I’m trying out Flags in a home game of The Sprawl to replace Personal Directives. I’m doing it a little differently. I’m giving a player character XP if they hit another PC’s flag. They can get the XP once per scene.
Personal Directives in The Sprawl are a lot like flags to start with, except they’re on the GM to implement and the player to notice and record. So they read like “If your loyalty to The Killers causes trouble for the mission, mark XP.” The GM has to create a situation where the PC’s involvement with the Killers might complicate the mission, and then the player has to remember to mark XP when it happens. In my experience, the GM part wasn’t all that much bother — I drop character hooks in as often as I can in every game from D&D to Fate. The player part was kind of a bother, because as the GM, I didn’t think of my character hooks as a moment to break the action and say “oh, and you get XP for this.” They’re just a thing I do. And the players often didn’t remember to mark XP, either. Often it wasn’t obvious that the Directive triggered.
Flags change the onus of intention. I still have to create situations where the players can hit each other’s flags. But now each player chooses to hit a Flag, like they’re making a Move. It takes them out of the game world frame and into the game frame a little. Because of that intention / frame shift, they naturally remember to mark the XP. And “hitting a flag” becomes sort of synonymous with “create some flavorful character interaction.” I can even write it as a Move:
When you’ve engaged in flavorful character interaction, check the flags list. If your character hit another character’s flag at least once this scene, mark XP for hitting a flag in this scene.
Players don’t get XP when their Flag gets hit. They just get spotlight time. So the incentive is to create easy to hit flags that don’t derail the action too much. That’s fine for characterization, but there was some concern that we would miss out on deeper character development and spend too much focus on more shallow characterization. Frankly, even that is a good problem to have IMHO. But we tried to address it: Everyone gets three flags, and it’s strongly recommended that they make at least one easy to hit / low impact (i.e. shallow) flag and at least one deep character development flag.
Thoughts? Do you think this change will make my table “suck less”? 😉
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These days I tend to find that any xp triggers requiring players to notice things “in the moment” are tricky.
I’ve found it better to do it all with the “End of Session” move like in DW or Blades in the Dark. Players could each run through their own flags and discuss who helped them hit those flags that session, granting maybe 1xp if they did so one memorable time, and 2xp if more than once.
These days I tend to find that any xp triggers requiring players to notice things “in the moment” are tricky.
I’ve found it better to do it all with the “End of Session” move like in DW or Blades in the Dark. Players could each run through their own flags and discuss who helped them hit those flags that session, granting maybe 1xp if they did so one memorable time, and 2xp if more than once.
Adam Minnie That was a major concern of mine, for sure — a major reason for doing this, really. The act of looking at and then intentionally hitting another person’s flag is an intentional moment, though, and I hope that it’s a lot easier for them to remember to mark that XP if they’re already choosing to hit a flag.
In our playtest of it, in one session with 3 players, one player triggered 2 flags and two players each triggered 1 flag. It was a 2.5hr session, so that’s not too bad. That was the only playtest of it so far. It might have been novelty that kept it at the front of their minds. We’re going to test it again tonight with 4 players. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Adam Minnie That was a major concern of mine, for sure — a major reason for doing this, really. The act of looking at and then intentionally hitting another person’s flag is an intentional moment, though, and I hope that it’s a lot easier for them to remember to mark that XP if they’re already choosing to hit a flag.
In our playtest of it, in one session with 3 players, one player triggered 2 flags and two players each triggered 1 flag. It was a 2.5hr session, so that’s not too bad. That was the only playtest of it so far. It might have been novelty that kept it at the front of their minds. We’re going to test it again tonight with 4 players. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Listening. 🙂
Listening. 🙂
Jon Lemich Cool! I look forward to seeing how it goes with more testing and more people.
One of the difficulties I’ve found as a player and GM may be mainly internal. Even when it’s I enact an intentional moment, there can be some reluctance to claim the xp for yourself right in the moment. I find myself thinking “I’m pretty sure I hit that flag, but was it ‘enough’ to get xp for?” For instance, what if my character has a dynamic with another PC that is almost entirely based around hitting one or more of their flags? Am I gaming the system to hit it over and over? Sometimes lines between scenes get fuzzy, so I wonder “I got xp for this back there, but is this a new scene so I can get it again?”
Whereas the end of session question is objective and I find no reluctance to claim it gladly (and help others do so more than they might naturally be inclined to), since it either did or didn’t happen in a binary sense more than a “is this enough to count yet?” continuum.
In a DW game last month, the GM had us chose 3 keys (like in Lady Blackbird) instead of alignment/bonds: each had a title/theme and buyoff. At session end we’d check if we behaved in line with the title/theme, and if anyone helped us do so (This produced great interactions and that shallow, but fun characterization you mention). Then in the middle of play we could still have intentional moments by hitting a buyoff for 2xp in usually a dramatic transformative moment (for some of that deeper character development you mention).
Jon Lemich Cool! I look forward to seeing how it goes with more testing and more people.
One of the difficulties I’ve found as a player and GM may be mainly internal. Even when it’s I enact an intentional moment, there can be some reluctance to claim the xp for yourself right in the moment. I find myself thinking “I’m pretty sure I hit that flag, but was it ‘enough’ to get xp for?” For instance, what if my character has a dynamic with another PC that is almost entirely based around hitting one or more of their flags? Am I gaming the system to hit it over and over? Sometimes lines between scenes get fuzzy, so I wonder “I got xp for this back there, but is this a new scene so I can get it again?”
Whereas the end of session question is objective and I find no reluctance to claim it gladly (and help others do so more than they might naturally be inclined to), since it either did or didn’t happen in a binary sense more than a “is this enough to count yet?” continuum.
In a DW game last month, the GM had us chose 3 keys (like in Lady Blackbird) instead of alignment/bonds: each had a title/theme and buyoff. At session end we’d check if we behaved in line with the title/theme, and if anyone helped us do so (This produced great interactions and that shallow, but fun characterization you mention). Then in the middle of play we could still have intentional moments by hitting a buyoff for 2xp in usually a dramatic transformative moment (for some of that deeper character development you mention).
Adam Minnie Report: One flag hit in 2.5 hours. Not zero, but not as many as before. I’ll keep watching.
Adam Minnie Report: One flag hit in 2.5 hours. Not zero, but not as many as before. I’ll keep watching.