I'm back to fiddling around with my own game system (in progress), and I'm wanting to introduce some sort of hard-wired mechanic for perpetuating intra-party social conflict (IPSC, for short).
I'm thinking that there will be a dedicated block on the base character sheet -- said conflict will arise directly from, and resolved using, the IPSC block (I'm assuming that there will be some sort of GM adjudication matrix involved; but who knows).
Goal:The IPSC system would serve as a
character development tool, providing an actual game mechanic to adjudicate situation-driven IPSC; the resulting resolution of which will have lasting consequences by affecting the nature of the relationship between 2 or more party members.
-- I was thinking of having some sort of GM-determined "conflict point"; but, without further development, this seems a little too arbitrary and nebulous -- if this could be a "thing", let me know how.
Premise:"The Game", in its current stage of concept and development, really boils down to not much more than a system with which to negotiate a series of "monster-of-the-week adventures". What I want is a sub-system that focuses plot on the social dynamics resulting from intra-party relationships; wherein external elements simply serve as a catalyst for said plot.
Assumptions:The game assumes that the party are thrust in to a "crisis situation" (alien zombie robots from the future invade the town ... or whatever) which they will have to negotiate.
There will be *some sort* of <thing> on the character sheet that drives how a given character reacts to various situations and to various types of characters. This will also serve as a trigger for IPSC.
Systems of note:The game uses kind of WoD-
like dice pools and skill-based character advancement.
Inspirational Note:
In a very general sense, the one thing (and pretty much only one) that I like about Apocalypse World is the fact that there does indeed exist an intra-party social development thingy ... I just really hate all of the specifics.
And thus the above concept is born.
note: if any part of this post seems to be unintelligible non-sense, please let me know exactly what it is that I need to clarify.
Awaiting input/ideas.