Frenemies Dev Diary #3

 So, how to mechanize the frenemy relationship?

One of my first thoughts was that there should be some way to track the relative levels of friendship versus enmity in the relationship. Over time, they could shift one way or the other. And ultimately, if the relationship swings far enough one way or the other, it could resolve into being just friends or just enemies. Or there could be a move like Write Your Epilogue for determining how it all shakes out at the end of the story.

I came up with two main ways to handle this:

1. The one-track solution. One end of the track is labeled "friends" and the other "enemies". The relationship marker starts out in the middle. Various triggers move the marker toward one end or the other. If it tips over one end, the relationship is resolved in that direction.
2. The two-track solution. One is a "Friends" track and the other is an "Enemies" track. They start out at low values. Each of them increases in value when triggered by appropriate events. There may or may not also be some special triggers that can lower their values. When one of them reaches the maximum value, the relationship is resolved in that direction.

I'm not sure which option better represents the evolution of a frenemy relationship.

Original, I was leaning toward option 1, partly because it feels simpler, but I was also worried about it ending up with the marker just wobbling back and forth around the center, rather than moving toward a conclusion.

On the other hand, the two-track solution has the advantage of maintaining tension towards the end if both tracks are getting close to full.

Either way, there would be various Moves that might make the track(s) go up or down. For example, I really like the "Share an Intimate Moment" rule from Girl By Moonlight. With that, one PC offers up a moment of emotional vulnerability, and the other has the choice to engage with it (which gives mechanical benefits to both parties) or hold themselves apart (which gives a point of XP to just the one PC who made that choice). I want there to be choices like that which give a chance to benefit either way, so it doesn't feel like cooperating and being friends is always the optimal choice. 

I talked it over with someone on Discord, though, and they made the good point that tracking the long-term state of the relationship might not be necessary, and could even make the game worse if it overly restricts roleplay or forces a certain conclusion.

So, I'm actually going to set this specific idea aside for the moment, and focus more on mechanics for immediate and short-term interactions, fluctuations in the relationship, and rewards and penalties from that. I've got ideas around a positive track called "synchronization" or "sync" for short and a sort-of negative track called "tension". More on that in my next post!

Frenemies Dev Diary #2

Time to start making some content! Before I get too far into developing the rules, I want to get a better idea of what kinds of characters and stories this game is about. That will help guide the development of the mechanics. So, I started writing some tables.

First up, I started listing out relationship types and ways two characters might be connected to each other. I want to make sure I'm not limiting myself to just the most common or obvious kinds of pairings. Here's what I've got so far:

• Rivals (academic, professional, hobby, schoolyard, for the affections of another)
• Roommates
• Classmates
• Siblings (elder/younger, half, step, twins (fraternal/identical))
• Cousins
• Extended family (uncle/aunt and niece/nephew, etc.)
• Parent/child (bio, step, adopted)
• Lovers
• Ex-lovers
• Spouses (married for love, married for money, shotgun wedding, arranged marriage)
• Coworkers
• Soldiers in the same squad
• Teammates (sports team, agents, etc.)
• On opposing sides (of a war, two different companies, religions, etc.)
• Childhood friends
• Life debt (one saved the other's life)
• Guardian and guarded / Protector and protected
• Important person and their assistant/bodyguard/butler/whatever 
• Hero and sidekick
• Mentor and apprentice
• Lord and vassal

Then I started thinking about how to generate the core conflict. Frenemies need both motivation to get along and a source of friction. I decided to start with very abstract tables for this. More specific examples could be added, but I wanted something high level that players could use to inspire their own ideas.

So, here is the frenemies generator! Roll a d10 for each table, or roll 2d10 and assign each to one of the tables, your choice.

We work together because...

1. We share a common goal
2. We share a common enemy
3. We share a core belief or value
4. We're using each other for our own ends
5. We love each other
6. An authority is making us do it
7. Something terrible will happen if we don't 
8. Fate or random chance keeps bringing us together 
9. The prophecy says we must
10. It's the only way to end the curse

But...

1. We have wildly different beliefs or values
2. Our personal goals are diametrically opposed
3. We have unresolved history
4. We hurt each other in the past
5. We have conflicting loyalties
6. We are or were on opposite sides of a major conflict
7. Each of us is trying to redeem or corrupt the other 
8. Only one of us can win the prize
9. Only one of us can be the very best
10. Only one of us can come out of this alive

For example, a roll of 1 and 4 could be "We work together because we share a common goal, but we hurt each other in the past", while a roll of 5 and 10 could be "We work together because we love each other, but only one of us can come out of this alive."

This feels like a good starting point. It covers a lot of the examples I can think of from media, such as Deku and Bakugo from My Hero Academia, or Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens.

My next step is probably to start thinking more about rules and mechanics!

Frenemies Dev Diary #1

Most tabletop RPGs are designed for a party of around three to five players. Many can scale up to handle a larger party, but very few scale down neatly for a smaller party.

Most solo and duet TTRPGs, on the other hand, are designed around a single player character. The rest usually try to emulate the classic 3 to 5 player party as established by D&D and other popular games.

So, I was thinking: why not make a game about exactly two characters? It could be a solo game, a two-player co-op game, or a guided game for one to two players, but the point would be to have rules, mechanics, and challenges designed specifically around having two PCs, no more, no less.

One big reason I liked this idea was that I have trouble roleplaying a whole party of 3-5 characters by myself, but just two feels more manageable. On the rules and game complexity side, two PCs is also just enough to introduce more interesting combat tactics and allow different approaches to both combat and non-combat challenges. Compare that to running just a single PC, which often devolves into always leaning on your best stat(s) and straightforwardly trading blows with your opponents.

Next, it occurred to me that a game about two PCs could and should have some interesting mechanics to represent their relationship. Maybe there could be something akin to Momentum in Ironsworn, but shared between the PCs? I decided to call it "Synchronization", or "Sync" for short. You could earn Sync by having the PCs work together, protect each other, set each other up for success, etc., and then have special moves you can only do when your Sync is high enough or spend Sync to improve a roll.

Of course, my friend Entitas rightly pointed out that a Sync mechanic, by itself, would just encourage co-operating all the time, which smart players and characters would be inclined to do anyway. To keep it interesting, there would need to be some reason for the two PCs to not always get along.

That got the wheels turning in my head. I had already been thinking about different kinds of relationships this game could involve, but suddenly it all clicked when a specific word came to mind:

Frenemies 

More than just being about any two characters working together on a quest, this game could be specifically about those dramatic, high-tension relationships where people with conflicting goals or personalities need to work together. Think of your favorite examples of friendly rivalries or foes united by a common enemy. Think of ex-lovers who find themselves recruited to the same team, or family members who need to set aside their bad blood to deal with the bigger picture. Those are the kinds of stories I could focus on. It's a broad enough category and set of tropes to let each player make it their own, yet specific enough to be a niche I doubt any other game designer has yet filled.

I'm feeling inspired. I've got plenty of ideas for more mechanics (such as a Tension track that builds toward explosive conflict if not resolved or defused, and a Trust track that represents the long-term growth of the relationship) and Oracle tables for character creation and plot inspirations ("I must work with my frenemy because...", "Fundamental Disagreements", "Minor annoying traits", etc.). I'm gonna try blogging about my development process as I go and share some of the content I come up with.

At this point, I'm not sure if this is going to be an Ironsworn hack or a standalone game. Maybe the former at first, and then I'll evolve it into the latter? We'll see. Anyway, if you like this idea, or you have any thoughts on it, let me know!