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!