It sounds like a good incentivising element. You build the group's story, you get bonuses. That's a nice little cycle. That said, worth looking at what other mechanical cycles it feeds into and whether the impact is what you're looking for.

I think it's probably worth considering when a player can add a revelation (what limits or constrains it, when and why is it done?), and whether revelations have a limited number of times they can impact play (or a particular set of rolls).

I think it sounds fun, like adding minuitae in Shock: or brainstorming Motifs in Covenant it'll get the group all riffing off each other's ideas.

-Matt

Realms Publishing

I'm not sure how it will tie into the other mechanics, and I'm not sure I will until I get my next playtest done.

Revelations can, in theory, be added at any time, but will typically be added as part of the aftermath of a conflict. Or maybe they can only be added in the aftermath?

I don't (yet) have Shock: or (for shame - must remedy this soon) Covenant. Is there any sort of incentive for using motifs? Do they work the same as other traits?

Adding only in the aftermaths sounds good. It's useful as an incentive to conflict itself (I can only change the revelation map, and hence get more dice later, if I get involved in conflict). It also shows the impact of conflict on the emerging situations (conflict changes what we know). Whether that is what your game needs is, of course, another matter.

Here's a brief rundown of Motif stuff for comparison and ideas:

Motifs in Covenant are brainstormed at the start of play. When you use them on top of a normal edge in conflict you get a re-roll in addition to your normal D6. You then add a tick to that Motif, when the ticks reach the number of players it can't be used again. Each Motif can only be used once per conflict (this came from playtesting, where players often hammered one motif in a particular conflict many times with diminishing creative returns, worth considering for revelations).

Motifs feed into the play cycle in a couple of interesting ways. First off they help with an agreed creative vision in the group (I bring in an element we all agreed was cool, I get more dice). Second, they run out. This means early conflicts tend to be more even result-wise, later ones more drastic. This in turn feeds into consequences and their buildup. Which feeds into timing on resolving truisms.

-Matt

Realms Publishing

Hey Andrew, is it Six Bullets To Vengeance, or Six Bullets For Vengeance?

I thought it was "For", but Keith has it as "To" in his cover. I don't know which I prefer, they're both good.

Oh, and a bit late to this party on here. This isn't just an R-Map, right? Should it then have a name to distinguish it from one? Or is it an R-map after all?

I don't know if you have Sorcerer's Soul where the Relationship Map first appears as a technique (I think)?

Oh it's "for" - I had noticed he'd made that mistake on the tags on his lj, but hadn't noticed it had made it onto the cover. Good catch.

Hmm, I think it might just be an r-map by any other name, which somewhat takes the fun out of it (if not the usefulness). When first conceived I was planning on it just being used to track revelations and help them unfold in play, but that seems to have been diluted somewhat since I've written it down. Perhaps I'll rectify that.

No I don't (yet) have Sorcerer's Soul. Would you recommend it for understanding such things?

I don't think Sorcerer's Soul says all that much about R-Maps, it's a couple of pages here and there. It introduces them as a Technique for finding situations from source material, and the book provides examples. It's preparation for gaming more than anything else.

A lot of the reading can probably be made on the Forge by using the search function looking for "R-map" or "Relationship Map".

The R-map in Sorcerer doesn't have the protagonist on it. It's a map of the NPCs and situations (and the relationships on the map are of the kind "brother", "wife", "boss" rather than "killed by", etc.

Ron says "The relationship map is only the foundation for your story; it does not dictate any actions or events once the action begins. The map shows the existing obligations and relationships." (I probably saved you buying the book there, sorry Ron.)

So I think you maybe have something different. Maybe Rev-Map is OK as the name (it sounds cool), but I think you need to make crystal clear what it does do and what it isn't. People might confuse it with something they are already partly familiar with?

As for Sorcerer. It's cool to say that "it needs an overhaul and you need to read the Forge to get all the missing bits." I feel the truth is that while it may not be as clear as I would like it (it is after all many years old now), it is packed with techniques which are generally applicable to all story games. Most people bite on the shiny gems in the Sorcerer books (kickers, bangs, lines, veils) but I feel that in totality they contain wise words that are practically useful for gaming.

I also happen to like the writing style, but that could just be me.

In my opinion you could ignore all the rules and background stuff for Sorcerer and still find enough general gaming advice in the text to justify buying them. But you might want to look over them first and make up your own mind on them.

I own Sorcerer (and am working my way through it now, actually) but none of the supps (save Mu, if that counts, which provides a whole different set of lessons).

I think with the rev-map it is very tightly knit into how the game plays. It is meant to be a log of the various revelations that come thick and fast as the story unfolds (backwards, as you'll recall). It is a way for players to see them all laid out in front of them, see who ties to who, what ties to what, and to get inspiration (and reward) for tying their own ideas in.

It sounds a little book-keeperish, but it isn't at all. At least, not in my experiences so far! I'm going to give it a proper test at Conception.

Morningstar's grid for Grey Ranks is another one of these visual play aids that I find interesting. Once in play it's not book-keepish at all, I found that Jason's early character chart for that game made crystal clear where we were at and inspired us on where to go.

I'm hoping the Rev-Map will do the same.

Certainly with criss-crossing stories and paths, in a game like 6BFV you need something to keep all the ties out in the open.

Grey Ranks is a game I'm quite excited about. I've gone from being fairly anti the grid to being full-on want to make passionate love to it in a few months!

I revised the entire rules set to Six Bullets last night, and tweaked the rev-map a bit too. It involves placing dice on it to indicate interest and investment in a particular revelation, then rolling those dice when you incorporate them into conflicts.

It might have just made it all clunky, or it might have made it key. We'll see. I've got another 6B post coming sometime soon too, but for now I should write the damned thing instead of talking about it!