BIND's Story Point System

The Problem

While I’d hope to rock up at the gaming table and just game with friends, the DM had other ideas. Everyone had to write a character back-story. Having three jobs at the time, I didn’t feel enamoured with my homework, but a while later, I had read enough about the campaign world to begin writing something that could fit into it.

A few people had character backstories which entered the plot, but not mine, and this was a good thing. With five players, the DM had a monumental task ahead: to fit all of those ideas into an existing campaign, with limited time.

Very few people can write well, and I don’t mean this as an insult. It’s a rare talent. It demands training, but training does not guarantee ability, so the group produced what you’d imagine. A halfling who had lots of siblings. A rich elven princess. Standard stuff.

Well, mostly standard. The rich elf meant this character required loads more starting money than any other character. It made sense for the story, but from the point of view of the rules, one player just received a whole bunch of free stuff.

The Solution

Each player in BIND starts with five Story Points, and spends them at any point to add some small deus ex machina from their history.

A group of elves sit away from the bar’s hearth, drawing imaginary landscapes across their table’s top. Their song-like speech sounds pretty, but you can’t glean the meaning.

    I know Elvish!

    I'll spend a Story Point, so I know Elvish.

How would Mossrank know Elvish?

    I've learned so many Elvish songs from years of touring and singing, that I
    basically know the language at this point.

Sounds about right. Okay, so the elves are plotting a robbery…

You arrive tired (mark down another Exhaustion Point), and find the archers on the wall don’t wave back to you. They only shout, asking about your business here. The gate remains closed.

    We need help.  But maybe...maybe this is my hometown?  What's it called again?

“Driechspike” - spend two Story Points. An archer finally recognizes you, and shouts ‘welcome home!’.

The goblin-caves lie four miles South, and the goblins themselves live at least half a mile in. One entrance remains unguarded, as the traps set down by a lich remain in place.

    I'm not sure the three of us are really up for this challenge.  Anyone else
    we could take along?

No, just you three, and Mossrank’s donkey.

    Story Point!  I know a guy...my cousin, or something.  He could come with us
    and fight?

Okay, spend a Story Point. This sounds like a random character, so roll one up, and we’ll see what your ‘cousin’ is like, and he can join you until the end of this session.

Notable Features

• The Stories produced may not be riveting sagas, but they are relevant. They enhance the current activities, which makes them inherently more interesting.
  • “I have a cousin, who’s a guy of some kind” is a realistic ‘backstory’, but pointless.
  • “My cousin is coming on this mission with us” is helpful input.
• The Stories blend perfectly with the world, without demanding any homework, because they exist in response to the world.
• Story Points let people tell the group who their character is, but work just as well when fleshing out the history of a ‘murder hobo’.

Without any mini-novellas, or anyone having to read about the world’s background, every PC has a fully-realized backstory, grounded in Fenestra.

Unexpected Bonuses

• Players have a limited store of deus ex machina moments for dire situations.
• The ‘Character Pool’ slowly builds from the characters people introduce.
  • Once a PC dies, their player can pick another from that Character Pool, which means that the troupe will already know that new character.
  • No more awkward introductions for a complete stranger who has no real business completing someone else’s quest - instead, we have a known agent, who has just learnt of their friend/ cousin/ apprentice dying, and decides to join the troupe once again.
• Death has less sting when the PC had nothing going for them.
  • The system doesn’t ask for heavy investment from a player up-front. Investment comes slowly, so PCs should be stronger by the time anyone’s attached to them.

System Failures

Nobody spends any fucking points.

Story Points don’t regenerate. They exist to create a story, then cease. As a result, players don’t spend any, fearing they may need them for later. The only remedy I could think of? Grant XP simply for spending the points. I’ve not played a game since implementing this ugly kludge, so I can’t say if the incentive scheme will work.

For all the uses of the system, and despite players universally liking the idea of the system, very few actually use it.