While this is somewhat of a distant concept, I want to expand on something that I wrote about a while back in an article on alignment systems in roleplaying games.

Basically, there are a lot of things that games do wrong with regards to attempts to represent a character's affiliation with particular worldviews and codes of behavior, and I want to take a look at them over the next few days.

This isn't anything that will go into a currently in-progress Hammercalled product, but it's going to be part of the Rules Reference 2.0, so you should see a published version of this before too long.

Why Affinity Trees?

Basically, the idea behind an affinity tree is that it permits the representation of a bunch of different things. It's not necessarily ideal in every context (for instance, religions don't always work well, especially decentralized ones), but it's a model for enough different situations that it works well.

Affinity trees represent lifestyles, professions, and religions by measuring where a character stands in the eyes of their fellows.

Let me give an example of how a particular affinity tree could work in practice.

This example is from a homebrew supplement I made for Degenesis, following one of the clans in that game's world. The rank system is more or less in line with the concept of affinity trees

Basically, this allows us to do three things:

• Emulate a class system by offering ranks in organizations that expect members to conform to traditional classes.
• Reward characters who fit certain criteria with tangible bonuses and special effects that wouldn't necessarily fit as talents.
• Give a clear line of progression for characters that also serves to give roles to keep them out of each others' special responsibilities.

We can layer on requirements, benefits, and codes of conduct to make interesting characters who have a very authentic connection to their game-world, at least when the execution goes right.

Initiation

One of the things that we can do is to create requirements for gaining trees. If these are narrative, we can allow this to happen in backstory for some characters, but we can also have XP costs or particular requirements to meet, which works well for things that measure character advancement.

Psionics in the Unsung Gods setting is an example of an initiation-based tree; it requires direct mental contact (via magic) with the Kithik or another psion, and as players become more advanced they unlock more of the magic system.

The Challenge of Advancements

One problem that we bump into is figuring out which role characters should take.

For narrative standing, this is easy. I think that these could actually give important boons to characters; one of the things I've noticed as I've been playing Morrowind is that there are some really cool quests that involve joining groups (e.g. completing a pilgrimage to join the Temple), and affinity tress can help deal with that.

Many of the challenges here come from the fact that Hammercalled doesn't necessarily provide an easy option for how to measure advancement for things that rely on

With things like social status that are based on competency, right now there's not a great way to measure that. I'm leaning toward things like "Grace > 30" or "X Specializations that link to Y (with Y potentially being multiple things) of value Z or greater"; this is bulky but is okay.

We can also set talents as requirements.

Reputation and Corruption

One thing I'm thinking about experimenting with is having a reputation system more generally built off of this system; it wouldn't necessarily function as a full affinity tree, but it could draw a lot of analogies from the system.

Corruption in the Unsung Gods/Othenar system works this way as well (in theory; I haven't started on it yet). Characters who do evil deeds or encounter horrible things become more corrupt, but I think that there's an interesting spin to be had on the idea that different characters might have a say in how they become corrupt, making it something more than the Humanity system of Vampire: The Masquerade (which, admittedly, already has rules to be tailored to different vampire cultures).

Stay Tuned

I'm posting what I have so far in the space after the break.

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Affinity Trees

Affinity trees serve to measure a character's affinity for philosophical, practical, and social structures.

This allows access to gated game content and provides more character individuation, as well as the opportunity to provide narrative effects in-game.

Affinity trees may be defined on a per-setting basis, with three examples given here.

Affinity Trees

Affinity trees are ways of representing a character's association with organizations, philosophies, religions, and codes of conduct.

They measure reputation, divine favor, and social rank. Whether these are clearly delineated in setting or serve as unspoken guidelines is not necessarily guaranteed.

Initiation

Joining a group is not always as easy as simply wanting to join.

For a character to gain an affinity tree, they must spend an amount of XP determined by the affinity tree.

In setting, there are often additional requirements for joining a group, and meeting them may either be mandatory or may reduce the cost of joining.

A character may only be initiated into a number of affinity trees equal to the tens place of their Presence.

Upon initiation, a character may assume any rank that they have met the requirements for.

Ranks

Affinity trees are broken into ranks; a tree can have any number of ranks, and these represent the varying levels that a character can join a group at.

Each rank is numbered, but it may be possible to have multiple ranks at the same level.

Advancement and Falls

Each affinity tree has its own requirements for advancement.

When characters meet these requirements, they may move up the tree to the next rank.

However, many trees or ranks have specific causes for a fall in rank.

Depending on the exact nature of the affinity tree, this may be an automatic process, or may be the result of deeds coming to light.

Naturally, this can create intrigue.

It is also possible that a character may fall to negative ranks, if a particular affinity tree has them, reflecting particularly overt shame.

Duties

Most affinity tree ranks have duties that a character must perform. A character who is remiss in their duties will suffer a fall from grace.

Benefits

Each affinity tree's ranks will list benefits that are available to a character.

These benefits are unique to each rank; as characters move up they may lose the benefits of previous ranks.

Talents

Comrade (1)

Gain a +5 to Presence when rolling to assist or interact with characters who share an affinity tree with yourself.

Inquisitor (1)

You are highly adept at rooting out corruption within your ranks.

When you seek to investigate the actions of another character, you gain a +10 to Awareness tests to uncover violations of the code of conduct of an affinity tree you are a member of.

Mercurial (1)

You may gain 1 more affinity tree than your Presence would normally permit.

Unimpeachable Character (2)

You have a heart of gold and your motives are pure.

If you do something that would cause a fall from grace (and a corresponding decrease in an affinity tree), you may instead decrease your maximum Adrenalin by twice your current rank in the effected affinity tree.

You maintain all benefits of your current status, but you may still seek to make amends to restore your position. Once you return to good graces, your Adrenalin maximum returns to normal.

If you fall from grace in the same affinity tree again while this talent is in use, your rank is decreased normally.

If you fall from grace in a second affinity tree, and you still have Adrenalin remaining, you may choose to apply this talent's effects to that tree.

At no point can this talent be used to prevent more than two rank reductions simultaneously.

Xenophobia (1)

When you are fighting an opponent who belongs to an affinity tree that is at odds with one of your own, you gain a +5 bonus to all attack rolls.