Zornhau Forums

Cleaning up the Story Aspects Drives section and I thought that I might turn some of it over to you guys. Weirdly, coming up with examples on the spot is always way more of a pain in the arse than it needs to be and I thought you guys might enjoy contributing to the final product.

I am now taking suggestions for example Ambitions, Convictions, and Passions.

Ambitions
Uncover the lost secrets of the Hornswood
Cleanse this land of the sorcery that infects it
Gather lands and dowry worthy of Princess Anastasia

Convictions
Protect the innocent or defenseless
The laws of the gods are higher than any man
All people deserve to be free

Passions
Repay the Hornswood bandits in kind
Uphold the honor of Bloodsworn

Ambitions
Restore the rightful king to the throne.
Depose the pretender.
Win the tournament.
Clear my father's name.
Return the Eye of Agamotto to the temple.

Convictions
Better to die on ones feet than to live on ones knees.
Bravery is another word for stupidity.
Everyone has a price.
Always attack first.
Never trust the rich.

Passions
Avenge my brothers death.
My honor is my life; protect it accordingly.
Never allow cruelty to pass unchallenged.
Love is the highest law, pursue it without restraint.
Win the hand of fair Mathilda.

Ambitions
Bring the man who murdered my father to justice
Become the Great Inquisitor
Master the Rod of Ankyras

Convictions
Never back down, never give in
Never be a friend to rome

Passions
I find it hard to really come up with something here.

I think that the three paragraphs in BoB pg86 nails the thing quite expertly. It's true that a simple statement could fall under more than one category, as these can overlap. A simple way to adress this is to make one simple question: Why?

Example: Spread the word of the One True God to the heathens of the north.

• Why? Because you want to earn prestige, power, or both by pursuing the drive. That makes it an Ambition. Ofc it could be worded more carefully, like "Be the first who preaches the word of the True God to the heathens of the north".
• Why? Because you earnestly believe that there is only one True God and everyone should know that. That makes it a Conviction and could be worded better to "There is only One True God", and apply it to everyone, not just heathens of the north.
• Why? Because they raided your homeland and killed many of your people, you want to convert them to spare your homeland from further raids. This makes it a Passion and could be worded to "Convert the northern heathen raiders of my homeland to the word of the One True God."

Ofc it doesn't apply in every situation.

One thought I'm having is that a "Game of 10/20/x Questions" section which helps you flesh your character further will make selecting definite and concrete Drives easier.

nemedeus wrote:Passions
I find it hard to really come up with something here.

Imho "Bring the man who murdered my father to justice" is a Passion, not an Ambition. It is the character's reaction to something that happened to him on a personal level (his father was murdered) and has a definite outward focus for the character (the murderer).

An Ambition could be "I will bring all murderers to justice", a Conviction "All murderers should be brought to justice".

Benedict wrote: Imho "Bring the man who murdered my father to justice" is a Passion, not an Ambition. It is the character's reaction to something that happened to him on a personal level (his father was murdered) and has a definite outward focus for the character (the murderer).

An Ambition could be "I will bring all murderers to justice", a Conviction "All murderers should be brought to justice".

Ah, that makes a lot of sense.

Benedict wrote:One thought I'm having is that a "Game of 10/20/x Questions" section which helps you flesh your character further will make selecting definite and concrete Drives easier.

Ofc it doesn't have to be a formalized "20-Questions" thing. The trick is to translate your abilities and other stats to statements. Maybe one or two paragraphs with examples might do the trick better.

I'll elaborate more, using some examples from my existing characters in the Play-by-Post section.

Ferran (The Floating City)
Things were quite simple with Ferran, it was a "because of X then Y" approach.

• Make a name for himself: Ambition. I used his young age (22 years), low social class (Low Freeman), and Trade (Sailor). Which makes him rather non-famous, hence his ambition to become famous.
• Hates the Spanish Rule: Passion. Used Ferran's nationality (Catalan) and historic facts (Catalans were subjugated by the Spanish Throne).

Ruthard (The Storm)
Ruthard was a bit more complicated. The approach was "because of X then Y and in conjuction with Z we get W". Kind of.

• Avenge father Felix: Passion. Ruthard has Stigma Flaw (Albino) and is an orphan. Father Felix adopted the albino orphan which the rest of the village loathed and feared. Ruthard also has Proficiencies A. Which led to Trade: Mercenary. Which led to Class: High Freeman (Landscknecht captain). Why did he become a merc? Because Georgius (Felix's apprentice) killed father Felix, put the blame on Ruthard, and turned the villagers against the albino "demon". Ruthard fled the village for his life and joined a merc band.
• Hates the Organized Church: Conviction. Given his predicaments and anguish by Georgius, his exposure to violent fighting as a merc, and the historic role of the Church at the area, Ruthard came to the conclussion that the Church is comprised of false ministers of God.

Because of the above Ruthard also got the following: Secret Flaw (Georgius is a murderer), Bloodthirsty Flaw and Hardened Edge (due to exposue to murder, deceit, and hard battle from young age), and Infamy (The villagers called him the White Devil, he adopted the monicker as a merc to intimidate his foes).

Using a Flaw and a defining ability (high Prof) resulted in a complex backstory for the character which unveiled like completing a puzzle.

Both approaches (simple/complex) worked great (for me that is). The trick is asking the right questions imo.

It's interesting that you use a "stats first" approach to making Drives. I tend to go the complete opposite direction and start with the Drive and then build the character around it. Probably because I usually GM and am more practiced at coming up with characters on the fly and then stat blocking them out as it becomes necessary.

For example, for Neith Kahin in the Release the Hounds game, I starting with the drive "Root out the sorcery that infects this land" because I wanted to see how S&S played in a setting with magic. From there that drive implies that Neith is
a) a foreigner (the sorcery infects "this" land, not "my" land)
b) is wise to the ways of magics
c) is someone who fundamentally opposes magics

From there taking the flaws Superstitious, Uncompromising, Outsider, Enemy Dro'Tar (Demon) were easy
and the skills Command, Oration (Sermon), Lore (Diabolism) Background (martial monastery) rounds him out to be some kind of religious missionary.

Getting a good amount of synergy between your Drives and your other stats (especially Flaws, in my opinion) is pretty key. If you have the "proud" flaw and no drives available to back you up when someone spits in your face, you are going to have a tough time.

When you get to the real high level stuff, whether you write a drive as a Ambition, Conviction or Passion is really about signaling to the GM what you want to be included in the game and what kind of obstacles he should be putting in front of you. Let's compare the same idea, in the three different forms:

"Drive the Saxons from England." This is an ambition, as it rests on a tangible goal. In this case, the GM should be challenging that goal. This drive isn't interested in moral debate, it's just a straight forward goal with logistical challenges. So, every time they push the Saxons back in one area, have some more more pop back up somewhere else. The way to spur this character to action is to dangle a big payoff challenge in front of them, like a mission into enemy lines to destroy their supply chain.

"The Saxons don't rightfully hold England." This is a convictions since it based on a belief system, so challenge that belief system philosophically. Does this belief system hold when your King pledges fealty to the conquering Saxons? Spur this character to action by having Saxons doing things rightful rulers normally do, like collecting taxes and building roads.

"Saxons are no better than dogs." is a passions that stems from an emotional response. So, challenge the emotions morally by introducing Saxons that actually, aren't that bad afterall. Maybe after a battle a Saxon drags their unconscious body from the battlefield and patches them up, or that cute girl they have been flirting with turns out to be half Saxon. What if his countrymen are acting just as badly? It is kind of funny that the most violent drives, the passions, are the ones you DON'T meet with force like you would an Ambition. Spur this character to action by having Saxons acting like dogs.

Where you can, you want to play off Drives against eachother. For example, if a player has "Saxons are no better than dogs." and "Defend the innocent", find out what happens when they see a countryman attacking a Saxon child.