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| Art by Max Gibson |
Interludes
It
isn’t unusual for the characters in heroic fiction to engage in
dialog or acts of storytelling that reveals something important about
their pasts or gives the reader further access to their personalities.
The system below gives a mechanical incentive for scenes of
revelatory characterization:
-
During a period of natural downtime, a player may nominate themselves to roleplay an interlude scene.
-
That player must draw a single card from a standard deck. The value and suit of the card drawn determines the essential content of the interlude, as per the Interlude Table.
-
The player will then tell a story based on that theme in the voice of their character. The story should reveal something about the character’s backstory or give the other players a greater sense of who that character is, their motivations, their hopes and fears, etc.
-
After a player completes an interlude scene, their character immediately gains inspiration.
- The next time an interlude scene is invoked, a different player must nominate themselves.
Interlude
Table
Clubs
|
Diamonds
|
Hearts
|
Spades
|
|
Ace
|
Realization
|
First
day on the job
|
Blossoming
romance
|
New
insight
|
Two
|
Cunning
plan
|
Patience
rewarded
|
Dangerous
attraction
|
False
impression
|
Three
|
Skilled
leadership
|
Teamwork
leading to success
|
Celebration
|
Failure
to express an idea
|
Four
|
Goal
achieved
|
Victim
of greed
|
Solitude
|
Recovery
from injury
|
Five
|
Competition
|
Victim
of theft
|
Tragic
loss
|
Hollow
victory
|
Six
|
Glorious
victory
|
Spending
a vast sum
|
Childhood
nostalgia
|
Long
journey
|
Seven
|
Last-ditch
defense
|
Changing
your path
|
Treasured
daydream
|
Practiced
deceit
|
Eight
|
Short
journey
|
The
devil in the details
|
Leaving
someone behind
|
Feeling
trapped
|
Nine
|
Prolonged
battle
|
Self-reliance
|
Sexual
satisfaction
|
Guilty
nightmare
|
Ten
|
Burden
of duty
|
Inheritance
|
Familial
happiness
|
Martyrdom
|
Jack
|
Quick
temper
|
Hard
work
|
Falling
in love
|
Fiery
rebellion
|
Queen
|
Utter
chaos
|
Maternal
instinct
|
Emotional
dependence
|
Sharp
intellect
|
King
|
Artistry
|
Rags
to riches
|
Wise
diplomacy
|
Self-reflection
|
***
NOTE: This system is an adaptation of the interludes from Savage Worlds Deluxe, but I have significantly expanded the table found in those rules.
I mean, we all adapt things we found somewhere else. This is new-to-me, at least.
ReplyDeleteI find personal/emotional character growth in RPGs interesting, because it's one of the few things that emerges out of the "playing a role" side of things rather than the "moving your character like a pawn in a boardgame" side.
For me, my characters experience emotional growth when the way I've been portraying them up until that point would lead them to make a decision that I, as the player, can't countenance. So if they WANT TO, but they DON'T, then what happens? They grow as a person, and become someone slightly different than they were before.
I don't know why, but I have this idea that 5e characters are a good vehicle for roleplaying personal growth. I think you posted once before about "building" a backstory with significant events that happen during play and using THOSE for inspiration instead of bond, flaw, etc, and that idea has stuck with me.
I think you're right about what character growth looks like, but D&D has traditionally had trouble carving out any mechanical space in that area of the game. Which is probably why I've got at least three sets of inspiration variant rules I've floated over the years.
DeleteI know the one you're talking about. I'm including a more tightly focused version of that in forthcoming Liberation of Wormwood. It's also going to have a system for using fellowship bonds, love ties, and blood feuds for inspiration. I wanna put some options out there.
We have some people in my group who are fun to play with but tend to not be as into the RP side of things as much as the game side of it. I wonder if this kind of prompt system would nudge them a little more towards fleshing out characters or if they'd just feel like it was an imposition?
ReplyDeleteBtw, the art at the top of the page is actually by Max Gibson (it's fanart of teaxerz's characters but not drawn by them: https://bigmsaxon.tumblr.com/post/176021975494/teaxerz-draws-some-pretty-great-tieflingdemon.
Yeah, I think it depends on the player in question. Some people just don't want to get that heavy into roleplay side of things, and that's okay. One benefit to the inspiration system not being super integrated into 5e is that it doesn't really penalize players who would rather avoid it entirely.
DeleteAnd thank you for the art credit correction! I'll update the post momentarily.
Interesting. I wonder how my players would take to something like this? Most of them tend to have thought about character background, and some about personality, but they don't tend to do a lot of RPing at the table, so they're kind of in between character centric stuff and "character as pawn" playstyles.
ReplyDeleteProbably varies by individual temperament and approach to the game, but there is a mechanical incentive to rp. (Although not as strong as something with a similar system, like Lady Blackbird, that makes those downtime scenes pretty essential to being able to effectively take action.)
DeleteThis is a really neat idea. MY current preference in character creation (at least for D&D-type games) is minimal background at chargen, then developing the backstory through play, via flashbacks, montages, or just banter. I've been using 10 Foot Polemic's "retroactive backstories" right now. I think Interludes might be another cool thing to tack on.
ReplyDeleteWithout inspiration, I'd need think of another mechanical reward for B/X-type games. Maybe a one-time bonus to your next attack or save (Like a +1 Forward from PbtA games).
Thanks! For developing backstory in play, I have a better events-based way of gaining and using inspiration that I need to get around to posting here.
DeleteFor B/X games I think I would just let the reward be a re-roll. That's essentially how inspiration tends to get used anyway in my games.
BRB checking out this "retroactive backstory" idea...
DeleteNow this is something I can really get behind.
ReplyDeleteCould probably use it as part of cashing in XP in old school games. Return to town, carouse a bit, draw from the deck and see what stories you tell over booze.
Nice! I like that.
DeleteVery cool idea.
ReplyDeleteI think i'll tweek it slightly. Rather than a playing card deck, i'll give them a few cards from the Dixit boardgame. I think an image vs a number will make it easier (for my players at least) to create a story.
Image-based cards is a great idea! You could do this with tarot cards as well.
Delete