Reworking Bad Destinies

[Anders]

I'm thinking about reworking Bad Destinies to be more like the Secret Disadvantage. The value would be the same as a Secret with the same consequences. On a roll of 6 or less, or if the GM feels like it, the Destiny rears its ugly head and there's a possibility that the Destiny comes true. If it does, there are immediate consequences and the Destiny disadvantage is transformed into other disadvantages of about twice the value.

So, Oedipus has a Destiny to kill his father and marrying his mother (making her the original MILF, I suppose). When the Destiny is revealed as having come true, he goes into exile (immediate consequence) and acquires the Blindness disadvantage and a Social Stigma as a Kinslayer, which is probably worth about -15 points. Together these disadvantages reduces his point value.

[jason taylor]

One thing to do is insist that they be reworked in a way that fulfills the letter of the destiny.

[Anders]

I don't know. People seem to be getting away with extremely loose interpretations of prophecy, so why not Destiny?

[Joe]

I like it. Not to point out the obvious, but the fun of having an Awful Destiny should be its potential to be tragically fulfilled at some point, thus ruining your day, letting you curse fate, rail against the universe, and so on. Good times. Using the Secret mechanic for this seem like a great idea.

The next thought in the cue: what about positive Destinies?

What would people think of a similar mechanic, as follows:
You take a positive destiny that costs a certain number of points. Until such times as the GM decrees that your destiny has been fulfilled, you effectively lose the use of those points - they're no good to you. But when your destiny is fulfilled, you gain advantages worth twice the original point investment.

This is a big point gain, but you effectively paid for it by not having the use of a chunks of points for a long time, as well as not being able to determine for yourself when that time is up.

Crazy? If you're very concerned with point-balance, then you might observe that this mechanic is point-balanced only when the character's positive destiny is fulfilled about half-way through the campaign. Of course the real question is whether or not it adds fun to everyone's game.

[Anders]

No. Not crazy at all. That's similar to the Heir Limitation (-50%), and that's canonical.

[Joe]

Originally Posted by Anders

No. Not crazy at all. That's similar to the Heir Limitation (-50%), and that's canonical.

Ah, that's right! I thought I recalled this kind of mechanic being used elsewhere, I just couldn't remember where. Thanks for pointing that out.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Joe

I like it. Not to point out the obvious, but the fun of having an Awful Destiny should be its potential to be tragically fulfilled at some point, thus ruining your day, letting you curse fate, rail against the universe, and so on. Good times. Using the Secret mechanic for this seem like a great idea.

The next thought in the cue: what about positive Destinies?

What would people think of a similar mechanic, as follows:
You take a positive destiny that costs a certain number of points. Until such times as the GM decrees that your destiny has been fulfilled, you effectively lose the use of those points - they're no good to you. But when your destiny is fulfilled, you gain advantages worth twice the original point investment.

This is a big point gain, but you effectively paid for it by not having the use of a chunks of points for a long time, as well as not being able to determine for yourself when that time is up.

Crazy? If you're very concerned with point-balance, then you might observe that this mechanic is point-balanced only when the character's positive destiny is fulfilled about half-way through the campaign. Of course the real question is whether or not it adds fun to everyone's game.

Awful can mean,"Awe inspiring" and not just "miserable". Ambassador Delenn has an Awful destiny. A thief in down below just has a miserable one. But I assume you are meaning a Gurps term. Even so the Destiny should be awe inspiring.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Joe

Ah, that's right! I thought I recalled this kind of mechanic being used elsewhere, I just couldn't remember where. Thanks for pointing that out.

They should receive some benfit before they fulfill their destiny, though. I'd give them one Destiny Point per 5 points of Destiny, but they can only be used to further the Destiny. Destiny Points can be spent as points in PU:5.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Anders

I'm thinking about reworking Bad Destinies to be more like the Secret Disadvantage. The value would be the same as a Secret with the same consequences. On a roll of 6 or less, or if the GM feels like it, the Destiny rears its ugly head and there's a possibility that the Destiny comes true. If it does, there are immediate consequences and the Destiny disadvantage is transformed into other disadvantages of about twice the value.

So, Oedipus has a Destiny to kill his father and marrying his mother (making her the original MILF, I suppose). When the Destiny is revealed as having come true, he goes into exile (immediate consequence) and acquires the Blindness disadvantage and a Social Stigma as a Kinslayer, which is probably worth about -15 points. Together these disadvantages reduces his point value.

This only works of course if the character has a Destiny that will leave him playable at all. If you're destined to become the future enemy of the group, or to be a human sacrifice to the World Serpent then disadvantage totals are irrelevant.

[dfinlay]

Note that by RAW, Potential Advantage (including Heir) requires you to spend the remaining 50% of the point value of the advantage when you finally get it. This is very much a good thing and I definitely recommend against letting people take a version of Potential Advantage that circumvents this.