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Old 06-01-2018, 01:02 PM   #1
johndallman
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Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

Destiny [-5, -10 or -15] is a supernatural disadvantage, notionally mental, and the disadvantageous version of the Destiny advantage. Either version means that your life is not entirely under your own control; with this one, you will end up doing something unfortunate and pre-ordained, and you don’t know what it is. When you chose this disadvantage, and its level, the GM needs to decide what it will be, and tie it into the plot. The larger the disadvantage value, the worse the consequences for you and the world. It won’t kill you at the levels below [-15], but at that level, you will either die or be utterly ruined, and the consequences for others will be severe.

Destiny appeared, as “Wyrd,” in the first edition of Vikings, and by the time of the second edition, it had been moved into Compendium I. A Viking campaign is a good framework for a terrible destiny, faced honourably and with courage, but this doesn’t suit all campaign styles.

If you survive your Destiny, you must buy it off. Prudent character design arranges for enough Wealth, Status, Reputation, or other disadvantages that can be lost as consequences of doing something terrible, to balance the cost. If you can’t or won’t pay it off, you acquire Unluckiness [-15], even if your Destiny wasn’t that large, unless the GM prefers that you acquire another Destiny, a Divine Curse, or something else.

Since the GM does not need to tell you what your Destiny is, they are at liberty to replace or modify it if their original plan becomes untenable. Compendium I suggests that it should be impossible to learn unambiguously what someone’s Destiny is, and that seems appropriate for many settings.

Destiny as a disadvantage is not commonly found on published templates: it’s too tied to a campaign or plotline to be standard issue. Fantasy has an option for taking on Destiny, via an oath, and it’s a possible campaign-starter in Fantasy: Portal Realms. It’s a template option for Horror’s Mystics, where it can also be a manifestation of a curse, or an effect of trying to get out of Corruption. Madness Dossier associates Destiny with reality shards, and Infinite Worlds points out how time travel can cause it. Several Monster Hunters templates have this as a disadvantage option, and that series has alternative mechanics for both kinds of Destiny, but the expansion in Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys only covers the advantage. Power-Ups 6: Quirks has a quirk-level Destiny, and Supers has a way to acquire one via precognition. Urban Magics has a system of enslaved ghosts, via oath Destiny, and Zombies can have a Destiny that’s exploitable.

I’ve never seen this disadvantage in use. As a GM. I would not forbid it, but I would not be enthusiastic, because I usually design campaigns to continue indefinitely. Have Destinies been significant for you?
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Old 06-01-2018, 04:33 PM   #2
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
I’ve never seen this disadvantage in use. As a GM. I would not forbid it, but I would not be enthusiastic, because I usually design campaigns to continue indefinitely. Have Destinies been significant for you?
As a GM I would be very dubious. PCs get into scrapes, and mess up: it's what they do. For a Viking campaign, I agree it might work (but then there are social implications, because everyone knows about your Wyrd), but it seems too vaguely-defined for me to feel comfortable with it.
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Old 06-01-2018, 05:26 PM   #3
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

It should be done with imagination. Either it is spectacular(slay the mightiest dragon of all) or it is just plain twisted so that someone can come about fulfilling it in some odd way no matter how it turns out(he is fated to marry his sister and gets magical amnesia). In fact it requires a little railroading but the railroading should be done in a stylish manner.
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Old 06-01-2018, 05:28 PM   #4
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

I don't design campaigns to run indefinitely. As a rule, my campaigns have been conceived as lasting two years of monthly episodes. My current GURPS campaign is an exception; I originally planned it to last up to five years, and when C and I moved to Riverside, I went on visiting to run further sessions. But I don't expect it to continue indefinitely.

However, I've rarely seen Destiny in a player character design. The only exception I can remember is one of my early GURPS campaigns, Oak and Ash and Thorn, where each of the PCs had a 15-point secret advantage, with the proviso that it would be revealed when it came up in roleplaying. I gave one of the five PCs the Destiny of confronting the Dark Lady of Ulster on the battlefield. (As it worked out, this was not a scene of combat, or not primarily, but one of mental conflict, as the Dark Lady tried to persuade Gwyneth to change sides and save her life. It was quite a dramatic scene.)

I wrote up rules for GURPS Supers for using Precognition to foresee another character's future, which would then be written up as a Destiny.
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Old 06-01-2018, 05:39 PM   #5
jason taylor
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I don't design campaigns to run indefinitely. As a rule, my campaigns have been conceived as lasting two years of monthly episodes. My current GURPS campaign is an exception; I originally planned it to last up to five years, and when C and I moved to Riverside, I went on visiting to run further sessions. But I don't expect it to continue indefinitely.

However, I've rarely seen Destiny in a player character design. The only exception I can remember is one of my early GURPS campaigns, Oak and Ash and Thorn, where each of the PCs had a 15-point secret advantage, with the proviso that it would be revealed when it came up in roleplaying. I gave one of the five PCs the Destiny of confronting the Dark Lady of Ulster on the battlefield. (As it worked out, this was not a scene of combat, or not primarily, but one of mental conflict, as the Dark Lady tried to persuade Gwyneth to change sides and save her life. It was quite a dramatic scene.)

I wrote up rules for GURPS Supers for using Precognition to foresee another character's future, which would then be written up as a Destiny.
That sounds pretty good.
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Old 06-01-2018, 06:03 PM   #6
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

Wait, default Destiny isn’t transparent to the *player?* I thought it was merely unknown to the *character.* I’ve had two characters with specified negative Destinies tied into parts of their intended character arc- a vivisectionist and medical pioneer in a magical setting -5 Destined to kill a very important patient by being so fascinated in their unusual condition that she lost sight of treating it, and a super with a volatile, dangerous power -10 Destined to lose control at the worst possible time.

The GM never objected, and the disads certainly felt worth the points when they came up.
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Old 06-01-2018, 08:19 PM   #7
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

Could use it like a reverse/negative version of Higher Purpose; you get -1 penalty to rolls per -5 points if you find yourself in a situation bad enough that failing will bring suitable amounts of doom.

For example, a roll to save your True Love, figure out the right question to ask The Fisher King, sabotage the Rite of Burning Faces, shoot The Devil in the back, and so on.
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Old 06-01-2018, 09:12 PM   #8
jason taylor
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

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Originally Posted by ajardoor View Post
Could use it like a reverse/negative version of Higher Purpose; you get -1 penalty to rolls per -5 points if you find yourself in a situation bad enough that failing will bring suitable amounts of doom.

For example, a roll to save your True Love, figure out the right question to ask The Fisher King, sabotage the Rite of Burning Faces, shoot The Devil in the back, and so on.
Speaking of that, if you and your true love are destined for each other you can always get killed and find each other in another life.
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Old 06-02-2018, 03:11 AM   #9
johndallman
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Destiny

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Originally Posted by Toptomcat View Post
Wait, default Destiny isn’t transparent to the *player?* I thought it was merely unknown to the *character.*
That seems like the obvious interpretation of:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Basic Set, p48
The GM will secretly determine the nature of your Destiny, according to its point value and the dictates of the campaign. ... Note also that a Destiny may change as the campaign develops.
The GM definitely keeps secrets from the players in most RPGs. Of course, they can adopt a player's idea about a destiny, positive or negative.
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