[Legends of Lanasia] Destiny Points
dindenver:
So,
This is the most significant non-conflict mechanic in my new fantasy game Legends of Lanasia.
Destiny Points are designed to be the players' reward for good play.
This is defined as:
- Engaging in the GM's contributions
- Entertaining the group
- Contributing to the story being told at the table.
I have very specific ideas of what these look like, but for the purposes of brevity, I will keep it short and sweet.
So, the Destiny Points do not have a direct mechanical effect (you cannot spend them to alter a die roll or re-roll or anything like that).
Their only use is for the player to ask for their reward in the form of story currency. The list of uses is as follows:
1) Introduce an event to the story
2) Introduce a plot twist
3) Introduce a sub-plot
4) Introduce a new NPC
5) Introduce a relationship with an existing NPC
6) Introduce a sub-quest
7) Introduce am item to the scene (this might be a magic sword, pile of gold or something more important to the PC like their mother's locket).
It is important to understand that once the Destiny Point is spent, something in the game will change. And the player spending it should determine what that change is.
I am going to let players besides the GM and the player spending the Destiny Point to veto, but only on two conditions:
1) Genre conventions (like, maybe they can find a golem instead of a robot)
2) Disruptive (the sub-quest takes them halfway across the world when there is a lot happening locally already)
Once that is out of the way, there are two pairs of questions that need to be answered:
1) "How big is the change?" or "How much effort does the character still need to exert?"
So, the player has to be able to answer one of these questions, Then the other is answered automatically based on their answer. So, if the change they want is earth shattering, then the player will have to spend a monumental amount of effort.
2) "What is the Mechanical effect?" or "How much effort has the character exerted?"
Again, the player answers one and the other is answered automatically. If the character already put a lot of effort to achieve this change, then the mechanical impact should be big as well..
So, to break this down to a step-by-step procedure, this is how it goes:
1) What type of change?
2) What is the change?
3) Exerted/Size? (questions 1 above)
4) Effort/Mechanics (questions 2 above)
5) Agreement (the players all think it is fun/fair and it is incorporated inot the story being told at the table)
So, what do you guys think, does this look fair and/or fun?
Dave M
Chris_Chinn:
Hi Dave,
This is definitely a workable idea.
If you get a chance, you may want to look at Houses of the Blooded or FATE. FATE uses fate points spent in a similar manner, except without the formalized "what does it do, exactly" process. HOTB is a bit more specific, in that points are earned in a similar manner to what you're outlining, but more importantly, the game reinforces the idea of how they're to be earned and used, which I think will be crucial.
Given that Destiny points, here, are used for the right to "ask" for a change, you'll want it to be clear for both the players and the GM of what is an expected level of change and an expected level of cost/effort in return.
You don't want players spending points to "cut the earth in half" all the time, and you don't want GM's stonewalling reasonable requests ("I have a friend in this town" "But only if you spend 10 years looking for him! LOL!"). It might be good to list some things as guaranteed requests that don't require massive GM vetoing, at least.
The other thing to look for as you're playtesting, is if players actually DO go through the effort of earning these points- since the points don't have a specific and definite reward, but rather, the opportunity for a reward, some players might just avoid dealing with it altogether.
Chris
dindenver:
Chris,
In previous playtests, that was the case. Some players had a sort of creative block and didn't want to engage it. Others used it and enjoyed it. I think the issues with the previous edition was that the rules were more loosey-goosey and less precise. It sort of trusted the players and GM to know what I meant. In the new version, I will be ratcheting down the description of the mechanic so that more people will have the same expectation.
The main hitch I think will be item-related. That is part of why I wanted to tie effort to mechanical effect. If they want a sword that can cut the world in half, then they better have earned it.
I was going to do a fancy point-based system, but I like the linked questions much better. Also, each question will only have three possible answers:
Example
"How much effort has the character exerted to accomplish this change (even retroactively)?"
a) No effort the character has exerted in this or previous scenes can be linked to this change
b) Some effort from this or previous scenes is related, but it doesn't seem like the character could have accomplished this yet
c) All the steps necessary to accomplish this change have already been narrated in this and previous scenes.
So, when they answer this, then the following question gets answered automatically
"What is the Mechanical effect?"
a) Small mechanical effect (+1 if the conditions are right)
b) Moderate Mechanical Effect (the item provides luck points equal to your Destiny Points per day)
c) Large mechanical effect (The item turns one luck point spent into a number equal to your Destiny Points).
And, if they want to run it the other way (answer the mechanical effect question), then they just have to justify the effort already spent requirement of the other linked question.
It is not perfect, but if the rules are written well, it should help players come to the same conclusions regarding what they want for their character as rewards for good play.
Thanks for taking a look at this, I really appreciate it.
Dan Maruschak:
So you've got a mechanic for players to get what they want: they spend destiny points and they get it (with caveats, apparently).
You've also got a mechanic for players to get what they want: they make it the stakes of a conflict and win.
How do these two systems interact?
dindenver:
Dan,
Good question.
Well, in truth they don't directly interact. Setting stakes is about what are you fighting for. Destiny Points is about "You won, what should your character get as a reward (more story, more loot, more trouble, whatever you like)?"
Also, Destiny Points work if no one is trying to stop you from getting it, Stakes (which are part of the conflict mechanics) only work if someone is trying to stop you from getting it.
To put it another way, the idea behind Destiny Points is to say "After a big adventure, it is important to me that my character earns X." For you, it may be a plot twist, for me it might be a cool sword, for Chris it might be a cool castle. This is a reward, but it is customizable to what the player wants.
Whereas, Stakes are designed to be the logical outcome of a clash of interests. In other words, the Conflict mechanics separate, "I am arguing with this NPC because they acted like a jerk to me" from "I am arguing with this PC in order to recruit them to my side of the war." One would be role playing with little or no mechanics, the other would be a conflict.
Now, the alliance might be able to be accomplished with a Destiny Point, but if that were the case, it would be defined what the character had to do to win over the NPC, not how badass the guy stopping him from joining your side was.
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