Things just get harder...

[ffutures]

This is a very tentative idea for skill etc. use in the fanfic game.

Basically, the Diana system makes some skill use very easy. I think I want to add a mechanism so that the first time around easy things are easy, but if you keep on using the same shtick again and again there are penalties. Eg. Clarkson has "Drive really fast" 6, the first time he uses it he just has to roll one success, The second time and subsequent times he uses it he needs at least two successes. But if he had a second relevant skill such as "soup up vehicles" he could use that again without penalty.

I think it may be too complicated for the sort of cinematic games I have in mind - maybe the GM just needs to ask for more successes as the adventure progresses, it might be simpler.

Thoughts?

Comments

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

too complicated, I think - I'm trying to avoid book keeping.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

Maybe some form of token or card?

The first time you use a skill it's at max. Use it again and you turn the card a quarter turn, or flip the token, or something like that, and it's level is lowered.

Use it creatively, or use a different skill (in a significant way) and the card/token is flipped back to full strength.

No real bookkeeping, just a visual indicator.

Hm. Thinking in terms of a referee (my old Traveller roots coming out), what about using a football analogy? If the GM feels you're getting in a rut your skill/talent/whatever gets yellow-carded. If you use it with a yellow card you get a minor performance penalty and it gets red-carded, which is a major performance penalty. Use it creatively, or try another shtick, and the GM can remove penalty cards.

To work easily you'd need a character sheet with room for tokens (and only a few skills/talents/whatever, but that's how I tend to do things so this would work for me.