With Turn, my shapeshifter game that’s pulling from AW with a few things I’m patching together otherwise, I have two elements of setup: town building and relationships.

Town building (talked about a little here: http://www.briecs.com/2017/02/town-beginnings-in-turn.html) handle the history of the town, political and social conflicts, and so on. John W. Sheldon and I have been doing various things to show how these different aspects impact a game. When you create the towns, you create more bloodlines than players, so there is always an option to build a new character or have a new player join.

Relationships are just questions. There’s no mechanical impact. They give some narrative guidance for how you interact with the other players. While your relationships with other PCs directly impact progress and gameplay, they are not given any associated stats or bonuses. That way, someone can come in without messing up the mechanical layout, and leave without it, as well, in part because (as some of the relationship questions indicate), there is always someone to disappoint, to make proud, and hurt. No math required.
briecs.com – Town Beginnings in Turn