Relationships Are Not a Number

There is no affection meter. No "Romance +10 = girlfriend." Relationships in this system are not tracked on a scale — they are built from events, and the people in your world remember them.

What people remember

Characters carry the history of how you've treated them: betrayal, loyalty, sex, kindness, humiliation, promises, arguments, gifts, danger, jealousy, sacrifices, lies, and shared history. A single act can mean more than a dozen pleasant conversations. A betrayal can outweigh years of goodwill — or a sacrifice can rewrite a lifetime of distance.

People are complicated

Because relationships aren't a number, they can be contradictory in ways a meter can't express:

• An NPC can love you and still disagree with you.
• They can desire you and dislike you.
• They can forgive without forgetting.
• They can leave — even if the relationship was good.

There's no "score" to max out, which means there's no guaranteed outcome. You win people over the way you'd win anyone over: consistently, honestly, over time. And you lose them the same way.

What this means at the table

Treat relationships as real, gradual, and earned. The GM plays NPCs as people with their own feelings, memories, and limits — not as progress bars. If you want someone to trust you, act in ways a person would trust. If you hurt them, expect it to matter later. There is no shortcut, and no safety net of a full meter.