In yesterday's blog I stated I would be continuing today with an example of character creation. In the intervening time, I've changed my mind. I'm not seeing anything immediately that needs to be added or changed from basic Fate Core character creation. If I put together a final product I probably will include such an example, but for the purposes of this blog I'm not sure that it's necessary. With all of that being said, if my assumption is incorrect, please let me know and I can write a post.
Instead, I've opted to write a post about a question that was asked of me by someone who read a previous post. In my description of world creation I discuss Franchises. A brief synopsis for people who haven't read the other entries, a franchise is a representation of the group the player characters belong to, although the group might not technically be a franchise. After reading this post, someone asked me about the idea of possibly improving Franchises, much like one would a character. That is the topic of today's post.
When I thought up the plan for Franchises, I had intended on being able to improve them as time goes on. I had several ideas on how to do so and after much thought I've managed to narrow it down to two. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to pick one and include that, or include both (one as a basic rule and one as an advanced version) or simply include them both and say "pick one." In either case, I'm going to detail them both here in as far as I have thought them out. If anyone has feedback on either or both ideas, please don't hesitate to let me know!
Before I get into the two ideas however, I want to touch an addition I'm thinking of including to the concept of the Franchise, making it more important to the central plot. What I am thinking of adding is the idea of Consequences to a Franchise. The idea is pretty new and is still a bit of a work in progress. What I mention below are simply my initial thoughts on the subject. Should I decide to not at Consequences, it will have an effect on my two ideas for being able to improve a Franchise as well.
Franchise Consequences
This is a result of a larger-scale type of conflict. Whereas the PC war takes place in the streets and person-to-person, conflicts involving the Franchise takes place via the media or similar outlets. While the war might be public, Morgan la Fey knows who her enemies are and she has organizations of her own. She will use them to undermine the Franchise of the PCs in order to make sure they aren't taken seriously. When these conflicts occur and the Franchise loses, it is like losing any other conflict only instead of Stress Tracks, it goes right into consequences.
Once all Consequence boxes have been filled, another failed conflict involving the Franchise will lead to its "going out of business." This is, of course, a more abstract concept than simply going out of business. It might be a rebel cell finally being wiped out completely, or a group of knights being dishonored.
There are two Mild Consequence boxes, one Moderate and one Severe. Regarding mechanics of the concepts, they are still a work in progress and I plan to address them in a future post once I've worked it out for myself. This idea came to me just before writing this post and I haven't had time to flesh it out fully yet.
Franchise Milestones
The first option revolves around the idea that Franchises have the ability to change at the same time that characters do. The process itself is slightly different, but the milestones occur at the same time they occur for the players.
Minor Franchise Milestones - A minor milestone has the following effects upon a Franchise:
- Change any single stunt for another stunt (this option is only available after the first Major Franchise Milestone as the initial Franchise Stunt is permanent)
- Rename any minor consequences the Franchise has so that the "negative press" affecting the Franchise can begin to be forgotten/removed.
Significant Franchise Milestones - A significant milestone has the following effects:
- The same effects as a minor milestone
- Rename any moderate consequences to begin the road to recovery for them.
Major Franchise Milestones - Lastly, a major milestone accomplishes the following:
- The effects of both a minor and significant milestone
- Rename any severe consequences so that the Franchise can recover from them.
- Gain an additional Franchise Stunt (try an rationalize how it would fit in with the group's specific Franchise)
It's as simple as that. When the players reach a milestone, they apply the equivalent milestone to their Franchise, improving as noted above.
Franchise Resources
This is an abstracted version of money. At the end of each "mission," or when the GM deems appropriate, the Franchise will be paid in Resource Points. These will be stored in a kind of bank until the players opt to spend them on improvements for the Franchise. As an example, perhaps saving a princess from a dragon is worth 4 RPs or a raid on a futuristic robot factory nets the rebels 3 RPs of supplies that can be used to aid the rebel camp to expand.
If I include this particular option, I will be giving examples of what kinds of tasks are worth how many RPs, in addition to what various improvements would cost. Essentially, the improvements would be the same options I mentioned in the Franchise Milestones section above. The difference between the two being that RPs can be saved and spent whenever the PCs wish to spend them.
I think the Milestones idea feels the most like Time Heroes to me, but including the Franchise Resources option as an alternative for those who want to have more control over how the Franchise improves when might be a nice idea.
On a personal note, tomorrow I have a big job interview. I'm not sure if I'll get around to writing a post or not. I suspect that the next post that I do write will revolve around Time Heroes-specific mechanics (which at this point amounts to Franchise Conflicts).
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