Re: Saga system from Kevin P. McDonald on 2005-01-19 (HeroQuest-Rules)

From: Kevin P. McDonald <paul_mcdonald_at_...>
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 12:31:58 -0500

Inspired by the saga system discussion, I played around with the improvement limit numbers and found that I can load the improvements early in the timeline, which might work better for some games. That way the PCs become movers and shakers much earlier, while still not becoming gods before the end of the first decade. When thinking about this, remember that the exact method a narrator uses to manage PC development over time is entirely story Dependant and therefore varies from game to game - one size does not fit all. I use this advancement scale as a rule of thumb.

My new scheme bases the max rate of advancement per year on the number of masteries that a hypothetical character possesses in his/her best ability. (I say 'hypothetical' because I use one standard advancement rate limit for all PCs in my game.) Any year where the hypothetical character starts with one mastery in his/her best ability has an improvement limit of 4 points. Each additional mastery slows the rate of improvement by one point, until at four masteries the rate of improvement is 1 per year. I found that the total advancement over 35 game years using this variable scheme is almost exactly the same as a steady 2 points per game year. One point to consider is that a 4 point limit on advancement is meaningless if the players don't have sufficient opportunities to spend HP during the year. This means the narrator will probably want to run an extra adventure or two during each of the first few years, which is a good way to establish the setting anyway.

What does this look like in practice? Taking the max starting ability rating (7w) as a base line for 1621, I get the following yearly limits:

     1625 = 3w2
     1631 = 1w3
     1641 = 1w4

I am also playing with the idea of not allowing HP to increase abilities higher than 20w3. HeroQuests would be required to improve exceptionally high abilities. I have a long time before I have to decide, though.

~Kevin McD