hollowworld.uk

WHAT IS GOODWILL AND HOW DO I USE THIS SYSTEM?

We have a singular system in place with a couple of ‘rules’ which you are meant to follow. It is a system that is created to reward you for being a good member of the community and does so by getting you the DM attention your efforts deserve. The more you give, the more you get. This system is called “The Goodwill System.”

The GW system creates incentive to make beautiful stories together and rewards you for the awesome narratives you create. The GW system is an honor system. This means that we trust you will be able to govern yourself to follow the given rules to the benefit of us all. 

Through certain actions, you can collect GW points. These points can be spent to give you special perks that are not obtainable without GW. You need GW to develop your current character or community, start a new character with special abilities right off the bat, and retire an old character in a spectacular way.

The list on [This Thread] consists of things that we believe might interest you. 

GW is rewarded to those people who go out of their way to create a cool narrative for someone else. Most of the time, this involves letting someone get the better of your character in a meaningful way. The more impactful, the more points you get. Fundamental about this system is that the action must have stakes.

Examples are listed in [This Thread]. 

We have no plugins to keep track of the points. Like mentioned before, it is an honor system. We trust you to keep track of your own points. You must do so in your own “GoodWill Log.”

See [This Thread] for further explanation on how to set up your own log.

A WORD FROM OUR SERVEROWNER, BLARG - Bridging the Ludonarrative Gap

“I will acknowledge that Goodwill is admittedly a weird system that comes across as extremely gamey at first blush, so I feel like it’s important to clarify some ways in which you could interpret the mechanics more as narrative beats.

Why does my character become better as a result of losing? Think of it as learning from failure. Your character lost, and from that loss learned a lesson.

Why does my character become better as a result of me DMing something? While their friends were out doing cool shit like exploring the world or fighting a dragon, your character was clearly at home practicing the blade. Or looking up maps rumored to lead to lost artifacts. Or praying really bigly. Something like that.

I want Goodwill, but it feels too contrived for my character to ever lose. Yeah, it can feel contrived. You are, after all, the person writing the story and you are deciding to lose. However, if you’re struggling to make it make sense in context, consider the following: what would have to be true for your character to lose? They could run out of mana in the middle of the fight. Something outside of their control happens, like their cheap wooden shield breaking at the worst moment. Stuff like that.”