 August 2, 2015 - 12:37pm | (reminded of this by another thread) When I was running Serenity RPG in the last decade, Floyd Wesel on the Cortex boards came up with this concept to help GMs get some background out of their players, and to have some NPCs to use. http://www.dragonlairdgaming.com/personal/RFTS/WRESerenity-3x3x3.pdf also explained very well here: http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/deep-as-a-puddle-character-ties-cubed-3x3x3/ The short form-- have the player create 9 NPCs for you: name/details, where they might be, what they do, and how the PC knows them. - 3 friends: people who will do favors for the asking - 3 contacts: people who can do things, but will expect to be paid for it - 3 rivals: people who will try to mess up the PCs lives. Note that these are not the same as the "Deadly Enemy" hindrance or an ally who will do anything for you. The part that worked was that the player was paid for this work, 1 Advancement Point per NPC- these could be used in game as either die-roll bonuses/rerolls or experience points. I guess in Star Frontiers they should pay off in partial XP? I used these in two campaigns. I like to modify modules, and reviewing players' NPC lists often showed me where I could swap in names and people that would hook the characters into the plot much more securely. Opinions? |
 August 2, 2015 - 10:25pm | I like this concept. I have never used it but have used simple background stories. I do like the XP bonus during character creation. I would think that is should be nore more than three XP for the whole 3X3X3. Probably one XP for each set of three provided. -iggy |
 August 3, 2015 - 6:40am | Not having read the Serenity RPG I couldn't say if 1 EXP/NPC was good or bad but certainly for Star Frontier I agree with iggy that 1 EXP/ group of 3 would be good. Unless the goal was that starting PCs should be a little bit more capable and thus here's a 9 EXP punch in the characters arm for a little work. I've given out 1 EXP for the player writing a secret about their character- they share this with me as referee but its up to them if they reveal it to other players. I also like to give out 1 EXp for coming up with a character portrait. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 3, 2015 - 11:49am | IIRC it was either Jedion or TerlObar that ran a PbP game where characters had to produce an NPC contact that would be loosely incorporated in the game. It was a nice touch, and I do like the idea of providing the 3 each to a GM (especially the three rivals, one can never have enough obstacles to throw at the group). |
August 3, 2015 - 2:03pm | I gave out 1 exp for 1 NPC contact, not sure where I got the idea- Shadowrun PC generation maybe. But I like the 3x3x3 I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 3, 2015 - 2:25pm | {Sidebar} 9 AP in Serenity is a noticeable bunch, but not out of whack, even for starting characters. They're used in-game for die-roll bumps or to affect the story, or after the game as xp to raise skills. There is a limit of 6 that can be carried over from game session to session, and the GM is heartily encouraged to "let them fall like rain" during play, especially to encourage using them during play. |
