Relationships

The purpose of this mechanic, by focusing on specific intra-character relationships, is to encourage a properly cinematic level of role-play Drama™ to the campaign through incentives.

TL;DR

Introduces a new, leveled Perk, "Relationship," which is, essentially, a low-level Higher Purpose (B59), for which the bonus must be justified according to a description of the relationship (the Statement).

New Leveled Perk: Relationship

Essentially, this is a limited-use, leveled Higher Purpose (B59; see quotation below) conceptually based on Personal Loyalty (SE39). Each Relationship Perk applies to only one subject (an individual PC or NPC), but may be taken multiple times for different subjects. A higher level of Perk is indicative of a stronger relationship. It is limited to four levels.

Relationship Statements

Your statement for each subject you have an active Relationship with defines your opinion of that character. Your statement should be one short sentence that sums it all up. The Relationship can be positive or negative, a friendship or rivalry, independent of its strength. As you play through the campaign, your experiences and impressions of the subject will grow and change. You will be able to challenge your Relationships and alter your statement for these characters to reflect those experiences.

Relationship Statement Examples:

• I can barely tolerate him.
• She used to be so nice.
• I must make it up to him.
• She’s my best friend.
• He deserves my support.
• She’s just a silly rich girl.
• He must pay for his crimes.
• She has gone too far.
• He needs me to take care of him.
• She is stone cold.
• He’s easy to manipulate.
• I like her more now…
• He doesn’t understand my vision of the world.
• She needs to get her head in the game.
• I wouldn’t let anything hurt him.
• She’s someone I can trust.
• He’ll never change.
• If this keeps up, I’m going to kill her!
• He’s about the dumbest person I’ve ever met.
• She has a good head on her shoulders.

Using Relationships

From Higher Purpose, B59:

You are driven to exceed your normal limits in one specific pursuit. You must state this exactly as if it were a Code of Honor disadvantage (p. 127): “Defend all women,” “Slay all demons,” etc. If, in the GM’s judgment, you are unfaltering in your pursuit of your Higher Purpose, you get +1 to all die rolls that pertain directly to the pursuit of your cause.

Any die roll that can be justified by a given Relationship Statement is assessed a +1 bonus to that roll per level of Perk. The player must describe how the character’s Relationship drives his dramatic action, and is subject to GM's approval, as per Higher Purpose. This bonus may be claimed after a roll has been made. Only one Relationship bonus may be claimed for any one roll.

Example:
Hero Strongchin (the PC) has a Relationship with his Dependent, Hottie Chix; the Statement: “She's my responsibility.” Hero can’t normally claim the bonus to gun down the Villain’s mooks as they mob toward him at the end of a corridor, but if those mooks stand between him and gagged-and-bound Chix in the room beyond, he can justify it, by saying something like, “I have to get through to Hottie because I can’t let her get injured!”—then Hero would gain the bonus on his shooting attempts.

Challenging Relationships

Relationships are not stagnant; they can radically change in an instant or gradually morph into something new. An action may be taken that is in conflict with the Relationship Statement for its subject; that Relationship has been challenged. Instead of the usual flat-rate bonus, the character is granted the use of a standard Plot Point (see associated rules). After such a challenge, no further bonuses may be claimed for that Relationship for the rest of the play-session. At the end of the session, the Relationship Statement must be redefined and rewritten to reflect a new perspective (subject to GM's approval; ideally, this should be somehow related to the nature of the challenge), or the level of the Perk is reduced permanently by one.

Example:
Hero Strongchin (the PC) requires the aid of his Ally, Slab Fistbump, an old friend, for an upcoming adventure. Rather than rely on the standard flat-rate bonus, the Player decides to challenge the relationship, “He's too reckless,” by giving Slab some serious responsibility. By challenging the Relationship, the Player can use the bonus Plot Point to force a success on the Ally's Frequency check, and at the end of the session, the Statement is rewritten (perhaps dependent on the results of the adventure), “He's trying to be responsible.” The Player could also have elected to leave the Relationship as it is and reduce its level by one—the relationship weakens as a result.

Improving or Changing Relationships

A Relationship Perk may be upgraded between sessions by spending awarded character points. But strengthening a Relationship takes work; the expenditure of CPs to upgrade the Relationship in this manner should be justified by in-game actions (like Dragon Age, this might be something like gift-giving, or taking the subject's side in some disagreement). A Relationship being upgraded by CP expenditure may only be adjusted one step per game-session. Without CP expenditure, a Relationship Statement may be redefined and rewritten at any sensible point in a campaign (like the end of an adventure) at the player’s discretion.

Notes

• This mechanic is currently considered to be “probationary” and is subject to adjustment.
• Ripped & adapted from the Smallville RPG (with a little Dragon Age 2 mixed in).
• I'm still unsure whether to allow all justified rolls to claim benefit (as per Higher Purpose), or to limit the number of uses per session. There is the potential for abuse if the Statement is too broad or vague, so the GM has to moderate the Statements pretty closely.
• The four-level limit on the Perk is also probationary.