Serendipity: It's All Part of the Plan

[Engurrand]

How would you price a modifier on Serendipity such that your fortuitous occurrences are the result of off-screen planning?

To use this modified Serendipity the player must concoct a reasonable plan which would result in the desired occurrence, and explain how and when they set it into motion. The plan can't change anything the characters have already done on-screen. It may have been set in motion at any time in the past, but it has to have unfolded off-screen. Because such plans almost always involve NPCs, this trait may not be appropriate in every campaign, and the GM may require an influence or reaction roll to avoid unintended side-effects.

The modified advantage would then, effectively, let the player benefit from hindsight in designing the perfect plan, x times per session with x being ranks in the advantage.

At first I was thinking it was an enhancement. But in writing it up, it's looking more like a limitation. I'm eyeballing around -15% - basically requires skill roll -10% + Accessibility (have to have a good story) -5%.

Thoughts?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Fortunately, I Saw This Coming (no, really it's a Pyramid article by PK - go get it. It's amazing and does exactly what you want).

[Engurrand]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Fortunately, I Saw This Coming (no, really it's a Pyramid article by PK - go get it. It's amazing and does exactly what you want).

I meant price in character points, not price in dollars.

/sigh. Yeah yeah I'll spend the money.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Engurrand

I meant price in character points, not price in dollars.

/sigh. Yeah yeah I'll spend the money.

Look, I know I shill for the company sometimes, but PK's work on that article is so amazing it's worth $8 alone. I promise you. It's VERY good.

[Engurrand]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Look, I know I shill for the company sometimes, but PK's work on that article is so amazing it's worth $8 alone. I promise you. It's VERY good.

You are correct, sir. PK answers my question directly and in great detail. $8 well spent!

Edit: this trait is going on every character my GM(s) will allow. It's gratifying to see my eyeballing on price wasn't far off. I really love the extra detail and tie in with gizmo.

[whswhs]

When I ran a capers campaign, after the players rebelled against actually working out a plan in full detail, step by step, and then playing it out and having everything work, I came up with a variant rule: The "planner" character got to roll against Leadership, and for each point of success, he got one "fortunately, I planned for this!" Intelligence Analysis or other information gathering skills could act as complementary skills.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Engurrand

You are correct, sir. PK answers my question directly and in great detail. $8 well spent!

Edit: this trait is going on every character my GM(s) will allow. It's gratifying to see my eyeballing on price wasn't far off. I really love the extra detail and tie in with gizmo.

Told ya so. :-)

[lachimba]

Requires skill roll is about right.

About the same as using precognition.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by whswhs

When I ran a capers campaign, after the players rebelled against actually working out a plan in full detail, step by step, and then playing it out and having everything work, I came up with a variant rule: The "planner" character got to roll against Leadership, and for each point of success, he got one "fortunately, I planned for this!" Intelligence Analysis or other information gathering skills could act as complementary skills.

I always thought the opposite made sense for Big Bads and GMs that aren't amazing at planning what super intelligent player characters might do.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I always thought the opposite made sense for Big Bads and GMs that aren't amazing at planning what super intelligent player characters might do.

OMG! Stop giving away all my GMing secrets!