Steve Jackson Games Forums - I'd like help with a new disadvantage

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I'd like help with a new disadvantage

Converting a character's concept from another game the Player wanted to keep a flaw of theirs. They were born under a bad sign and sometimes fate conspired against them. This anti-luck is easy to write up, but much harder to price. I'd like some help making it playable, and fairly priced.

Quote:

Bad Luck
Variable
You were born under a bad sign, and fate seems to conspire against you!

Bad Luck: Once per hour of play, the GM may make you reroll a successful die roll twice and take the worst result. They do not have to declair that the fates are against you until the first roll is made.

Extraordinary Bad Luck: As above but it can happen every thirty minutes.

Ridiculously Bad Luck: The gods truly hate you. Every ten minutes you may need to roll.

Unlike Luck, your bad luck may affect any cooperative roll you are involved in. But at least it doesn’t’ transfer to rolls only made by others.

Special Limitations
Aspected: Your Bad Luck applies only to one specific class of related tasks, such as athletics, social interactions, or skills you use at your job. “Combat” is a valid choice, but it only affects weapon skill rolls, active defenses, and ST or DX rolls for close combat – not DX rolls to avoid tripping, HT rolls to survive, etc. -20%.

Re: I'd like help with a new disadvantage

This seems worse than canonical Unluckiness, so just reversing the sign for the comparable Advantage might be a reasonable pricing.

I don't think this is a good idea though. It's placing a dual burden on the GM, who not only has to remember to apply it at the proper interval, but also has to try and keep it balanced with similarly priced disads. The model borrowed from Luck (and its relatives) is already one I disfavor so using it in a negative fashion makes it more unappealing.

Re: I'd like help with a new disadvantage

Yeah, I'd say that this isn't so much Fate conspiring against the character, but Fate hosing the poor bastard continuously. Unluckiness is bad enough as it stands.

Re: I'd like help with a new disadvantage

Seemed to totally missed that, Thanks for pointing it out.

Re: I'd like help with a new disadvantage

Personally, I've found that trying to reproduce an aspect of one game system into another exactly is often problematic, and more trouble than it's worth. I'll join the chorus and suggest going with Unluckiness.

Cursed is possible, but unless the player wants to see their PC horribly hosed (and quite possibly dead soon), I generally limit that to NPCs.