Who else thinks the mechanic in F&D will be "The Force"?
I didn't see a thread about this anywhere else, let me know if it's already been done.
Who else thinks the mechanic in F&D will be "The Force"?
I didn't see a thread about this anywhere else, let me know if it's already been done.
Interesting point.
Obligation for Edge, Duty for Rebellion now some reference to the force for Force & Destiny?
Sounds like maybe Destiny?
Maybe a little too literal what do you think?
I was thinking specifically of The Force as a -100/0/100 scale like obligation and duty except with the -100 potential of dark siders.
Edited by jaethe77Interesting point.
Obligation for Edge, Duty for Rebellion now some reference to the force for Force & Destiny?
Sounds like maybe Destiny?
Maybe a little too literal what do you think?
Destiny is my vote. It's something that you can leverage as a bonus as well as have it be a problem.
Ive been saying 'Commitment'. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment. Basically, every force tradition will have a way to earn commitment, the more you have the more you follow the teachings of that tradition, which may unlock things such as force rating increases, etc.
The way I see this is there are lots of examples of characters that either come into the force later in life or who have given up the force/being a Jedi. A startig character will start with a certain amount of commitment, possibly lessoning it to be less along the path (gaining money or experience) or spending starting experience to increase your commitment.
A Jedi commitment tree might be like this:
15 you have lightsaber as a carerr skill
25 you build a lightsaber
50 you increase your force rating
Etc.
If you lose commitment, you lose access to the benefits (though some are a one time bonus)
commiment sounds possible. I like the increase force rating part. It fits with Vaders "your powers are weak old man" comment. It would reflect Obi Wan having less commitment as Vaders has only grown.
I feel like the F&D mechanic is going to be close to Obligation or Edge - not giving specific bonuses at higher or lower thresholds, beyond whatever happens when your number is rolled.
Kshatriya, duty DOES give a specific bonus however. When you reach a threshold, you can trade it in for a specific piece of gear or a better fighter.
What i was going for with commitment is something that would work on a character that goes through all three systems.
You could have some obligation (say to a family farm), get some duty from joining the rebels and then fulfil your destiny by showing your commitment to following your Jedi relatives footsteps and becoming a Jedi.
Better equipment imo is not on the same level as a permanent, possibly irrevocable stat bonus.
I never said the force rating would be permanent. If your commitment falters, you lose the rating.
I don't have a good guess for what F&D's Obligation/Duty-like mechanic will be.
Most of the suggestions I see bandied about are very Force-centric, yet I can only imagine that F&D will allow for creation of non-Force-sensitive characters, so I don't know what the 'hook' element will be.
Right now we have Obligation which is pretty much all negative (you really shouldn't want to increase Obligation) and Duty which is pretty much all positive (I don't think there is any downside to increasing Duty?) as our examples. I think Duty is a better done game mechanic, so I'm hoping what comes out of FaD improves from it as it did from Obligation.
(I don't think there is any downside to increasing Duty?)
A possible downside to Duty is that you can toss in some sort of little extra task related to the Duty rolled. This can be as little and easy as the player (we'll say one with Tech Procurement) finding a datapad during a mission with some Imperial blueprints that can give the group some extra duty or credits, or as difficult as altering the mission to be more challenging - like getting a call from the Rebels telling the group that once the mission is over, to head into the hangar and steal some prototype TIEs instead of just sneaking out.
Then there's the complications brought on by the bigger picture of Duty, where rolling it over 100 a certain amount of times paints the entire group of players as the Empire's highest priority. I think it's around getting over 100 5 times is when the Empire really starts taking note, over 9 times is Luke, Leia, and Han territory in ESB, and there's another where the Empire just starts rounding up everything they've got to track the players down.
My vote is for 'Destiny'
"You cannot escape your destiny."
-Obi Wan Kenobi
"You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not fight, then you will meet your Destiny."
-Darth Vader
Edited by jburgosI don't have a good guess for what F&D's Obligation/Duty-like mechanic will be.
Most of the suggestions I see bandied about are very Force-centric, yet I can only imagine that F&D will allow for creation of non-Force-sensitive characters, so I don't know what the 'hook' element will be.
Yeah, seems a lot of folks are convinced that Force & Destiny will be strictly for Force-users with no option to pay mundane/muggle PCs.
Granted, I used to be one of those folks, but given that each book is "stand alone" I'd say there's a good chance we'll see at least one or two careers in F&D to account for those players that don't want to be Force-users.
Then again, White Wolf had a somewhat similar design intent with the original World of Darkness, with each line being a stand-alone product and the intent that all the PCs in the group would be playing the same general category of supernatural being (all vampires, all werewolves, all mages, all changelings, all ghosts); there was some ability to mix & match, but it was more of an afterthought in contrast to the new World of Darkness where there's more of an eye to such things.
So it could very well be that the F&D design team are operating under the premise that if you're playing Force & Destiny, then you're going to be a Force user, much how PCs in Age of Rebellion are presumed to be members of the Rebel Alliance or Edge of the Empire PCs are presumed to be shady characters with equally shady pasts.
Right now we have Obligation which is pretty much all negative (you really shouldn't want to increase Obligation) and Duty which is pretty much all positive (I don't think there is any downside to increasing Duty?) as our examples. I think Duty is a better done game mechanic, so I'm hoping what comes out of FaD improves from it as it did from Obligation.
There is a good side to Obligation, it's just that you got it all at once and now are left with the bill.
Right now we have Obligation which is pretty much all negative (you really shouldn't want to increase Obligation) and Duty which is pretty much all positive (I don't think there is any downside to increasing Duty?) as our examples. I think Duty is a better done game mechanic, so I'm hoping what comes out of FaD improves from it as it did from Obligation.
There is a good side to Obligation, it's just that you got it all at once and now are left with the bill.
That doesn't seem to be the case when I hear many on these forums suggesting piling on Obligation for actions that players take even when the players don't gain a boon from the actions.
I think the F&D mechanic will be Commitment too. Obligation, Duty and Commitment are synonyms for each other. I don't think everything about the mechanic will be focused on the Force. I do think aspects of it will though, such as a Commitment to the Jedi Path.
Right now we have Obligation which is pretty much all negative (you really shouldn't want to increase Obligation) and Duty which is pretty much all positive (I don't think there is any downside to increasing Duty?) as our examples. I think Duty is a better done game mechanic, so I'm hoping what comes out of FaD improves from it as it did from Obligation.
There is a good side to Obligation, it's just that you got it all at once and now are left with the bill.
You can get more obligation in play in exchange for goods and services, not just at the beginning. It's more a reflection of a "tab" you've run up, and have to pay off, with the occasional "interest payment" of the complications.
I think the last version of this mechanic will have another abstracty name, something like "Devotion"
Someone here said "Commitment" that seems on the mark too.
-M!
Yeah, however it works I don't think they'll name it Destiny. That could get it mixed up with Destiny points, which is already an established mechanic in the game. I'm guessing a new name for the concept - Commitment sounds good, but it could be anything.
My vote is neither Commitment or Destiny but, Temptation.
Force Users will be Tempted by the Dark Side of the Force, non Force Users could experience temptation in other ways, receiving a trade off of getting something they desire with negative consequences that become increasingly more difficult the higher the Temptation Score becomes.
My vote is neither Commitment or Destiny but, Temptation.
Force Users will be Tempted by the Dark Side of the Force, non Force Users could experience temptation in other ways, receiving a trade off of getting something they desire with negative consequences that become increasingly more difficult the higher the Temptation Score becomes.
This sounds like a 'stick' motivation like Obligation. In fact, you could just as easily do this with Obligation once you figure out a good name to call it by.
Donovan had a point that most people seem to think that it will be all force users all the time in the game. I've been a proponent for careers and specialties being, for lack of a better term, generic. What I mean is no Jedi career. No Sith career. No dathomiri witch career. We have careers that don't spell out a particular tradition, instead, we get careers that are supplemented with universal specialties, and I hope the commitment mechanic - which while I gave a brief description of how it could work with a Jedi, but does not have to be limited to a force using character. We could have a commitment to the antarian rangers in eu, who aided the Jedi but were not force users.
We can already have powerful force users along a 'self taught' path. The commitment can be used to mechanically represent and follow the tenents of say the Jedi order.
One could easily devise a commitment to the idea of peace. Even war or what not.
I see f&d being a way to build characters who either are not force users or who come to it later in life, but at the same time being able to make a Jedi who survived order 66 to another force tradition like a gand findsman or countless other force users.
I'd be very surprised to not see a Jedi career of some sort. FFG will want something there for those coming into the game wanting to play Jedi. They are not going to want it to be too convoluted. If someone wants to play a Jedi, take this career and choose your spec and a power or talent or two, done. They are not going to want "take this career and choose your spec, now choose a Force unispec, and don't forget to save XP for buying powers". That'd be much like they have it now, and I do not think that will satisfy many people that want Jedi or more in depth Force-users. I think there will be options in careers, specs (both career and unispecs), and in the Commitment mechanic for fleshing out your Jedi. By spreading these options out it will allow for the most latitude in character creation.