QuickStart Rules:No feat/talent equivalent?

[_x_]

First: Thank You Pramas and Green Ronin for releasing the rules early! What a pleasanrt surprise! (today is my birthday too)

Its also good to see Jesse Scoble is onboard for this project as well.

A couple months backa playtester mentioned that the SIFRP system had a feat/talent/edge equivalent, which I sadly do not see. Has it just not been included in the quickstart or, is there really no such system in the rules? (which IMO would be disappointing. Things like feats and talents give mechanical flavor, allow customization and are plain fun. And if designed well for the game in mind, they ar not overpowering in the least. I want them for flavor and customization, not powercreeping.)

Lastly, is themain rulebok going to be B&W? The art is good but it wont look half as good unless its in color. (The GoO book really spoiled me I guess. Its bloody gorgeous.)

[Rhybard]

I think the qualities are suppose to be the representation of these, though there are no rules in the quickstart on how to gain them other than they require Destiny Points. Also, the only ones listed are are associated with the players at the end of the rules.

Could be wrong though?

[_x_]

Yeah the qualities are related to the destiny points. In some ways they could be said to be similar to feats, but the link to destiny points and the fact there are a bare few of them...I am not asking to be overwhelmed here by feats and all, butsome cool things would be nice. Still I am willing to wait to see the final rules.

Also, some qualities given appear a bit redundant. i mean, does the maester actually need to spend a precious destiny point to get that master of ravens quality? Wouldn't an animal training test be enough for that?

[RJS]

Qualities do fill the niche of talent and feat. They are a hair more powerful than just the DP alone and they encompass broad categories (heritage, combat, and so on). They represent area of superior knowledge and skill, so Master of Ravens should manifest in the game a stronger connection than what one would be able to achieve with a typical test, which is reflected by the Narrator addressing Qualities in unique and distinctive ways throughout game play.

R Schwalb

[_x_]

But why link qualitites to destiny points?Why not simply allow players to say, each choose a quality at char gen, then you can pay X amount of xp to 'buy'another quality? (Like done in so many other games)

[Steve Kenson]

But why link qualitites to destiny points?Why not simply allow players to say, each choose a quality at char gen, then you can pay X amount of xp to 'buy'another quality? (Like done in so many other games)

Think of Destiny as a measure of "potential" — younger characters have a lot of it, but it's unformed, and undetermined. Older, more experienced characters have "invested" their potential into various achievements (shown by their Qualities) but they're closer to fulfilling their destinies, thus they have less of that raw potential to draw upon. That's pretty much the approach we took.

[angel_lord]

That's a very interesting approach, and I think I like it. A lot of this reminds me of the drama rules from TROS - and that isn't a bad thing.

With the tweaks and flavor that this sort of information adds to my mind.

Well, let's just say I hope I can find a group that is willing to break away from D20 for something new. Hard enough to find a good Gurps group these days.

[Patchface]

Think of Destiny as a measure of "potential" — younger characters have a lot of it, but it's unformed, and undetermined. Older, more experienced characters have "invested" their potential into various achievements (shown by their Qualities) but they're closer to fulfilling their destinies, thus they have less of that raw potential to draw upon. That's pretty much the approach we took.

So characters won't be able to gain additional DPs during campaigns?

[Keltheos]

The way I read it is that they'll receive DPs during the campaign, but depending on how many they have already spent/earned the directions they can spend them/or the options within those directions will be reduced (focused is a better way to think about it).

Like honing a blade, the more attention spent to a specific course of action will mean a stronger end product.

Or I could be totally off base.

[Zapp]

If young characters have more Destiny Points than older characters, but older characters have more Destiny-fueled Qualities, that leads me to the following conclusion:

* there is a mechanism making it slow or difficult to convert your Destiny Points into Qualities.. or conversely, that raw DPs are more powerful, but that you're forced into invest them in Qualities as you age!
* either you do not get more DPs with experience (unlike, say, WFRP, where Fate Point awards are among the rarest and best, only given for completing whole story arcs) or older characters are encouraged to invest them immediately in Qualites...

It all adds up to a big "We don't know"...

...it will be very interesting to see the actual rules for this!