Just scrap the whole trust system. It is riddled with problems and gets in the way of roleplaying. A competent GM can appropriately play the evolving attitudes of the townsfolk without resorting to a flawed and rigid mechanic.
Im with you Voomer, I got rid of it. I don't like a rigid gamist system for something that should be handled by roleplaying.
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When I ran it I dolled out trust points very loosely and kept track of them secretly without telling my players they even exist. Really I just used it to remind myself how the PCs were treating the townsfolk and thus how I should be treating them in return. It just doesn't work well as a rigid mechanic.
It actually helped motivate my players to roleplay a bit by trying to help the town (buying drinks, singing songs, helping out in the field or at the temple). I suspect this is because I described the levels of bonuses they could get. But, hey, whatever works. A loose ranked system abstracted from specific points would have been better.
I suppose it would work well for prodding hack'n'slashers into RP, but I'm with Voomer and Alex. Heck, my players have to be reminded sometimes to quit chatting and go hit the demmed monsters. 'Trust' is the sort of thing that can be gauged well enough by actions and reactions, anyhow. At most, I'll be keeping a little 'diplomacy' table in my memo pad to track individual interactions.
Yep, thats exactly what I am doing, keeping notes on the interactions, and tracking how they react to each NPC. One of the things I did, is play the town as indifferent, uninterested in them, but once the events started and negative energy from the prison started seeping in, the locals got more aggressive and negative. I am making it clear that there is a negative supernatural influence over the town, and all signs point towards the prison.
The difficulty lies in the xp tied to the Trust mechanic. I decided that after a whole session of meeting everybody in town, and going through some of the events, I gave them enough xp to hit level 2. This way they enter the prison at 2nd, and I can track xp from now on without dealing with the system. They also managed some amazing rolls(rolled a few nat 20s) on the initial knowledge and research rolls, so I factored all that xp in.
I'm starting to GM CC next week and am planning to keep the whole trust system from the players. Most likely I'll just point it very blatantly to characters via Kendra straight after the funeral that this is a small town where trust must be earned. If that hasn't sunk already in after what happens at the cemetery...
I don't intend to keep track of "points". I'll take notes from social interactions, like Michael and Alex suggest. After all, this is a roleplaying, not point playing game, right?
Thanks for this, because the whole trust system has been gnawing on me for some time.
Heh, weird. My players tried to go into Harrowstone on day 2. They were anxious. I think we finished in 13 game days and that was because they spent a few trying to figure out the letters.
Sounds interesting. Let us know how it works out.
The penalty for Fear rising would be things like shops closing early/not opening. Less people available to assist during the Zombie Rising or other of those events. Church has less time/charges more for services because of an influx of scared townsfolk looking for assistance. Cases of accidental death because a person was mistaken for a zombie (mainly just makes the players feel bad).