Work towards the BE campaign A line in the Sand is progressing, I’m hard at work designing the Figures of note from the page or so of notes I wrote during World Burning. For some background material on what we put together, I put up the planet Zahara on the Wiki.
There is still a lot of stuff I haven’t yet filled in for these characters, especially the Instincts for Pietro Allegra. Instincts really stump me, and even the ones I’ve filled in aren’t the greatest.
Don’t write the GMFON beliefs 'til the players are through writing theirs, and
Write your GMFON beliefs in such a way that they directly contradict or confront what the PCFON beliefs are trying to accomplish.
I think it’s a substantial error to try and build the GMFON as if they have any sort of free will. The GM is not a player, and you don’t get to play actualized characters.
Now…as play continues, the GMFONs will become more nuanced, perhaps sometimes even supporting the PCFONs or opposing one another. But in the very beginning, let them represent pure confrontation.
As far as Instincts go, I can only suggest that staying on top of 3 or 4 characters is really hard. It’s really, really hard to consider their actions when their scenes come up in a tactical (i.e. do I optimize my play or do I aim for some Artha by dicking myself over?). I much prefer no-nonsense defensive type Instincts (never travel without my bodyguard, always have a ballistic jacket hidden under my outfit) to the not-very-helpful-Artha-factory type of Instincts.
I completely agree. The PC Beliefs were done long before I even started burning these guys. They were all a few lines on a piece of scrap looseleaf until the last character was mostly finished.
So perhaps I should make the Player’s beliefs the focus of my next batch of questions. Let me list them, and then ask away.
[ol]
[li]“I could make more money as the Don, I should replace him.”[/li][li]“The Vaylen are bad for business, I will thwart them whenever possible.”[/li][li]“Everyone has secrets, I will find something on all people in power here, and rule from the shadows.”[/ol]QUESTIONS on Meerkat:[/li][ol]
[li]Meerkat’s beliefs were hard to come up with. I didn’t want to knock down her ideas, but I worry they aren’t specific enough to generate the artha. Is there any suggestions on what questions I could the player to tighten up the beliefs?[/ol][/li]The Usurpation PC FON’s beliefs, Gaius Artoras.
[ol]
[li]“The church is wrong and corrupt, I will bring it down, working from within by creating an army to move against them.”[/li][li]“The Vaylen are evil, and must be obliterated by giving no ground and giving no mercy to them.”[/li][li]“I will work with the church and keep my mouth shut for the greater good of the known universe, by supporting their doctrine.”[/ol]QUESTIONS on Gaius:[/li] 2. The player of Gaius really dug the conflicted character concept, and put two beliefs in direct opposition to each other. But it’s the second belief that bothers me. How do I oppose a belief that Vaylen are evil? How do I give that belief even a moment’s pause?
And the Invasion PC FON’s beliefs, Tiberius Rheinkrantz.
[ol]
[li]“Forge Lord Laurent must be a Vaylen to have butchered my family, I must get vengeance.”[/li][li]“Shai’Hulud is the great teacher of the desert, humanity must be made to learn.”[/li][li]“The church is a religion of a false god. They must be made to leave.”[/ol]QUESTIONS on Tiberius:[/li] 3. In general I like these beliefs. The only thing that worries me about them is that they dont’ give much of a guide on HOW he’ll get vengeance, or HOW the church will be made to leave. Is leaving that detail out of a belief all right? Should they be more specific in terms of the next step? I keep feeling that there’s a sentence missing in each belief, and I want to see what others think.
And now we have the other two players, the non FON.
[ol]
[li]“My iron is meant to protect, I will use it to defend the defenseless.”[/li][li]“The Forged Lord Laurent is an evil man. The other lords must be made to rise against him.”[/li][li]“The Empire wants us dead. We must stay off their radar, we can tell no one our true identities.”[/ol]QUESTIONS for Vvrunt:[/li] 4. Again, some belief conflict, which is good. Opposition to the GM FON is good too. Are there any specific problematic beliefs seen here? I’m a little worried about the third one causing the player to Turtle.
[ol]
[li]"I will increase spice productivity by allying myself with the Kerrn inhabitants."[/li][li]“I will investigate the Forged Lord and his motives throughly.”[/li][li]“I will have the biggest wig of the court!”[/ol]QUESTIONS for Namaah:[/li] 5. Kristy was late for character burning (her instincts aren’t quite done) but she latched on to playing the newly installed Lady Steward. The Second belief makes me somewhat nervous, as it isn’t altogether specific. Is there any suggestions you might have for the beliefs to tighten them up?
I have to agree with Paul B. Your players (damn there are a lot of them) need to fine-tune their beliefs, and then you should have your FoN pick their beliefs to aim them directly at your player’s beliefs.
remember thor’s mantra (paraphrased)- ideolgy - goal - action
why? what? how?
beliefs should have three clear and decisive parts so everyone is on the same page with them. player’s earn artha better and the story progresses faster if they clearly define all three steps
your player’s beliefs, copied and pasted below
Captain Meerkat
B1 “I could make more money as the Don, I should replace him.”
B2 “The Vaylen are bad for business, I will thwart them whenever possible.”
B3 “Everyone has secrets, I will find something on all people in power here, and rule from the shadows.”
ask your player, - ‘how do they plan on going about replacing the don?’ make them commit to a specific action
ask them ‘how are you going to thwart them’ whenever possible should be more specific (so they can earn persona when they make it happen)
B3 is good, i’d just reword it to say
‘i am craftier than anyone on Zahara, i will rule from the shadows by finding secrets on everyone here and using them to extort and blackmail my enemies’
specificity is key
Tiberius Rheinkrantz “Forge Lord Laurent must be a Vaylen to have butchered my family, I must get vengeance.”
“Shai’Hulud is the great teacher of the desert, humanity must be made to learn.”
“The church is a religion of a false god. They must be made to leave.”
ask your player - ‘how will you get vengeance?’ what’s the first step?
how are they going to spread their ‘religion’? how will they teach humanity?
how are they going to make the church leave?
if you get specific actions for their beliefs, it’ll be easier to push them, and to reward them for accomplishing them
Naamah Wepwawet 1 “I will increase spice productivity by allying myself with the Kerrn inhabitants.”
2 “I will investigate the Forged Lord and his motives throughly.”
3 “I will have the biggest wig of the court!”
ask the player ‘why do you need to increase spice productivity.’ there’s no ideology here. just goal/action.
same with 2 and 3. why?
Gaius Artoras 1 “The church is wrong and corrupt, I will bring it down, working from within by creating an army to move against them.”
2 “The Vaylen are evil, and must be obliterated by giving no ground and giving no mercy to them.”
3 “I will work with the church and keep my mouth shut for the greater good of the known universe, by supporting their doctrine.”
this player gets it. all three have ideolgy, goal and action. as for the vaylen being evil, make one that’s not… have a FoN hulled before usurpation. make them ‘nice’ compared to one of the still human FoNs… really make human’s out to be evil. turn this character into a vaylen lover…
Vvrunt “My iron is meant to protect, I will use it to defend the defenseless.”
“The Forged Lord Laurent is an evil man. The other lords must be made to rise against him.”
“The Empire wants us dead. We must stay off their radar, we can tell no one our true identities.”
belief 1 is fine. code of the warrior and all.
belief 2 needs to be asked how he will make the other lords rise against them. encourage him to use the word ‘I will’
the third belief seems sound, but it’s too passive. not worth having on a character sheet. sounds more like an instinct (aways be inconspicuous or whatever)
have them reconsider
and when all that is done (setting up beliefs is a long process, but it’s all the prep-work you need, so it’ll be worth it) go through your GMFoNs beliefs.
Lord Laurent should aim one at Vrunt, Naamah Wepwawet and Tobias Reinkrantz… ‘the kerrn tire me with their insolence and i will find them and bring them to heal by capturing their children’
…‘Naamah Wepwawet is a simpering fop, i will show her i am the planets true ruler by bringing her to tears at court.’
… ‘the Rheinkrantz Rebels are fodder for my troops, I will hone my troops skills by conducting live field maneuvers against the rebels’
as for allegra B1 “I am the Hand of God, chosen above all else to cleanse the wicked in purifying flames. And these Kerrn are kindling. I will destroy their temple and build a new one on it’s ashes.” - this is a great start. B2 “My brother’s presence on this planet provides a unique opportunity. I will use his organization to get the things I need to destroy the Zahnd Vurms that the Kerrn love so much.” - (not sure who his brother is, but I think this belief should be aimed at the smuggler Meerkat) B3 “Inquisitor Gaius Artoras is a dangerous mind invading psychopath. I will need to keep an eye on him. Merissa seems close to him, so I will get close to her. Starting with dinner.”
this is okay, but i suggest something more decietful and proactive like
‘Artoras is a dangerous man, i will make use of tue fire burning inside him by aiming it at the Shai’Hulud cult.’
Passanti’s beliefs are all good in my opinion. “Money means little without power. I need to get some dirt on Naamah Wepwawet, the new Steward to get her to look the other way. Since she’s married, I’ll start by framing her for adultery.” “Captain Meerkat may be family, but she’s a threat to my position. If I plant some heretic documents in her cargo hold, the Inquisition will do the job for me.” “The Church is back in town, and with it trouble. Let’s spread some lies about that mind raping Inquisitor Gaius Artoras to discredit him.”
good luck. sounds like a great set-up for infiltration. just hammer out the beliefs before play starts…
as for instincts, the best kind are ones that use skills your character’s have. that way, you can make rolls in scene’s even if they aren’t your scenes.
stock standards for NPCs
‘when i meet an enemy, intimidate them’
‘always have my guard with me’
‘if someone draws a weapon on me, fry their brain’
‘if i meet a potential target, read them’ etc.
This is the infiltration PC FON’s beliefs, Captain Meerkat.
“I could make more money as the Don, I should replace him.”
Not bad. Actionable. I’d reinforce the “I am a greedy bastard” angle and clarify Meerkat’s ideology.
“The Vaylen are bad for business, I will thwart them whenever possible.”
Bullshit belief. Send it back. She’s just recapped the thesis of the entire game system.
Ask her: How does the character know about the Vaylen? Is there a particular Vaylen that’s bad for business? What business are we talking about? What history does the character have, if any, with the Vaylen?
(What is the global attitude of your world BTW?)
“Everyone has secrets, I will find something on all people in power here, and rule from the shadows.”
Nope, too vague. Send it back. It sounds like the player has an interest in investigation – have him pick a GMFON to be the target of his investigation, and of course an ideological drive to do so: “I don’t trust character X; he smells of cabbage. I’m going to check on this guy and dig up the dirt I know he has.”
Meerkat’s beliefs were hard to come up with. I didn’t want to knock down her ideas, but I worry they aren’t specific enough to generate the artha. Is there any suggestions on what questions I could the player to tighten up the beliefs?
See above. Hope it helps. Next!
The Usurpation PC FON’s beliefs, Gaius Artoras.
“The church is wrong and corrupt, I will bring it down, working from within by creating an army to move against them.”
Groovy, but “Create an army” is gonna be hard to pull off…all at once, that is. Maybe a step smaller: My first move toward usurping the church is to recruit supporters for my side from within.
“The Vaylen are evil, and must be obliterated by giving no ground and giving no mercy to them.”
Bullshit belief. See first character.
“I will work with the church and keep my mouth shut for the greater good of the known universe, by supporting their doctrine.”
I really like the player has created inner conflict. However, the player probably needs to fine-tune the ideology behind it. Maybe something along the lines of, “Until I’m able to usurp this corrupt church and replace it with something better, it’s best to maintain the status quo.” At least then the conflicted beliefs are tied to each other.
QUESTIONS on Gaius:
The player of Gaius really dug the conflicted character concept, and put two beliefs in direct opposition to each other. But it’s the second belief that bothers me. How do I oppose a belief that Vaylen are evil? How do I give that belief even a moment’s pause?
“Shai’Hulud is the great teacher of the desert, humanity must be made to learn.”
Fine. What’s Tiberius gonna do about it? I mean right now.
“The church is a religion of a false god. They must be made to leave.”
Fine. What’s he gonna do about it right now?
QUESTIONS on Tiberius:
In general I like these beliefs. The only thing that worries me about them is that they dont’ give much of a guide on HOW he’ll get vengeance, or HOW the church will be made to leave. Is leaving that detail out of a belief all right? Should they be more specific in terms of the next step? I keep feeling that there’s a sentence missing in each belief, and I want to see what others think.
I think it’s useful in game-mechanical/Artha-generating terms to have a belief you can solve NOW, a belief you can solve SOON, and an ongoing belief that’s not really meant to be solved. Maybe that third belief is the ongoing inner conflict; maybe it’s just a high-level ideology that prompts the character to make lifestyle choices.
Dang this is a lot of characters.
And now we have the other two players, the non FON.
This is Vvrunt’s beliefs:
“My iron is meant to protect, I will use it to defend the defenseless.”
Is this character being played by a player or is it a relationship? Because you can get away with looser/vaguer beliefs if there’s not a player behind it.
This one seems unfocused. What’s the ideology behind his iron?
“The Forged Lord Laurent is an evil man. The other lords must be made to rise against him.”
Excellent but a vague to-do.
“The Empire wants us dead. We must stay off their radar, we can tell no one our true identities.”
This I can see as an excellent Instinct. To make it a belief I’d make it more active, something like “To stay off their radar, we’ll establish cover identities.”
QUESTIONS for Vvrunt:
Again, some belief conflict, which is good. Opposition to the GM FON is good too. Are there any specific problematic beliefs seen here? I’m a little worried about the third one causing the player to Turtle.
Try my variation on that third belief.
And this is Namaah’s beliefs: "I will increase spice productivity by allying myself with the Kerrn inhabitants."
Not bad. How will you know when it’s resolved? I might key this to an assess factions/take action on Kerrn faction two-maneuver thing.
“I will investigate the Forged Lord and his motives throughly.”
Fine. Why?
“I will have the biggest wig of the court!”
Actually kind of funny. Add an ideology to it and you’ve got a full-on Belief.
QUESTIONS for Namaah:
Kristy was late for character burning (her instincts aren’t quite done) but she latched on to playing the newly installed Lady Steward. The Second belief makes me somewhat nervous, as it isn’t altogether specific. Is there any suggestions you might have for the beliefs to tighten them up?
I appreciate the assistance!
See above. They’re not bad, just incomplete. She just needs to think through her motivations to back up her to-do list. I much prefer my players have their to-do lists figured out because, for whatever reason, it’s easier to back-engineer motives into them.
I’m jealous of all the wimmenfolk you have in your game. I think it’d be a terrific addition to any BE game, particularly given the strongly social aspect of winning and losing inside the game.
p.s. I thought about this a few minutes ago because it’s bitten me in the butt before: Please don’t take my tone here the wrong way! This is how I talk in real life and it’s not at all intended to be harsh or mean. Honest, it sounds chummier in real life!
Are your other players able to read the board? Can they stop in and take a look at this conversation?
Are you kidding me? I’m totally floored at the work you’re putting in to help me out. Thank you very much, a lot of this has me nodding along with it. I’m just processing everything you and the others have offered.
They decided to be Educated for planetary attitude. And I’m directing them to the thread so that we can discuss and retool beliefs.
Neat, I’m glad it’s working for you. I feel like the Beliefs thing is my strong suit in this game. By the end of this, you’ll at least have the first couple maneuvers’ worth of artha-generating actionable Beliefs.
When you get the players Beliefs dialed in I’ll be happy to throw in my US$0.02 on opposing them with your GMFONs.
I didn’t get too many responses from linking the thread to my players and asking for comments. I wanted to hash this out before the game on Sunday, but it looks like Sunday will be when we discuss it in more detail.
This means that we’ll have to go ahead with what we got for beliefs.
I hope the game will still go without too much problem. We’ll just have to review and alter beliefs and instincts over the course of the maneuver…
I’ve asked one player three times for some more focused beliefs. Throws hands up in air I just took the general beliefs that he sent me and tried to write some opposition. For example, he wrote, “I will become de-facto leader of this planet.”
So for his enemy the Lord Steward I wrote, “I will frame the traitor with false evidence and throw him in prison.” I’m hoping it works for him.
Ken’s on the money, at least for your first turn. Since you have the general gist, I think, of what each of them wants to do with their time, it shouldn’t be TOO hard to simply push back. Subtlety and cleverness can come after a couple maneuvers, when they’ve either scored big Artha gains or they’re not earning anything and wondering why not.
