Social Risk Resolution, Part 1
So here we are with social risk. It's a little fuzzier, since there aren't quite so many mechanical effects in there. When you take a physical risk, there are broken bones and bleeding head wounds and maimed limbs. When you take a social risk, there are lots of ways you can get hurt. You deal with stress, people you love leave, and you become self-absorbed. When put that way, I guess it becomes about resource management. We already have stress, measuring your threshold for bad things. And when that's depleted, you run into mental illness and the inability to deal with more stress (that's the self-absorption bit).
So what we need is a metric for people. Your support base. This needs to represent people who have lots of acquaintances as well as people who have a few close friends. As I'm envisioning it, friends act like protection to your stress. Having friends means that if an outcome says you take 25 stress, you may only take 15.
Lets say that friends fall into 3 main categories: family, friends, and acquaintances. Family doesn't have to be blood, and not all blood is family. That drunken uncle you can't stand doesn't count as family, but your BFF does. Each acquaintance gives you 1 point of protection. They help, but if you lose one it's no big deal. They're also easy to make. Each friend gives you 3 points of protection. They're important, and every friend you have gives you a +1% to social risk skill checks. They talk you up, give you pointers, and stand up for you. That's a big deal. Each family gives you 7 points of protection. They also give you a +3% to social risk skill checks. They're like friends but willing to take a risk for you. If you go down, they may go down. You're invested in each other. But if you lose one, it's a huge blow.
Let's say that at the beginning of Character Creation, Family, you begin with 1 family member. It's probably your mom, but not everyone has a mom. Maybe it's your father, or your grandmother, or a foster parent. Then, in each term you gain 1 friend point. So by the time you're 20, you have 20 friend points (FPs), plus 1 family member. Acquaintances cost 1 FP, friends cost 3 FPs, and family cost 7 FPs. Furthermore, you may pay the difference between the friend categories to 'upgrade'. So it costs 2 FPs to move an acquaintance to a friend, and 4 FPs to move a friend to family.
This is an important point here: if you save FPs (you gain 1 FP, so you can't afford to move that acquantaince up to a friend yet) you get no benefit. There are no friends with benefits here. If that friend is a friend who's only 1 FP away from family, they're still just a friend. That's one of the incentives to have acquaintances. But the benefits for having friends and family is also pretty impressive. This also keeps you from saving FPs and spontaneously developing a bunch of family. You're really better off moving them through the ranks and learning to trust them.
So what we need is a metric for people. Your support base. This needs to represent people who have lots of acquaintances as well as people who have a few close friends. As I'm envisioning it, friends act like protection to your stress. Having friends means that if an outcome says you take 25 stress, you may only take 15.
Lets say that friends fall into 3 main categories: family, friends, and acquaintances. Family doesn't have to be blood, and not all blood is family. That drunken uncle you can't stand doesn't count as family, but your BFF does. Each acquaintance gives you 1 point of protection. They help, but if you lose one it's no big deal. They're also easy to make. Each friend gives you 3 points of protection. They're important, and every friend you have gives you a +1% to social risk skill checks. They talk you up, give you pointers, and stand up for you. That's a big deal. Each family gives you 7 points of protection. They also give you a +3% to social risk skill checks. They're like friends but willing to take a risk for you. If you go down, they may go down. You're invested in each other. But if you lose one, it's a huge blow.
Let's say that at the beginning of Character Creation, Family, you begin with 1 family member. It's probably your mom, but not everyone has a mom. Maybe it's your father, or your grandmother, or a foster parent. Then, in each term you gain 1 friend point. So by the time you're 20, you have 20 friend points (FPs), plus 1 family member. Acquaintances cost 1 FP, friends cost 3 FPs, and family cost 7 FPs. Furthermore, you may pay the difference between the friend categories to 'upgrade'. So it costs 2 FPs to move an acquaintance to a friend, and 4 FPs to move a friend to family.
This is an important point here: if you save FPs (you gain 1 FP, so you can't afford to move that acquantaince up to a friend yet) you get no benefit. There are no friends with benefits here. If that friend is a friend who's only 1 FP away from family, they're still just a friend. That's one of the incentives to have acquaintances. But the benefits for having friends and family is also pretty impressive. This also keeps you from saving FPs and spontaneously developing a bunch of family. You're really better off moving them through the ranks and learning to trust them.