Using a Board for My Life With Master

         The following is an idea based on a suggestion on The Forge that you could use a visual representation as part of My Life With Master play. Rather than just scribbling numbers on the character sheet, you could represent where the characters are by positions on a board or other diagram. I suggest using a Go board or a square grid miniatures map. The two axes represent the two main progressions of the game: Love and Self-Loathing. A sample is shown below.

         Each minion has a primary piece representing the minion on the board, showing your Love and Self-Loathing. Each minion also has a connected Weariness token -- the distance the token is behind the primary piece indicates current Weariness. A minion piece could be any boardgame piece, or perhaps an appropriate miniature figure. The Weariness token should be flat so that the piece can be on top of the token, representing zero Weariness. The rules for token movement would be as follows:

• When you gain 1 Love, move both your piece and Weariness token up one step.
  If your Weariness token moves past the Fear line, the EndGame is triggered.
• When you lose 1 Love, move both your piece and Weariness token down one step.
• When you gain 1 Weariness, move your Weariness token down one step (i.e. away from your piece).
  If the Weariness token would be farther than Reason from your piece, your minion is captured instead.
• When you gain 1 Self-Loathing, move both your piece and your Weariness token right one step.
  If your piece moves past the diagonal Reason line, then the Horror Revealed is triggered instead.

Note that this graphically represents the progress of the minion, and portrays Weariness as a growing trail which the minion has to drag forward. The absolute position of the Weariness token indicates how many dice the minion rolls to resist the Master. An interesting aspect is the lines on the board which graphically represent the triggers for the EndGame and Horror Revealed. If you would like to be fancy, you could attach the minion piece to its Weariness token by a measured length of string (or other material) representing a number of steps equal to Reason. This would graphically represent Weariness dragging the minion back from their Goal.

         In the diagram below, the pieces are represented by bullet marks and the Weariness tokens by squares. Green is Love 3, Weariness 2, and Self-Loathing 3. Purple is Love 2, Weariness 1, and Self-Loathing 5. Note that when your piece crosses the red line (representing Fear 4), the endgame is triggered. The Blue Line represents Reason 5 -- for a lower or higher Reason that line would be shifted left or right.

         Note that the end-game outcomes may also represented by board-game actions. So as a piece approaches or passes the Endgame line, the positions of other pieces will show what their possible fate is.

• If the Weariness token is below the diagonal line, the minion may be killed.
• If the Weariness token is above the diagonal line, the minion may integrate itself into the society of Townspeople.
• Try swinging the Weariness token to left of the piece, keeping it the same distance from the piece. If the token goes off the board to the left, the minion may flee, run away, or wander off -- giving up on its struggle.
• If, when swinging the Weariness token to the left, the token is to the right of Reason (i.e. the point where the diagonal line hits zero), the minion may destroy itself.
• If the minion piece is on the starting line (i.e. Love 0), the minion may emerge from the ashes of the Endgame as a force of Fear in its own right.

So if the Endgame is approaching and you want your minion to be integrated, you must struggle to keep your Weariness token above the diagonal line.