As I described in
this post, my friends and I played a game we liked (yay!) are are slowly getting our act together run the second season of it (yay!). The first post was about how we were trying to figure out how to deal with advances;* this one is about strings. We're hoping for input, particularly suggested questions (see below).
So, when we dug out our sheets, we had strings on people. Sometimes a lot, sometimes on NPCs that were no longer central to the story, and never with much idea of
why we had gotten them (Did we hit on them, hit them, cut them down to size?). So we decided to wipe the slate clean and start out with a fresh round of "backstory" like we would if we were making new characters. It'll refocus us on who and what we find most interesting while we figure out where we are post-summer-vacation.
This is the process we're following. We're not done formulating questions, and we won't answer them until we sit down to play the first session, just like normal.
Step 1: what are our current skins backstory moves? which ones do we keep and which do we drop?
We had two people who changed skins (Infernal->Chosen and Witch->Selkie) and one who didn't (Fae); all their current skins' backstory questions still seemed relevant, so we're keeping them.
Step 2: What questions should everyone answer?
Here are our ideas thus far:
"Who did you want to grow closer to this summer? Give them a string on you. Did you? If yes, gain a string on them; if no, they gain another string on you."
"Who did you miss over the summer? Give them a string."
"When people ask you what you did over the summer, there's one story that impressed people the most, and there's one person who would improve their opinion on you more than anyone else, and either you know it or they know it.. Gain a string on them." [This one's clunky in phrasing, but I like the idea]
Step 3: What questions should particular characters ask?
Obviously this is pretty closely tied to knowledge of the campaign, but.
For Logan, the Infernal-turned Chosen: Who has given you the most forgiveness? Take a string on them.
For Faolan, the Fae who might be trying to occupy the newly-vacated throne of the Faerie Queen: Who gave you the most help in your struggles over the summer in the Fae court? Give them a string on you.
Evelyn, the Witch-turned-Selkie: Who made you question your core values and hardened your heart? Give them a string on you.
*We ended up using the system as described there, in part because our "last session" (actually 2 or 3) after someone gained a Season Advance was long enough that the PCs had 7, 8, and 9 advances.