Trust & Gratitude
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:25 am
So, I've got the beginning of a system. The objective is to arrive at a social interaction system with enough punch to it that it actually matters, but sufficient leeway to let players be the ones who define their characters' personalities.
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Every creature can have an opinion of any other creatures or groups.
Levels of Trust: Arranged in order, from most to least trusting.
Unwavering: Characters suffering from hero worship or cult brainwashing are typically Unwavering towards their hero or cult leader. Cult leaders generally also have impressive amounts of Gratitude from each such character. An Unwavering character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below -4.
Trusting: Characters who have saved each others lives are typically Trusting towards one another. A Trusting character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below -2.
Casual Cooperation: Characters united in a common cause, such as “Overthrowing the empire”, “Converting the savages”, or “Raiding the castle” are typically in Casual Cooperation with one another. A Casually Cooperating character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below -1.
Neutral: Characters who have little common ground but no conflict with each other are typically Neutral towards each other. A Neutral character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below 0.
Prejudiced: Characters who have reason (whether real or not) to mistrust one another are generally Prejudiced towards each other. Rivals in anything but a gentlemanly competition generally fall into this category. A Prejudiced character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below 1.
Conflict: Characters who would be willing to kill each other if asked are generally in Conflict with one another. If someone is raiding the castle, the denizens of the castle would usually be in Conflict with them. A Conflicted character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below 2.
Nemesis: Characters who have personal vendettas against one another are generally Nemeses. Characters with some deep-seated psychological reason to hate a group of people may have a Nemesis level of trust towards all of those people. A Nemesis character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below 4.
Gratitude: Each creature can feel some level of Gratitude towards any other creature or group. Those creatures or groups can then “spend” this Gratitude by requesting Favors. If the Favor is not too big, that creature will willingly perform the Favor; but if a Favor increases in Gratitude value with new information, that creature’s Gratitude is decreased by the new cost as though from another Favor. If the Favor is too big, that creature’s Gratitude is decreased by 1 and the Favor is not (necessarily) performed.
Some Possible Favors:
When you are asked for a favor, consult the related cell in the following table for the net change in Gratitude, and roll a d6. On a 1, the net change is -1 more than usual. On a 6, the net change becomes 1 point more positive. If the net change is negative, your Gratitude towards the requester will decrease by that much; otherwise, your Gratitude stays the same.
In other parts of the game, there is a skill that lets you misrepresent your current Gratitude and Trust levels towards other creatures, and another skill that lets you gain Gratitude by talking to people.
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So, current problems I perceive:
The Gratitude\Cost table is pretty hideous, but simply trying to modify d20 modern's Wealth system runs into a problem with negative wealth: the whole system is set up to vaguely represent an exponential progression of wealth, but negative numbers in my system need to represent a negative base, not a negative exponent.
At the moment, Gratitude is something that the character's controller can simply choose to increase, with the only other means of Gratitude gain being the previously hinted-at skill. Characters can gauge how much Gratitude you are willing to give for an action (a value you may try to misrepresent) before performing that action.
However, that can't handle the whole "beat people up to make them surrender" option (see: Trust & Credit). I can't think of any nice ways to incorporate such a mechanic: making people become more pliable by destroying what they like seems backwards, and making people become more pliable by threatening what they like seems difficult to define well enough that the DM won't make mistakes and anger the players.
I don't yet have any way to adjudicate how long and how much someone can/should hesitate in order to determine the seriousness of the request or the true identity of the requester before performing the favor.
The trust levels are inconsistently named.
I'm sure I've phrased something poorly somewhere.
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Things I don't think are problems:
The players can be forced to do things: for now, at least, players only have to give Gratitude when they're being brainwashed, so they know what they're getting into before they're getting into it.
There's too much data to keep track of: 7 bits (or should I say: two highly nongranular values, which should be easy to remember within a step if they actually matter) to summarize the entire emotional opinion one character has of another?
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Every creature can have an opinion of any other creatures or groups.
Levels of Trust: Arranged in order, from most to least trusting.
Unwavering: Characters suffering from hero worship or cult brainwashing are typically Unwavering towards their hero or cult leader. Cult leaders generally also have impressive amounts of Gratitude from each such character. An Unwavering character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below -4.
Trusting: Characters who have saved each others lives are typically Trusting towards one another. A Trusting character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below -2.
Casual Cooperation: Characters united in a common cause, such as “Overthrowing the empire”, “Converting the savages”, or “Raiding the castle” are typically in Casual Cooperation with one another. A Casually Cooperating character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below -1.
Neutral: Characters who have little common ground but no conflict with each other are typically Neutral towards each other. A Neutral character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below 0.
Prejudiced: Characters who have reason (whether real or not) to mistrust one another are generally Prejudiced towards each other. Rivals in anything but a gentlemanly competition generally fall into this category. A Prejudiced character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below 1.
Conflict: Characters who would be willing to kill each other if asked are generally in Conflict with one another. If someone is raiding the castle, the denizens of the castle would usually be in Conflict with them. A Conflicted character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below 2.
Nemesis: Characters who have personal vendettas against one another are generally Nemeses. Characters with some deep-seated psychological reason to hate a group of people may have a Nemesis level of trust towards all of those people. A Nemesis character is willing to perform Favors so long as doing so would not reduce their Gratitude towards the requester below 4.
Gratitude: Each creature can feel some level of Gratitude towards any other creature or group. Those creatures or groups can then “spend” this Gratitude by requesting Favors. If the Favor is not too big, that creature will willingly perform the Favor; but if a Favor increases in Gratitude value with new information, that creature’s Gratitude is decreased by the new cost as though from another Favor. If the Favor is too big, that creature’s Gratitude is decreased by 1 and the Favor is not (necessarily) performed.
Some Possible Favors:
| Favor | Example | Gratitude Cost |
| Costs the granter basically nothing | “Which way to the King?” | 0 |
| Costs the granter a small amount of time | “Help me carry these boxes up this staircase” | 1 |
| Poses a small risk of serious inconvenience | “Could you lose that police report for me?” | 2 |
| Is somewhat dangerous | “Guard this caravan while it travels through the icy wastes for a month, please.” | 3 |
| Is very dangerous | “Hold this passage against the onslaught of demons for me, will you?” | 4 |
| Costs the granter their fundamental ethics | “Betray your king and country who you’ve sworn to defend and been raised to respect above all else, please” | 5 |
When you are asked for a favor, consult the related cell in the following table for the net change in Gratitude, and roll a d6. On a 1, the net change is -1 more than usual. On a 6, the net change becomes 1 point more positive. If the net change is negative, your Gratitude towards the requester will decrease by that much; otherwise, your Gratitude stays the same.
| Gratitude\Cost | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| -5 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +0 | -1 |
| -4 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +0 | -1 | -1 |
| -3 | +1 | +1 | +0 | -1 | -1 | -2 |
| -2 | +1 | +0 | -1 | -1 | -2 | -3 |
| -1 | +1 | -1 | -1 | -2 | -3 | -4 |
| 0 | +1 | -1 | -2 | -3 | -4 | -5 |
| 1 | +1 | -1 | -2 | -4 | -5 | -6 |
| 2 | +1 | -1 | -2 | -4 | -6 | -7 |
| 3 | +1 | +0 | -1 | -3 | -6 | -8 |
| 4 | +1 | +1 | +0 | -1 | -4 | -8 |
| 5 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +0 | -1 | -5 |
In other parts of the game, there is a skill that lets you misrepresent your current Gratitude and Trust levels towards other creatures, and another skill that lets you gain Gratitude by talking to people.
-----------------------------------------------
So, current problems I perceive:
The Gratitude\Cost table is pretty hideous, but simply trying to modify d20 modern's Wealth system runs into a problem with negative wealth: the whole system is set up to vaguely represent an exponential progression of wealth, but negative numbers in my system need to represent a negative base, not a negative exponent.
At the moment, Gratitude is something that the character's controller can simply choose to increase, with the only other means of Gratitude gain being the previously hinted-at skill. Characters can gauge how much Gratitude you are willing to give for an action (a value you may try to misrepresent) before performing that action.
However, that can't handle the whole "beat people up to make them surrender" option (see: Trust & Credit). I can't think of any nice ways to incorporate such a mechanic: making people become more pliable by destroying what they like seems backwards, and making people become more pliable by threatening what they like seems difficult to define well enough that the DM won't make mistakes and anger the players.
I don't yet have any way to adjudicate how long and how much someone can/should hesitate in order to determine the seriousness of the request or the true identity of the requester before performing the favor.
The trust levels are inconsistently named.
I'm sure I've phrased something poorly somewhere.
-----------------------------------------------
Things I don't think are problems:
The players can be forced to do things: for now, at least, players only have to give Gratitude when they're being brainwashed, so they know what they're getting into before they're getting into it.
There's too much data to keep track of: 7 bits (or should I say: two highly nongranular values, which should be easy to remember within a step if they actually matter) to summarize the entire emotional opinion one character has of another?