[RPM] Fortune Potion

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I had one player spend 10 CP in a single combat. He was awesome for that scene but missed out on buying stuff later.

That's a point that nags me about using the character creation metagame currency as the narrativist control metagame currency.

10 CP worth of awesomeness in one scene, versus 10 CP worth of awesomeness in every scene to follow? That would be an easy choice. So "awesomeness now" has to greater than "future awesomeness" for a given price. It's hard enough to judge that ratio. But the net present value of future awesomeness also depends on the length of the game to come. In a one-shot, there won't be any future awesomeness. In a long-running campaign, never investing in your character is just going to leave you behind (which depending on the group may or may not cause problems). So there's no one right answer.

It seems easier to use two different currencies. With no mechanism to trade one for the other, you don't have to worry about the conversion rate.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

That's a point that nags me about using the character creation metagame currency as the narrativist control metagame currency.

10 CP worth of awesomeness in one scene, versus 10 CP worth of awesomeness in every scene to follow? That would be an easy choice. So "awesomeness now" has to greater than "future awesomeness" for a given price. It's hard enough to judge that ratio. But the net present value of future awesomeness also depends on the length of the game to come. In a one-shot, there won't be any future awesomeness. In a long-running campaign, never investing in your character is just going to leave you behind (which depending on the group may or may not cause problems). So there's no one right answer.

It seems easier to use two different currencies. With no mechanism to trade one for the other, you don't have to worry about the conversion rate.

My players tend to the former rather than latter and like slow advancement for the sake of plot. YMMV

[PK]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

That bit is specific to MH. Power-Ups 5 and the Basic Set put no such restrictions on Buying Success.

Not quite true. The original rule on p. B347 ends with a strong admonition against it, if not an actual ban: "To keep the PCs from winning every battle with a series of critical hits, the GM may choose to forbid purchases of critical successes, at least in combat."

Then Dooming Foes (PU5, p. 5) starts with: "The GM will usually want to forbid bought critical successes in situations where they visit critical failure, serious injury, or comparable disaster upon an NPC or a fellow PC. “No buying critical hits in combat” is the most obvious facet of this."

The only "special" thing about the MH1 rules is that they go beyond a strong warning and establish it as a hard rule. However, in practice, there's no difference other than tone -- because as always, the GM will have the final say about the situation.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by PK

Not quite true. The original rule on p. B347 ends with a strong admonition against it, if not an actual ban: "To keep the PCs from winning every battle with a series of critical hits, the GM may choose to forbid purchases of critical successes, at least in combat."

Then Dooming Foes (PU5, p. 5) starts with: "The GM will usually want to forbid bought critical successes in situations where they visit critical failure, serious injury, or comparable disaster upon an NPC or a fellow PC. “No buying critical hits in combat” is the most obvious facet of this."

The only "special" thing about the MH1 rules is that they go beyond a strong warning and establish it as a hard rule. However, in practice, there's no difference other than tone -- because as always, the GM will have the final say about the situation.

Consider me admonished. ;-)

I always treat anything as "With GM discretion" so my brain must have skipped over that. I'll leave my post as is however, since yours is there.