Help approaching bonds differently

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Help approaching bonds differently
« on: April 24, 2013, 08:46:17 PM »
I'm going to run an open-attendance 'campaign' on G+, similar to what I've seen people do with OSR games:  a 'job of the week' kind of freebooter campaign where every week whatever players are interested/available can join in and see what jobs their character can take on.  

The hitch is this:  Players may return or may not, so how do I handle bonds when there may be some returning characters, some characters that are gone for a while, then return, etc.  

I suppose everyone could just have an archive of bonds, some will just be with players who are 'off camera.'  It would be like real life-I have bonds with most of my coworkers, even though I'm not always doing a project with them all.  Some bonds are used in some projects, some in others.  

I was also going to offer players a list of 'tavern bonds' since this campaign will center around a tavern.  Things like "_____ stole money from the barkeep and I can prove it," or "the rumor is that ________ is good to have on your side in a fight," and "_________ once blurted out a painful secret of mine when he was drunk."  

Any other thoughts/clever ideas?  
« Last Edit: April 24, 2013, 10:19:15 PM by Eormenric »

Re: Help approaching bonds differently
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2013, 09:03:18 PM »
Yes: use (or take inspiration from) the Planarch Codex!
Oh, the things we tell ourselves to feel better about the long, dark nights.

Re: Help approaching bonds differently
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2013, 10:06:07 PM »
Sorry, I didn't mention that, even though it's a HUGE inspiration for all of this.  I'm using a lot of the P.Codex, just with a more traditional setting. 

Re: Help approaching bonds differently
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2013, 11:59:07 PM »
Bonds wipe at the end of the session.  Always write bonds anew with the characters present at the beginning of each session.  Any continuity is on the players to maintain.