[War in the Heavens] Triggers (split)

[gtroc]

Hey again, all, me again. I have a bit of a problem with my design. I posted it in the design blog, but I will repost the problem area here:

So in War in the Heavens the players have four attributes, Love, Duty, Pride, and Wrath. In any given scene the players will use one of those attributes as the core roll. You have a strength which is listed at four dice and a weakness listed at zero. The other two attributes are at two dice. For each attribute you have between one and three Triggers. Triggers are the scenarios, people, and items that allow you to use the attribute in a scene. Your strength gets one trigger, your weakness gets three, and the rest gets two each.

And that right there my friends, that is wherein my problem lies. The triggers. I need them to be generic enough so that they can be used in several scenes(at least one scene a session). I also need them specific enough that they mean something. It is at this point that I am stymied.

Any thoughts?

[Ron Edwards]

Hey everyone,

I split the above post from War in the Heavens, early days, help needed in the interest of maintaining threads' internal coherence, and not keeping a given thread alive for months.

Hey Jake,

That's quite a question. My thinking is that "broad is better." In other words, the whole mechanic is intended to encourage enjoying the full range of your character, not to stop you from using an attribute, as I understand it.

It would definitely be easier to discuss regarding what happens in real play.

Best, Ron

[gtroc]

Thanks Ron, Appreciate the feedback, and the split(should have thought of that, but didn't). I agree a lot of this would be better if I had some playtests under my belt. my issue with that is that I have not got  enough of a group right now to playtest it. and those I do have have no interest in playing a game that might completely suck.

I guess I should break down the logic on why I decided to use Triggers. I wanted there to be a reason for people to use more than their strength in a given scenario. I also wanted that incentive to be more than mere advice. I think that mechanics should focus play. and the triggers were my attempt at focusing play. allowing for the strength to show up rarely, but when it does you can dominate the scene. and your weakness shows up more often, but can be mitigated by the use of aspects and equipment and the like.

I don't know if that helps. and if anyone wants to give playtesting a go, or has advice on that let me know. I am interested.