Re: Creating and playing a Lucky character

From: Chris Lemens <chrislemens_at_cAmQMQkiOMIBIXKmvv3XVrmoYcCM4SpEesfRQnFOpoqBx4avm0yJKoKt38Bt17Vk>
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 09:03:44 -0700 (PDT)

Others have pointed this out implicitly, but I think one thing that we are struggling with is that "Lucky" seems really broad, so needs balance. There are game mechanics that already provide this balance:
 

1.  It's a keyword. There's an implicit cost for that. Your player could have picked some other skill or whatever.
 

2.  As Jeff notes, that means it may be subject to a broad ability penalty.

3.  As Matthew notes, it is tough to use as a direct ability. Even someone who is lucky does not control the luck. They can't say "I pull out my luck and . . . " That means it might be only useful for augmenting. If it is an augment, then (as narrator) I would make the player follow the most interesting rules for augments. You always have to roll for the augment -- no auto-augment. You always have to describe how the luck works. A couple observations there: First, it seems pretty easy to describe how that would happen in combat. ("Shield strap breaks.") But how thw luck works may conflict with the target's abilities in ways that weren't known to the player. ("Magic shield.") Second, it seems a lot harder in a non-combat setting. How does luck come into persuading the tribal king to grant the punk's request for a horse? Maybe the clouds break (or, for Orlanthi, gather) as he is speaking. But any such use seems like a very broad use that shoudl be subject  to penalties.  Third, if the player really wants to maximize the impact of the lucky keyword, the character will have to do things to increase the role of chance in his life. Maybe he starts flipping coins to make decisions. Or challenging others to games of chance to overcome their resistance. That sounds really amusing to me.
 

4.  If you use the win-loss cycle, the opponent's ability will rise with your lucky character's ability. So there goes one source of imbalance.
 

5.  you might want to think about how the player gets to spend hero points on the keyword. If this is a magic keyword and his patron is the lady of credit, surely he has to pay her back. Maybe he has to play at the casino to raise the ability. And the house always wins in the long run, so there's just one place in the world where he's not lucky -- and he has to visit there frequently. If it is a mundane keyword, you might challenge the player to explain what it is he is doing in Glorantha to raise his "luck ability." A weaponthane can go practice; a law speaker can talk a lot; what does a luck master do? If the activity feels very specific, maybe the improvement will be to an ability under the luck umbrella keyword.
 

Chris