An interesting post on reddit by loklzero got me to thinking that I've neglected the primary moral compass for my galavanting band of murder hoboes. While none of them are Force sensitive, they are part of the Force nonetheless and thus subject to its influence.

I wouldn't necessarily use it on a per-session basis, but over the course of the last year, I've seen these guys do some outright nasty things that even a Sith Lord would have to give pause and appreciate. It might seem sufficient to keep a metadata counter of good deeds versus bad deeds and let them color my session prep over time.

Surely F&D will have something more to add to this, but until such time, I'd like to hear if any of you are doing this, and if so, how? Are there mechanical consequences?

In the previous games, everyone had some Force Points that they could spend. And depending on their actions, they could gain more, or recover ones they had spent. These could either be Light Side or Dark Side.

As they did more and more evil acts, you could give them more and more Dark Side points. If they used those, then they'd continue down the path to the Dark Side. If they did things to accumulate Light Side points while they already had Dark Side points, then you would first remove Dark Side points before adding Light Side points.

But I have no idea how to track this kind of thing in EotE.

But I have no idea how to track this kind of thing in EotE.

Yeah, the best I could come up with is a slider between dark & light. I'm probably placing too much emphasis on it but it's such a central theme I feel ignoring it is remiss.

Just a thought. Maybe the f&d book will use a light/dark side sliding scale in lieu of a obligation/duty/(x) system.

I don't personally bother with tracking such things for non-Force sensitives, but for those that can feel the Force, I look forward to what FaD puts out.

I wouldn't bother tracking anything for anyone who isn't force sensitive.

If someone becomes force sensitive, begin keeping track.

We can just assume everyone is morally grey till they gain a connection to the force(unless they are obviously doing one thing or another)

I prefer the "fall to the Dark Side" be kept in a purely narrative area for PCs. I don't want a chart describing an interaction between frequency of using Dark Side pips, frequency of use of being mean, and accumulating some level of "Dark Side rating" that imposes certain conditions or statuses. It just doesn't seem right for this game.

I'm waiting for a mechanic just for curiosity about how it works, but I don't use to use those kind of rules.

I use to let those "personal things" to players... or at least good players XD One of them, even beeing a powerful and wise Jedi Master, decided to unleash some rage against Cronall - Black Hole because he kidnaped his daughter and tried use as a weapon against him and his wife. After that he needed some Jedi meditation and family hugs

In my modest opinion and in general therms, rules like this, Dark Side, Obligation and other ones, even if they have negative effects on players is good that they aren't used too often. Let players be good players, and only use restrictive or penalization rules if bad players deserve it or just for create a "guidance".

And getting to topic, in other game sessions with other players, if someone "falls" or begin to" on the Dark Side, I use to add some "free apreciations" on Perception/Vigilance checks saying "you see that the guard is withdrawing a gun angrily at you" (the man isn't a guard and he was only withdrawing a comunictor to report a suspicious man).

While I don't track our group's Light vs Dark actions, per se, I certainly keep a running record of what crazy things they do. They are not the kind of crowd I would want my (hypothetical) kids hanging out with When our Force Sensitive player was still a regular, I was keeping private notes on his actions and helped him to play his character appropriately (recovering drug addict who kept using Glitterstim, so maybe "recovering" was the wrong word there...).

I would prefer to keep the Fall to Darkness and the Return to Light narrative rather than build game mechanics like the video game slider many Star Wars games have used, but that may just be personal preference.

I keep detailed notes of my players actions that would be Dark Side worthy. And when Dark Side rules come out in F&D they are gonna get slapped with some back due darkness! At the end of the day though, it only really matters for the force sensitive in the group, and that is only 1 of my PCs.

what i have done, to track "dark" and "light" character development (side note - we have been playing a lot of FATE lately, so this was influenced by aspects and compels...): i made each player choose a "dark" motivation (like a "vice") and also a "light" motivation ("virtue"). for example, one PC has these motivations: justice (light) and power/control (dark). he has a few notes under each, describing them in more detail.

then i added a numerical scale to the character sheet (from +10 through 0 to -10).

when a PC acts in line with one of their motivations, they slide the value of their motivation scale toward + or -, depending on the action, by one point. additionally, i grant 5 xp. i have set up the stipulation that the PC action has to be significant, and make the story more interesting and/or complicate the situation (similar to FATE, but a little more lenient). (my players understand this, and are all more interested in creating interesting stories, rather than "gaming" the system - i was originally going to cap the number of times a PC could do this, but have found i don't need to). also, the DM or other players may "compel" (ala FATE) a PC to act in line with one of their motivations, if it complicates the situation or significantly adds to make the story more interesting - players may resist these compels by paying a destiny point.

if they do not act in line with one of their motivations during the session, the numerical value slides towards 0 at the end of the session.

if the absolute value of their motivation is equal to or greater than 5, they also gain a boost die anytime they are acting in line with that motivation, or a setback die whenever they try to act in line with the opposing motivation (i'm explaining this in a confusing way, perhaps... sorry). for example, if the PC from earlier has a motivation value of -6 (toward their "dark" motivation, power) and during the session attempts to intimidate someone into giving them a certain object, they gain a boost die for the roll. however, if they are later trying to get the local authorities to trust them they gain a setback die to the roll, since they are on the opposite side of the spectrum from their "light" motivation, justice.

i allowed players to start their motivation at any number they wanted between 5 and -5, encouraging them to think of how they wanted their characters to "develop," or what they want their character to struggle with, over the course of the campaign (they know this will be a 10-15 session campaign.