Connecting Worldbuilding to System (Part 3)

We've got our general abilities sorted. Now to distribute them into starting clusters.

A starting cluster in SNAFU is a culture, occupation, calling, or some other element that forms the basis of a character. The types of clusters in the game guide the types of stories that it tells.

Walkabout uses cultures, occupations, and a single calling which all characters follow. The cultures describe the type of people they grew up around, and what sorts of tasks and values these people are known for. Every character in Walkabout begins their story by working out what their parents cultures were, then choosing on of those cultures to follow. They might be from a farming community, a group of travelling nomads, a scavenger enclave on the radioactive edges of an ancient city, a neo-tribal group, a formerly wealthy elite who hid in a fallout shelter, or something else. Each has a range of associated skills, talents, and knowledges that are passed down and valued. The occupations describe how someone earns their keep, and type of activities they perform to add to their community (or take away from it). Occupations help set the context for the types of jobs that are regularly found in the world, andhelp set the stage for the types of other folks that might be found along the way. Characters may flitter from occupation to occupation, and are actually expected to over the course of their development. Finally, all characters in Walkabout are considered to belong to the "Wayfarer" calling, which serves as a central anchor point and heart to the group. It's a game about spiritual investigation and rebalancing the world, so this provides a bunch of abilities that favour that type of activity. 

Familiar is based in a modern setting, but is more about transcending the mundane world, reaching for the mystical, and using magic to rip open the bonds that have kept people marginalised for generations. Using cultures to represent socio-economic and ethnic stereotypes would be problematic at best and could arguably run the risk of being outright prejudicial. We know our world, so players can use their own knowledge of reality around them to fill in the blanks rather than needing some shorthand tropes and templates to get into the right headspace. Instead, familiar uses a range of elemental essences that reflect the inner desires and ideologies of the characters (those with a fire essence are passionate, those with wood essence are more sensual, etc.). To go with this the different styles of magic have associated abilities that go with them, so these become an alternate form of cluster. 

In each game,characters are built up from a range of clusters that provide options, and players choose from these options to assemble the core before adding a range of random elements that flesh the character out.

I'm thinking that our pirate game should probably stick closer to the Walkabout model.  

We've got 7 cultures already described (example here)

The Empire (El Imperio del Sol)

The Settlers (La Colonia)

The Church (La Santa Orden del Profeta)

The Pirates (Los Lobos del Mar)

The Privateers (Los Corsarios)

The Natives (Los Salvajes de la Isla)

The Cult (La Orden de la Luna)

We've also got 7 types of bloodline heritage described (example here) 

Nullans are found in every culture. They gain no bonuses or penalties wherever they may be found. (No special abilities)

Dhampyrs are fond of ritual and like positions of power, thus they’d be more likely to be found among the Empire or the Church, and less likely to be found among the Settlers or Natives. (Abilities: Nightvision/Light sensitivity, Unnatural Strength/Hunger, Unliving)

Faeblood are dreamers and travellers, but typically work alone, thus they’d be more likely to be found among the Settlers or the Cult, and less likely to be found among the Empire or Pirates. (Abilities: Empathy/Emotional sensitivity, Intuition/Fatebound, Dreamer)

Wyldkin border on the bestial, sometimes violent and usually pack oriented, they’d be more likely to be found among the Pirates and Natives, and less likely to be found among the Church or Cult. (Abilities: Animal Ken/Bestial Urges, Fear/Savage, Lesser Lycathrope)

Avatars often claim descent from angels and saints and are more likely to be found among the Church or the Cult, they’re less likely to be found among the Natives or Settlers.  (Abilities: Healing/Dependency, Aura/Faithbound, Demigod)

Incarnates are more natural in their spiritual origins, they’re more likely to be found among the Natives or Settlers, and less likely to be found among the Empire or Church. (Abilities:  Sense Magic/Magic susceptible, Superstitions, Totem)

Purebloods are nomads who like to blend into a mixed crowd, they’re likely to be found among the Pirates and the Privateers, and less likely to be found among the Empire or Natives. (Abilities: Negate Magic, Unnoticed, Purify, Eternal)

Each of the bloodline heritages is more likely to be found among certain cultures, and less likely to be found among others... so that gives us a good framework to develop some randomisers. Nullans are the most common, and are basically the "humans" of the setting. Other than them, each of the bloodlines also has a pair of natural strengths and weakness, and an exclusive occupation that only this bloodline can follow. At the time I wrote this, 14 years ago, I was calling the bloodline benefits "Abilities", but in the SNAFU system they'd be called "Advantages" or "Traits" (an advantage is linked to a variable die, while a trait simply applies a bonus of penalty to the final die roll in situations where they might be applicable). I'm liking the idea of traits here.

For each of the cultures and bloodlines, a cluster of abilities and an advantage needs to be developed. A cluster is 7 abilities, an advantage gets more powerful based on how many of those abilities the character possesses. Where possible, a cluster should have 4 common abilities, 2 uncommon abilities (underlined) and maybe a rare one-off ability (exclusive to that group, bold and undelined). 

The Empire (El Imperio del Sol) - Academics, Appearance, Bluff, Charisma, Etiquette, Honour, Music, [Advantage: Imperial Prestige] 

The Settlers (La Colonia) - Athletics, Brawl, Constitution, Crafting, Farming, Herbalism, Survival, [Advantage: Community Network] 

The Church (La Santa Orden del Profeta) - Academics, Charisma, Honour, Intimidation, Occult, Prayer, Ritual [Advantage: Faith]

The Pirates (Los Lobos del Mar) - Gambling, Intimidation, Leap, Ropework, Seafaring, Swimming, Swordplay [Advantage: Crewmates]

The Privateers (Los Corsarios) - Bluff, Honour, Investigation, Navigation, Ropework, Seafaring, Swimming [Advantage: Letter of Marque]

The Natives (Los Salvajes de la Isla) - Athletics, Herbalism, Music, Poisons, Seafaring, Stealth, Strength [Advantage: Local Lore]

The Cult (La Orden de la Luna) - Academics, Arcana, Bluff, Music, Occult, Ritual, Stealth [Advantage: Favour of the Old Gods]

Nullan - Athletics, Awareness, Brawl, Etiquette, Music, Survival, Swimming [Advantage: Starting Occupation]

Dhampyr - Appearance, Awareness, Honour, Intimidation, Occult, Swordplay, Survival [Advantage: Commanding Presence] 

Faeblood - Arcana, Awareness, Charisma, Etiquette, Herbalism, Occult, Perception [Advantage: Fey Illusions]

Wyldkin - Athletics, Brawl, Constitution, Intimidation, Riding, Strength, Survival [Advantage: Natural Weapons]

Avatar - Academics, Awareness, Appearance, Music, Occult, Perception, Ritual [Advantage: Enhanced Senses] 

Incarnate - Alchemy, Herbalism, Intimidation, Medicine, Occult, Riding, Stealth [Advantage: Animal Speech]

Pureblood - Bluff, Charisma, Navigation, Occult, Perception, Stealth, Survival [Advantage: Crowdblending]

Note that there is nothing more powerful about the rare abilities, they just don't appear as often. At this stage, I think all of the common abilities have been allocated to at least one of the starting clusters (if not two)... if they haven't, then I'll make sure to include them among the starting occupational clusters. I've only added two rare abilities ("farming" and "prayer"), but I think the inclusion of automatic traits for the bloodlines makes for some fun differences in the base character types.

Since SNAFU is all about relationship webs, it's good that in our worldbuilding exercise we've already indicated how the various bloodlines and cultures relate to each other. We're still not finished here.