Quote from: Lurkndog on April 27, 2024, 09:28:32 PMI see some problems with this approach.
1) Why does it matter whether you succeeded or not? You can learn just as much from failure. And as a starting character, you'll be failing a lot, and as GM there is good reason to reward failure.
2) Having to roll to see if your skills advance completely sucks. I say this from experience as a former Runequest player. It's hard enough to be a starting character without being unable to spend your xp. Especially when you then lose that xp.
3) By its nature, this will cause some players to advance faster than others, for no reason other than sheer dumb luck. That's not good. And if you say "over time it will all even out," you're wrong. The odds are exactly the same for each roll. The dice have no memory, and someone who pulls ahead because of a streak of lucky rolls is likely to stay ahead. And someone who falls behind is unlikely to catch up.
4) If you think it's bad when people get shafted once on advancement, wait until it happens twice right out of the gate. And it will happen twice to somebody. I wouldn't expect that player to come back.
5) How do you buy up new skills that you don't already have? What if nobody bought Cartography?
6) In Runequest, this encouraged what was called the "golf bag" approach, where players carried around a (figurative) golf bag full of different weapons, each of which they would use exactly once per session, to maximize their chances of getting a successful advancement check.
7) Some find the extra bookkeeping during play to be distracting. And the time spent rolling skill advancement checks comes out of game time.
Basically, this is point buy with extra steps. And those extra steps are problematic.
Quote from: Neoplatonist1 on April 27, 2024, 10:46:47 PMQuote from: SHARK on April 24, 2024, 01:28:10 AMI hope that I have encouraged you, brother!
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
I find your response and exhortation heartening, SHARK, and thank you for it.
Without giving us the right to defend ourselves and our loved ones God becomes a moral monster, and I'm happy to meet someone who sees a Christian way to avoid that horrible conclusion.
What Bible version do you use? Whom do you consult for Scriptural advice?
Neoplatonist1
Quote from: yosemitemike on Today at 04:46:38 AMThis is similar to how Call of Cthulhu does it. It works but there are some problems.
It encourages players to roll as many checks for as many skills as possible hoping to get a success. Characters will do things just to get rolls so they can maybe advance.
Certain skills will go up much faster than others. It will be whatever skills the GM calls for the most rolls with. In CoC this is usually spot hidden, listen and library use. Skills that rarely come into play will rarely if ever advance.
Quote from: jeff37923 on Today at 06:37:00 PMIndeed!
Now, if you REALLY want to go down a rabbit hole, grab a copy of CT Adventure 4 Leviathan. I believe that most of the prototype ideas which became the WH40K setting were first described in that adventure. It was written by GW, after all....
Quote from: BadApple on Today at 06:40:30 PMSo Classic Traveller, Mega Traveller, Traveller New Era, Mongoose Traveller 1e and 2e, and Cepheus Engine are all very compatible but not 100%. Aside from having different skills lists, there area stats balance differences between editions. Over all, you should be able to use material between editions without conversion most of the time.