My players have asked that I add some sort of Mortality mechcnais to the campaign we are about to kick off.
Always one looking to please I immediately thought that a WoD Path style thing would be good called Morality for simplicity.
So at 10 the PC would never initiate violence, never steal, bear false witnessetc, down at 5 they would lie if it helped them avoid conflcit, they would kill if under attack and probably if the target could be seen tot ber a definite threat to them even though they were not currently etc etc
Down to 1 where shooting a cabbie who asked for a large tip was fine
We are all familiar witht the model.
The trouble I have is that I can see no benefit to having a high morality.
The game will be a SciFi one set in the Strontium Dog extended Universe so there is no obvious corruption threat and most people are pretty base.
So what might some mechanical benefits of having a high morality be in the Dog eat Dog world of mutant space bounty hunters?
You could take a leaf out of Kult's Mental Balance scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kult#Mental_Balance).
I'm not suggesting that there should be some veil to see through, but perhaps there could be extremes of high moral and low moral behaviour.
The last part you mentioned about the benefit of high morality.... Hmm maybe the PCs could set their own GM approved boundaries? Morally relatvity and how they traverse the scale and how the characters react to these changes?
What is the code of a Mutant Space Bounty Hunter?
I can see using a modified "Morality Scale" in a Hollywood pirate game where a 10 in Pirate Morality would be never betraying the captain, or the pirate code, granting mercy to a gentlemen prisoner and not harming a lady. A 1 would be the scum of the sea who even other pirates couldn't trust with a half-chewed penny.
I can set the scale easily.
My issue more like what is to stop all of em dropping to about a 2 after 5 mins
I could use alignment instead of course
I could see some sort of bounty hunter's code existing, showing how well the agency trusts your characters, what sort of missions they're willing to let them go on, and how feared a reputation they have amongst the criminal underworld. That, at least, would give the players a good reason to follow it; on the other hand, if they all want to disobey the bounty hunter's code and tank their path scores, that's fine too. That's a game, right there.
Balance it so a newbie is about at the middle of the scale (So you've got room for hunters of high and low repute, rather than lumping newbies at the bottom with the most distrusted of agents).
Skip humanity, skip alignments.
I suggest
Honor
&
Glory(Reputation level)
These concept were used in at least two "Storytelling Games"(read: rpgs) by White Wolf:
Streetfighter
and
Werewolf the Apocalypse.
The characters starts at 0 in each, and builds the values from there.
However, i suggest that instead, one starts with 4 or 5 in Honor, and 0 in Glory.
Quote from: Catelf;644097Skip humanity, skip alignments.
I suggest
Honor
&
Glory(Reputation level)
These concept were used in at least two "Storytelling Games"(read: rpgs) by White Wolf:
Streetfighter
and
Werewolf the Apocalypse.
The characters starts at 0 in each, and builds the values from there.
However, i suggest that instead, one starts with 4 or 5 in Honor, and 0 in Glory.
I already have a reputation mechanic. Which seems similar to glory.
I dodn;t think we needed an alightment tool but teh playered , who are all new to RPGs by the by have heard about alignments and WoD humanity and wanted a similar in game mechanic. i think alignment won;t cut it as they wanted something that had a mechanical components but also kept them in character.
Like I say I had 2 immediate responses a WoD Path type model (was goign to use 1 but i could have a range) or a CoC samnity style thing where they start at 100 as as they so and see stuff it drops.
Then I thought a paired morality / guts mechanics
I have thought of something. There is a hero point mechanic I could the a morality path thing to the Hero point thing.
Quote from: jibbajibba;644098I already have a reputation mechanic. Which seems similar to glory.
Ok, then back to the main question:
Advantages for high "Humanity" and drawbacks for low.
If the character is known, then its Honor/Humanity/? is of course also known.
Any more effects than that?
.... Allow people perhaps some "Sense alignment"-like thing, but instead the rough value of Honor/Humanity/? is sensed instead, like a kind of "gut feel".
That would result in npc's reacting worse towards people with low values in it, and better towards those with high.
What about Unknown Armies sanity metters ? Take the ones you think work better for your game and drop the others.
Damn, one would only need the Violence metter for a war-like setting where characters confront the darkness with each kill they make. Or somthing like that.
If you need such a thing in a good old Strontium Dog (R.I.P.) setting, here's m ysuggestion:
Have something called "Sanity" or "Morality", w/e. And here's how I'd use it:
It'd not be a mechanical perk per se, for high Sanity/Morality or low one. But if you'd be going down in the scale, you, as a GM, would start giving such characters secret notes how they tend to see their companions scheming against them, trying to kill them to get better cut of the reward, to cheat out of better equipment etc. etc. Basically, going nuts for cash like Bogart did in Treasure of Sierra Madre. That'd fit the bounty hunter style of a party quite well. On the other hand, high "Morality" would protect against such notes, or even serve to identify them.
Quote from: Rincewind1;644307If you need such a thing in a good old Strontium Dog (R.I.P.) setting, here's m ysuggestion:
Have something called "Sanity" or "Morality", w/e. And here's how I'd use it:
It'd not be a mechanical perk per se, for high Sanity/Morality or low one. But if you'd be going down in the scale, you, as a GM, would start giving such characters secret notes how they tend to see their companions scheming against them, trying to kill them to get better cut of the reward, to cheat out of better equipment etc. etc. Basically, going nuts for cash like Bogart did in Treasure of Sierra Madre. That'd fit the bounty hunter style of a party quite well. On the other hand, high "Morality" would protect against such notes, or even serve to identify them.
Great idea!
Alternatively, what about the Trust mechanic from Mountain Witch ?
Quote from: Rincewind1;644307If you need such a thing in a good old Strontium Dog (R.I.P.) setting, here's m ysuggestion:
Have something called "Sanity" or "Morality", w/e. And here's how I'd use it:
It'd not be a mechanical perk per se, for high Sanity/Morality or low one. But if you'd be going down in the scale, you, as a GM, would start giving such characters secret notes how they tend to see their companions scheming against them, trying to kill them to get better cut of the reward, to cheat out of better equipment etc. etc. Basically, going nuts for cash like Bogart did in Treasure of Sierra Madre. That'd fit the bounty hunter style of a party quite well. On the other hand, high "Morality" would protect against such notes, or even serve to identify them.
I actually like that :)
works dfor a homebrew pretty well.
If I also give Heroes Hero Points , so base them on heroic actions that improve your Morality as opposed to base actions then we have a carot and a stick.
Don't focus on the mechanics first, focus on what's relevant to the setting. Then work backwards to mechanics. If amoral wild west, barely functioning civilization is the setting, find what's the relevant glue that keeps things together. Why is there even peace if amoral violence is vastly more profitable? Obviously peace must be more profitable in some way, and people submit to a certain authority because of it.
Answer that and you start to answer your setting's "morality scale."
Quote from: jibbajibba;644310I actually like that :)
works dfor a homebrew pretty well.
If I also give Heroes Hero Points , so base them on heroic actions that improve your Morality as opposed to base actions then we have a carot and a stick.
If Hero points are used for rerolls and the like (as I assume), I'd rather not go for heroic actions per se, but go for the hrm..."bounty - related actions", so to speak, and call them Dog points or smth - the players are bounty hunters after all, and persistance in catching their bounty would be rewarded, and represent the raising determination (and aptly named, since such behaviour relates to one of a terrier chasing it's prey no matter what...and to the game's setting).
I would say an alignment scale might also affect social interactions.
The Gentleman Pirate Westley, known for only taking the wealth of vessels he seizes and only killing when he needs to, is going to have an easier time to get a civilian vessel to heave to, than the Dread Pirate Roberts, known to kill any man he pleases.
At the same time, a death threat from Westley is going to be a lot weaker than Roberts swearing "he will be avenged upon ye..."
Kind of like the KOTOR video games, it rewards someone who works to get an extreme reputation.
Quote from: Novastar;644583I would say an alignment scale might also affect social interactions.
The Gentleman Pirate Westley, known for only taking the wealth of vessels he seizes and only killing when he needs to, is going to have an easier time to get a civilian vessel to heave to, than the Dread Pirate Roberts, known to kill any man he pleases.
At the same time, a death threat from Westley is going to be a lot weaker than Roberts swearing "he will be avenged upon ye..."
Kind of like the KOTOR video games, it rewards someone who works to get an extreme reputation.
I could tie a 'known alignment' to the reputation stat hmmmm
I have been thinking I will have a Morality Path with 3 zones roughly aligning to Good; Bad; Ugly. (Good/Evil/Neutral)
From that I could tie the Reputation and Path so I end up with the sort of this you mention here. So path Bad + reputation +10 means never trust this guy, run , he will kill you and your family etc
Ugly + rep 10 means he will let you live if you just leave the gold and don't look back
Good means if he says he won't kill you then he probably won't.
I will write it out formally and post it here then I will play it at the weekend and see how it rolls.
Fair point on the name hero points from the wizzard. Dog Chips or similar might be a better name.
Quote from: Novastar;644583I would say an alignment scale might also affect social interactions.
The Gentleman Pirate Westley, known for only taking the wealth of vessels he seizes and only killing when he needs to, is going to have an easier time to get a civilian vessel to heave to, than the Dread Pirate Roberts, known to kill any man he pleases.
At the same time, a death threat from Westley is going to be a lot weaker than Roberts swearing "he will be avenged upon ye..."
Kind of like the KOTOR video games, it rewards someone who works to get an extreme reputation.
essentially a reputation/faction sysem.