If the Bound by Conviction system inspires you, you can make your own game with it! You may use the system as it is and design a standalone scenario, take the system apart and tweak the mechanics, or take bits and pieces of the system and incorporate it into a new game you are designing.

Making a Standalone scenario

Here is a step-by-step guide on designing your own Bound by Conviction game/standalone scenario:

1. Read the Core Rules and sample scenario.
2. Come up with your own “prison” setting. Give it a name, a description, locations of interest and potential activities. Modify the prompts on the “Prison” Circumstance if necessary.
3. Create the Warden, a terrifying villain with some degree of authority and a dark conviction. Give them a CONVICTION (Belief) and a GENDER. Modify the prompts on The Warden Circumstance if necessary.
4. Go through the rest of the Circumstances, modifying the descriptions and prompts to fit your “prison”.
5. Come up with colourful characters for the setting, “prisoners” with CONVICTIONS who strive to be their authentic selves despite the oppressive environment. They are the Convicted—player characters of your game.
   • Give each of them a name and backstory.
   • Give each of them a CONVICTION (Belief) and a CONVICTION (Crime).
   • Write down potential applications of their CONVICTIONS as extra prompts.
   • Give each of them a GENDER, a special ability that fits thematically with the Convicted and their CONVICTIONS. Then give - it a suitable name, perhaps one inspired by music.
   • Give each of them a tie to the Warden.
   • Include the Bond questions (to be answered by the players at the table).
6. Borrow text from the Core Rules, changing things as you see fit.
7. Provide content warnings and discussion of safety tools.
8. You now have a Bound by Conviction game!

(Sometimes, it is more of a iterative process, where the creation of the Convicted gives you ideas to refine the “prison” setting and Circumstances.)

Tweaking the System

In a way, Bound by Conviction is designed to be a universal system about power and resistance, but it may not fit exactly what you want for your narrative. Feel free to do what you want to the game mechanics, and here are some suggestions to get you started.

Rewriting the Circumstances

The traditional role of a Game Master is broken down into the Circumstances and distributed between the players. They are used to direct the narrative with a specific theme and vibes, and you might want to modify them or design new ones to suit your game.

For example, perhaps you are writing a cyberpunk game and want technology to play a huge part in the narrative. You may want to introduce a new Circumstance that directs players to interact with the cyberspace.

If your “prison” is a dystopian setting where neighbours are constantly spying on one another for the state, the line between “prison guards” and “prisoners” are blurred, so you may want to combine The Guards and The Gangs Circumstances into a single one.

The Economy Circumstance highlights the scarcity in the setting. If your game is set in a hostile environment such as a scorching desert or space, you may want to rewrite the Circumstance to highlight the lack of water or oxygen as an ever-present threat to the characters.

The default Circumstances are antagonistic, designed to put the “prisoners” in their place. Perhaps you want to include Solidarity as a new Circumstance, offering the Convicted a reprieve from the oppressive environment.

Inter-PC mechanics

In the original Belonging Outside Belonging system, there is the lure mechanic. The lure prompts other player characters to help set up your character for a chance to shine.

Bound by Conviction forgoes the lure mechanic for a streamlined and modular character creation process, as well as putting an emphasis on the Convicted’s struggles against the Circumstances (especially The Warden). In your own game, you might want to think about mechanics that incentivise interactions between player characters.

On GENDER

GENDER as a reality-altering power is inspired by Judith Butler’s writing on gender performativity. It is a statement on how one presents oneself in words and deeds has an effect on our social reality.

You may want to consider how other marginalised identities, by living authentically without being assimilated into the mainstream, to be the basis of your reality-altering power.