Quote from: Itachi;1059162There's a difference between family as just background or a character creation option that gets out of the way as soon as the game starts, and family as a relevant, driving factor for the actual game.

Exactly. Whether just imagined and written down or rolled up on a lifepath, background is still background. If a family member from a lifepath exists to provide a modifier on the character sheet, then the modifier is what the player probably thinks of as important rather than the family member.

In Burning Wheel, part of generating your character through their Lifepath system involves skills acquired from your childhood.  Very in-depth character creation system.

Delta Green burns points from family and other relationships' strength (the relationships are called "bonds") in order to mitigate sanity loss (and can also protect you from it, to a limited degree).  

As the agents burn through their SAN, their bonds deteriorate, which is a nice mechanic (would be interesting to apply that to Humanity in VtM 1e, too, for example).  

Here's a sample from Delta Green Agent's Handbook - Bonds - page 36:

   Detailed Description:
Bonds

Bonds measure your Agent's relationships with the
vital people in his or her life: loved ones, family members
and close friends. A Bond can protect your Agent
from SAN loss (see PROJECTING ONTO A BOND on page
74) or offer a chance to repress the effects of a disorder
or temporary insanity (see REPRESSING INSANITY on
page 75).

Bonds are not merely motivations or things your
Agent likes. They are your Agent's connection to
humanity. An Agent with no Bonds is more susceptible
to psychological trauma than one who has people
waiting back home.

Your Agent's profession determines how many
Bonds your Agent begins with. The more trying and
time consuming the profession, the fewer Bonds your
Agent is able to maintain.

Each Bond begins with a score equal to your
Agent's CHA. Bonds' scores often deteriorate because
of your Agent's involvement in Delta Green. A Bond
increases if it is cultivated between operations (see
HOME on page 76). A Bond can never have a score
higher than your Agent's CHA. Any time CHA drops,
each Bond drops by the same amount.

Defining Bonds

Identify each Bond: "My Wife." "My Husband and
Kids." "The Platoon." "My Ex-Partner in the LAPD."
A Bond must be a real person or small group of people
who are alive and can be interacted with.

Bonds With Groups or Individuals

Whether a Bond is with a person or a group, a single
score applies. If a Bond with a group drops, the relationship
with each member of that group deteriorates.

A Bond with an individual is vulnerable in its own
way. If that individual dies or goes permanently insane,
the Bond is destroyed. A group Bond is destroyed
only if every member dies or goes permanently insane.
Either way, a Bond is permanently broken when its
score drops to 0.

Sample Bonds
1. Spouse or ex-spouse (individual)
2. Son or daughter (individual)
3. Parent or grandparent (individual)
4. Best friend (individual)
5. Coworker or partner (individual)
6. Psychologist or therapist (individual)
7. Spouse and children (group)
8. Parents (group)
9. Siblings (group)
10. Colleagues in an intense job (group)
11. Church or support group (group)
12. Survivors of a shared trauma (group)

Broken Bonds

When a Bond deteriorates, that relationship becomes
strained. Exactly what shape that takes in play is up
to you and the Handler (playing the NPCs).

Bonds often fall apart because of events beyond
your Agent's control. Your Agent's husband might
leave for another woman. One of the members of your
Agent's platoon might be killed. Your Agent's partner
in Delta Green could go insane. If a disaster harms the
subject of a Bond, that reduces the Bond's value by
1D4. If that disaster permanently removes the subject
of the Bond, that Bond is gone. Cross it off the sheet.

When damage to a Bond reduces it to 0, the relationship
is damaged beyond repair. Cross it off the sheet. The
only way to regain a Bond with that character or group
is to build it from scratch as if it had never existed (see
HOME on page 76 for details on creating new Bonds).

When you cross a Bond off, don't erase it. After all,
there's no forgetting a vital relationship that went bad.

EXAMPLE: As a computer scientist, Louis' Agent
has three Bonds. They are his fiancée, a young
son that he had in a prior relationship, and a
small group of crackers and programmers that
have remained extremely close since childhood.
His CHA is 10, so each Bond starts at 10.


I haven't used it in play yet, but I definitely like the concept.

Allan.

Ones that come to mind...

TSRs Marvel Superheroes: Family and the PCs civilian life fan be adventure elements at times. depending on the players and DM.

Adventures in Tekumel: The PC at startup has a family, or relatives and might even have had a kid or two themselves before the adventure even starts. How much that plays into the campaign is like all else dependent on the players and DM.

Oriental Adventures was another that had a bit of family background that might become relevant.

Most other RPGs leave it as a player creation with no system for it. If a player wants their PC to have a family then boom, there they are. D&D even had the suggestion that a replacement for a killed PC might be a relative.

Traveller 5th edition has a system for tracking the genetics of characters.

Quote from: grodog;1059582Delta Green burns points from family and other relationships' strength (the relationships are called "bonds") in order to mitigate sanity loss (and can also protect you from it, to a limited degree).  

As the agents burn through their SAN, their bonds deteriorate, which is a nice mechanic (would be interesting to apply that to Humanity in VtM 1e, too, for example).  

Here's a sample from Delta Green Agent's Handbook - Bonds - page 36:

   Detailed Description:
Bonds

Bonds measure your Agent's relationships with the
vital people in his or her life: loved ones, family members
and close friends. A Bond can protect your Agent
from SAN loss (see PROJECTING ONTO A BOND on page
74) or offer a chance to repress the effects of a disorder
or temporary insanity (see REPRESSING INSANITY on
page 75).

Bonds are not merely motivations or things your
Agent likes. They are your Agent's connection to
humanity. An Agent with no Bonds is more susceptible
to psychological trauma than one who has people
waiting back home.

Your Agent's profession determines how many
Bonds your Agent begins with. The more trying and
time consuming the profession, the fewer Bonds your
Agent is able to maintain.

Each Bond begins with a score equal to your
Agent's CHA. Bonds' scores often deteriorate because
of your Agent's involvement in Delta Green. A Bond
increases if it is cultivated between operations (see
HOME on page 76). A Bond can never have a score
higher than your Agent's CHA. Any time CHA drops,
each Bond drops by the same amount.

Defining Bonds

Identify each Bond: "My Wife." "My Husband and
Kids." "The Platoon." "My Ex-Partner in the LAPD."
A Bond must be a real person or small group of people
who are alive and can be interacted with.

Bonds With Groups or Individuals

Whether a Bond is with a person or a group, a single
score applies. If a Bond with a group drops, the relationship
with each member of that group deteriorates.

A Bond with an individual is vulnerable in its own
way. If that individual dies or goes permanently insane,
the Bond is destroyed. A group Bond is destroyed
only if every member dies or goes permanently insane.
Either way, a Bond is permanently broken when its
score drops to 0.

Sample Bonds
1. Spouse or ex-spouse (individual)
2. Son or daughter (individual)
3. Parent or grandparent (individual)
4. Best friend (individual)
5. Coworker or partner (individual)
6. Psychologist or therapist (individual)
7. Spouse and children (group)
8. Parents (group)
9. Siblings (group)
10. Colleagues in an intense job (group)
11. Church or support group (group)
12. Survivors of a shared trauma (group)

Broken Bonds

When a Bond deteriorates, that relationship becomes
strained. Exactly what shape that takes in play is up
to you and the Handler (playing the NPCs).

Bonds often fall apart because of events beyond
your Agent's control. Your Agent's husband might
leave for another woman. One of the members of your
Agent's platoon might be killed. Your Agent's partner
in Delta Green could go insane. If a disaster harms the
subject of a Bond, that reduces the Bond's value by
1D4. If that disaster permanently removes the subject
of the Bond, that Bond is gone. Cross it off the sheet.

When damage to a Bond reduces it to 0, the relationship
is damaged beyond repair. Cross it off the sheet. The
only way to regain a Bond with that character or group
is to build it from scratch as if it had never existed (see
HOME on page 76 for details on creating new Bonds).

When you cross a Bond off, don't erase it. After all,
there's no forgetting a vital relationship that went bad.

EXAMPLE: As a computer scientist, Louis' Agent
has three Bonds. They are his fiancée, a young
son that he had in a prior relationship, and a
small group of crackers and programmers that
have remained extremely close since childhood.
His CHA is 10, so each Bond starts at 10.


I haven't used it in play yet, but I definitely like the concept.

Allan.

Neat little system. I like it. But how exactly it protects the agent against insanity? It wasn't clear from your description.

All of them as long as the Game Master makes it a priority, and your character has one.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;1059605All of them as long as the Game Master makes it a priority, and your character has one.

I see a number of games that include family in the character creation but not many that take them into account during play.
There is always the 'danger" that the GM will use them against you but to me that doesn't make sense.
The GM can use anything or "nothing" against you. At least with family it is easier to associate the motivation. IMHO
=

In Hearts & Souls 2E, you make three relationships for your PC. Those can be used to "dump" stress (bad stuff) into, you explain what you did wrong--missed a kids recital, or forgot a date. To earn their ire, and recover that by gameplay, or let it recover over time. But it doesn't have to be family. Just relationships.

Quote from: Itachi;1059604Neat little system. I like it. But how exactly it protects the agent against insanity? It wasn't clear from your description.

From Delta Green Agent's Handbook - Bonds - pages 74-75:

   
Projecting Onto a Bond

When your Agent loses SAN, you may spend WP to
reduce the loss. The amount is always 1D4: roll the
die and reduce your WP by that much.

If your Agent still has at least 1 WP, reduce the
SAN loss by the amount of WP spent--the amount
you rolled--to a minimum of zero.

Now reduce a Bond's score by the same amount.

The next time your Agent interacts with the
subject of the Bond, decide what shape the projection
takes. Does the Agent grow hostile and angry, irrationally
blaming his or her loved one for imagined
wrongs? Does the Agent abandon the loved one in
favor of relationships with less importance and meaning?
The stresses faced by Delta Green Agents often
wreck the families and friendships that give them
strength.

EXAMPLE: After nearly dying, Agent Daryl loses
5 SAN, which brings him past his Breaking
Point. Desperate to stave off a new disorder, he
projects some of that loss onto his 8-point Bond
with his young son. He rolls 1D4 and it comes
up 3. He subtracts 3 from the SAN loss, losing
only 2 SAN. But he must reduce the Bond by 3.
The player decides this will manifest as distance
growing between them as Daryl struggles to cope
with his trauma.

Repressing Insanity

Sometimes it's easier to cope with mental trauma if
you pull strength and motivation from the relationships
that give life meaning. You may attempt to
repress the blind panic of temporary insanity or an
acute episode of a disorder by spending Willpower
Points. The amount is always 1D4: roll the die and
reduce your WP by that much.

If your Agent still has at least 1 WP after spending
the 1D4, describe how a Bond might help your Agent
keep it together and reduce the Bond by that much.

Now attempt a Sanity roll. If it succeeds, your
Agent suppresses the insanity or disorder and behaves
normally.

Either way, make a note to describe later how the
Bond has strained because your Agent has taken so
much support from it.

EXAMPLE: Agent Daryl gained a disorder and the
Handler decides it's alcoholism. A contact insists
on meeting at a bar. The Handler reminds Agent
Daryl's player that a nice, soothing Scotch (or
five) would smooth things out: this may trigger
an acute episode of Daryl's disorder. Daryl
fails a Sanity test and the disorder starts to take
over. That could be a disaster, so he attempts
to repress the episode. Daryl has a Bond with
his fiancée with a score of 7. He focuses on the
promise he made his fiancée to quit drinking. His
player spends 1D4 Willpower Points and rolls
a 1, so Daryl loses 1 WP. He loses 1 point from
the Bond, bringing it to 6. That lets the player
roll another SAN test. If it succeeds, Daryl stifles
his urge to drink, despite the temptation. If it
fails, his alcoholism kicks in. What shape the
damage to the Bond takes is up to Daryl's player.
It might mean a humiliating drunken phone call
where she realizes he's off the wagon again.



That help? =)

Allan.

Legend of the Five Rings has Family as major game element, and there are some mechanics over the various editions, mostly involving your ancestors granting you some minor goodies. I'm a huge L5R 1e fan and my campaigns always place PC family / clan very high on the list of stuff to mess with.

Both Arrows of Indra and Lion & Dragon have family-generation rules as part of character creation, given the importance of families in the respective cultures the games are set in.