two new keys - doubts

[Rob Alexander]

I've got a couple of idea for keys, one for the game I'm talking about here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=24910.0 and one for another I'm planning.

This is for a spoilt-rich princess and sneak-thief:

Key of Partying - 1 xp when you have a good time, in company, dancing or drinking. 3 xp if you party in favour of something else that's important to you, or in a place that it's really not safe for you to be ("But it's a masked ball... how will the Bishop know it's us?". Buyoff: turn down an invitation to have a great time in favour of something else much less fun.)

My concern is that this overlaps in a weird way with refresh scenes. Does anyone see that as a problem?

The second is for a Hobbit, or similar stay-at-home reluctant adventurer:

Key of the Hearth - 1 xp for any scene in your own home. 2 xp when you defend your home against a threat. 5xp when you expand or improve your home substantially. Buyoff: abandon your home permanently.

This key fits well with the Hobbit concept, but it's got the potential to be a bit passive. In particular, it's not obvious how it leads the character to be involved with others.

Thoughts, anyone?

[Eero Tuovinen]

The refresh overlap is not a problem, because multiple refreshes in successsion are not that useful, unless the character is specifically being built for that. And if he is, then the group really needs a bit more of a refinement in their definition of refresh in the first place: does partying count as a refresh if you have ulterior motives? The kind of socially vicious status game scene that easily develops for characters in that kind of setting means that going to a party might be the most dramatic of times for the character, not a refresh at all. Only genuine relaxation should count for refresh, not cynical efforts at getting into the archduke's bedchambers.

In your boots I'd make the Key of Partying either a dramatic key (1-2-5) or changed the wording to be more specific about the kinds of things that motivate the character here. A matter of taste, though; I could imagine that "Come on man, it's a party!" might, by itself, be a reasonable and distinct motivation in a certain kind of culture, without any need for verbalizing or analyzing what and why a party is.

For the hobbit key, it is a bit passive if the intent is for it to work for a reluctant adventurer who really goes out and does adventure. That key is only relevant for an adventuring hobbit insofar as the player is trying to determine when to buy it off, at the beginning of the story. Try this one:

Key of Home Sickness
1 xp - Reminisce of home or contrast your current situation with home.
2 xp - Let your acts be informed by the perceived differences of home and abroad.
5 xp - Refuse an opportunity to return home.
Buyoff - Return home.

Of course, the question you have to ask yourself is: do you want a Key that Bilbo would've bought off after the encounter with the trolls, or a Key that he'd lug with him to the end, perhaps buying it off when he finally got home? That's the difference between our Keys. My Bilbo might have both, but that's because I'd be thinking in terms of buying off the Key of the Hearth early (at the moment when I realize that Bilbo is really going to adventure, to be exact) and replacing it with Key of Home Sickness.