Honor, Some Thoughts

So, in Houses of the Blooded John Wick recounts the three questions Jared Sorenson tells him every designer should ask themselves, three questions once answered should form the core of all game design:

What is my game about? How does my game do that? What behaviors does my game reward and punish?

So, what is Legend of the Five Rings about? To me? Fantastic samurai? No, that's what it contains, that's what we play, but that's not what the game is about. An epic story? Getting closer, but still that's the generic label we want to slap on every game, every adventure: an Epic Win. But that's now what we're talking here.

The old tagline: Where Honor is Stronger than Steel.

I like that. Always have. So, Legend of the Five Rings is game about Honor. In the way that Houses of the Blooded is about Tragedy, and all its rules reflect that. In the way that D&D is about killing monsters and gaining treasure, and all its rules reflect that (hell, 4E may be the best culmination of it, the purest form of D&D ever created for that reason alone; of course, that's not what I want in a game, but I see the appeal).

Honor. What in the traditional game reflects that? the Honor Rank. It's a measurement. But what does it mean? How does it affect the game? What does it reward?

Very little. Seriously, look at all the Honor rules throughout the four editions. All of them have Awareness detecting Honor Rank, a complicated list of what gains and loses Honor on a sliding scale, and the Honor Test. You screw up a roll and replace it in some degree with an Honor Roll. A really small roll, compared to everything else you use to calculate dice pools. 4E adds a paltry static bonus, too. But if you fail an Honor Test, you lose an entire Rank! Who wants to risk that? I haven't had a player ever choose that option, and I can't blame them. 4E boosts Honor Rank to 10 Ranks, but that doesn't answer the basic problem, it just scales up a limited ability.

This is sad. The game gives you Honor Points and Honor Ranks and then provides no universal way to benefit you significantly. Its the most useless stat you can have.

No more. These rules will give Honor some teeth. Not huge gaping fangs that devour the rest of your characteristics, but something you can use. Something you want to use.

Right now I don't quite know how. A bonus to your rolls equal to your Honor Rank, an XkX bonus. You should actually burn an Honor Point for it, and only on a roll where your Honor is at risk. Which ought to be fairly often, really. I thought about how your Honor should affect others... but it shouldn't. No one can see your Honor (bye-bye, Awareness roll to check it out); it's internal. Glory is a socially accepted reflection. Honorable actions are Glorious (ask Aristotle). Of course, just the Honorable ones you're known for. So you can be Glorious and hide the Dishonor, or at leas try.

So, Glory Ranks can affect others. Gain a XK0 bonus to rolls against others when using High and Bugei Skills by burning a Glory Point, if the other is aware of who you are. You gain it by being Glorious, which is Honorable actions done publicly. Lose it by Dishonorable actions done publicly. And if the action is bad enough, you don't lose Glory at all it; it just transforms to Infamy. It's still Glory, but the terrible kind. And still gives you bonuses against those with lower Glory. But the bonuses are now Bugei and Low Skills. Hmm, I like this idea. Needs fine tuning. Thinking out loud right now.

More tomorrow.