Survival, Glory, and Love

[MikeF]

b]Survival<Glory<LoveGlory<Love

[dmkdesigns]

	Logged

[Michael S. Miller]

Hi, Mike.

What you're talking about sounds a great deal like Tim Koppang's Hero's Banner. In that game, your character has three goals, but only one of them can ever come to pass. The drama comes from needing to make that choice, scene-by-scene, and illustrating the consequences for those goals that will fail. I suggest you check it out.

-   It could be tricky to develop stories where the three goals are convincingly orthogonal

I wouldn't worry about that. The scene-by-scene creativity of the players should allow them to make a plausible story. Play will build to these endings, they won't spring out of nowhere.

Is this worth sketching out a bit more?

You're the only one who can answer that.

[Ron Edwards]

I suggest considering two models of play for this concept. One would have a lot of running around and adventuring and all kinds of stuff, but then at the end, wham, the choice appears and you choose. The other has a lot of build: the choices are present and relevant in play throughout the character's history, and so the final choice doesn't appear so much as crest. I happen to think the second model is better for the goals of play which you're describing.

Mike's recommendation of Hero's Banner is a good one, because it requires prioritizing the goals as you go along, but the prioritizing doesn't itself lock down the options for the next time you choose. So play consists of the character "trying out" different goals as more important than the others, and often pulling dramatic reversals based on what's happened.

Best, Ron

[Kanosint]

It sounds like an interesting concept. Through I wonder if 'Survival' isn't a bit narrow in its current state.

Glory consists of a broad spectrum of options: defeating a foe, becoming a man of importance, maybe even being the best shoe salesman of the village.
Love is equally broad, winning respect or adoration of peers, or that special someone you desire to spend your life with...
Survival... Is merely staying alive. While this is defenitely important, it seems to be rather set in stone. Why not a more general well-being of body? Glory is the wellbeing of mind (being pleased with your achievements), and Love is the wellbeing of your social life...

This is only my opinion, though, and it's quite possible I misunderstood.

[contracycle]

Survival could be extended to other social concenrs.

Survival... of the kingdom/duchy etc.
... of the rebellion against the pretender
... of the family/dynasty

All of which could produce the interesting outcome of a survival victory that includes the death of the character.