The Gods Begin Seeing

Alright..I’m remembering a lot of the ho hum of this system came from liking a lot of Burning Wheel stuff…so life paths and beliefs are loosely structured around that.  

Skills

3 skills 'slots' at the start of and adventures, and like Burning Wheel, as far as I remember, things you aren’t skilled in are extra harder, sometimes near impossible. 

The idea here is that this makes the RPG have a bit more of a game element. Your problems need to be approached with your skills in mind, like solving a puzzle. Definitely going to keep this, and just pay attention to how it makes the players feel during playtesting. Will they catch on quickly or do they need to be prodded / does a mechanism need to be in place to communicate this puzzle aspect to them? 

Leveling Up

Leveling up is still kind of boring (not the skill acquisition mechanic, but the fate and hero points gained towards bigger swings of gaining stuff).

I LIKE the idea of an abstract level up. It's needed. Some things you get into the grit of, in this case skill acquisition and growth, but not everything can have that detail, not everything can be subject to careful culmination. It also gives you something to lock things behind…rewards essentially. 

But in my game it seems the reward is too boring, not thematically tied in, and takes too long to trigger. So, I’ve come up with 2 solutions on my bike ride this morning, one is small but impactful, and the other adds something very flavorful to the game and gives it some direction. 

Make it happen quicker. Within 3-5 sessions some or most players should level up. Why not. This has an added bonus of making the ‘hero point’ (which is the 1 major ‘experience point’ a player needs, gotten ONLY from a narratively interesting growth), something that they can see and work towards. It makes it integral to the game right from the start. I think that’s a great fix. 

Still inspired by The Odyysey… The leveling up will be changed. I’ll make a new section for this point because its kind of big…

The Gods See

When leveling up the player gets a few skills and similar bonuses as they are written to their character.  

Also

Most importantly A God / Force takes notice of their emerging herodom. The GM will assign a ‘god’ represented by a terrain, or type or interaction, or interest, or any number of things, such as:

Games

Love

War

Hills

Ocean

Lakes

Thunder

Rain

Sun

Speed

Plants

That character will be ‘helped’ by a God / force when working, acting, or whatevering in or around these things. Maybe let's call them “Forces”. The god is simply abstracted into improvised benefits when relevant. 

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So to be clear- an example 

Player is in a swamp, in past play the leveled up to gain the ‘favor’ of The God of Wind

The player needs to cross the swamp quickly, but is being tracked, tries to think of ways their God can help

They tell the GM they are going to try and hide their tracks, using the wind to throw their scent and mess up any sticks they break while walking.  

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The help will be mild boosts given by the GM. The players can creatively harness this or just receive it as a passive. This should make the players feel like their characters are potentially, conditionally powerful.  

Potentially, conditionally powerful. That’s good. 

Additionally…

Though this blog hasn’t looked at World Traits yet, the players will gain an adjective that is determined by the World Trait (World Trait is a trait that the GM gives to the game the players are playing, under each trait is a list of relevant list of adjectives and descriptions and things that easily flavor all interactions). 

 Every time the Force is ‘engaged’ (used?), an adjective gets added to it. Adj. Like

Grey

Political 

Squat

Light Purple

Concise

Angry

 With this the “forces” will have a personality, the bonuses are easily made to look different, to be unique each time, to have personality, and to even be double sided (probably many times). Without much extra work and barely any new rules.  

How will the ‘force be determined?

Probably the player will pick one of two presented. The presentation will be relevant to their context, where they are what they are doing. Or what their characters favor. Just something relevant. The pick between the two will be satisfying enough so that there doesn’t need to be huge thematic connection for it to be enjoyed.  

Clarity 

This type of mechanic is exactly what I love. Clarity. Simply, but meaningful.