This now Part 4 of my series on things I made for my now-completed Stars Without Number campaign. If you want to see everything from all the posts at once, there’s a large google doc with it all.
I made many custom rules for this campaign, from a second kind of Faction Turn to mercenary mission structure rules to increasing combat complexity. I’ve decided to split the rules up into several categories starting with the simplest – roleplaying!
Insight
Each PC can have an Insight stat with each other PC (and important NPCs). This starts at 0 for everyone. At the end of each session, pick up to two people you have gotten to know better over the course of the session and increase your Insight into them by 1.
As an example, Alfred might have 0 Insight into Betty, 1 Insight into Carl, and 3 Insight into Dean. During a session Alfred learned something interesting about Carl and spent downtime hanging out with Betty, so at the end of that session he increases his Insight into them by 1 each.
When helping someone you have Insight into, the difficulty of the HELP roll is reduced by your Insight with them.
Because the difficulty for the helping roll is the same as the main roll, I found it disappointing when a help roll succeeded but the main roll failed. This should soften that difference significantly.
When your Insight with someone would reach 4, you may then ask that character’s player any one question about them. If they don’t know or if there is no conceivable way your character could ever figure that out then your Insight instead resets to 3. Otherwise they answer truthfully and your Insight resets to 0.
End of Session Questions
At the end of each session, discuss the following questions. The first two are as a group, the rest are individual.
- Did the crew, or someone in it, accept or complete a Mission, or make significant progress on one? If so, gain 1 XP.
- Did you all learn something important about a location, organization, or NPC? If so, gain 1 XP.
- Did you meaningfully express your characters’ beliefs, drives, goals, background, heritage, etc. through conversation, action, or expression? If so, gain 1 XP.
(If using the Insight rules above)
- Did you learn something new about one or two PCs or recurring NPCs? If so, gain 1 Insight into them.
- Is your Insight into someone 4 or higher? If so, ask that character’s player (including the GM for NPCs) any one question about them. If they don’t know or if there is no conceivable way your character could ever figure that out then your Insight instead resets to 3. Otherwise they answer truthfully and your Insight resets to 0.
Beliefs, Instincts, and Goals
We ended up switching from this system to the End of Session questions above, but it’s still a solid system for a group that likes more open-ended roleplay.
Active Belief – Just a statement of your philosophy/morals/character/etc. Not actionable.
Reactive Belief – Starts as a blank slot. Fill in a belief anytime during the session.
Instinct – Your habitual or reflexive behavior, such as ‘I always…’ or ‘If…then…’. It is always up to you when it is relevant, the GM cannot impose your Instinct upon you.
Goal – An actionable goal you intend to accomplish this session.
At the end of each session, gain 1 XP if…
- Either your Active or Reactive Belief came into play
- Your Instinct got you into danger or trouble.
- You accomplished your goal