run away - and presumably get the "roleplaying award" for experience at the end of the session. Meanwhile, you're probably thinking he uses the "afraid of girls" bonus in her presence to prove himself in front of her in combat, or to win arguments because of his increased emotional intensity around her etc. Is that it?

Yes, very much so.  I'll have another talk with them.

[lampros]

There's an optional mechanic in a Big Eyes, Small Mouth supplement called "Ties and Bonds."  Essentially, you pick 12 points worth of things that are of critical importance to your character.  You can spend temporary points on them to heal when it's important that you survive to (insert your Bond here), can use them in situations related to them to edit reality, and you can refresh your pool of them by inconviencing yourself in a way related to the Bond.

Well, I tried using them and... no one used them, or the uses of them were punishing the players instead of helping them.  Ouch.

For example, one character had "Frightened of Girls - 6 on 2d6" as a Bond.  I introduced a female character to poke at that Bond and... he ran away.  Without having spent any points of Bond.

This seems like a failure to define the social contract on my end.  Any other comments or suggestions on implementing Ties and Bonds like stuff?  This is especially important, as I want to make a game with something similar to BESM style Bonds.

Why not just let him 'recover' a point beyond his normal max?

It sounds like it worked ok. The point of the mechanic is to get him to roleplay being afraid of girls, and he did. The point is basically just a bribe, right? The problem would be if running away was an undesirable move (cuz you wanted him to sit there and act nervous instead of just leaving.)

yours,

alex