Hey, all.

I am planning to start a new campaign of EotE next week and have been working on what I feel to be an underpowered Destiny Pool system.

My plan goes something like this:

At the beginning of each session, each player will roll a Force Die, as usual, but instead of adding their roll to a pool for everyone to use, each player will keep his points (light or dark) to himself.

Over the course of the adventure, the players can flip their own individual light side points to dark in order to add an automatic triumph to a roll (including the single success a triumph adds). This could result in an automatic critical hit, some nifty terrain or story effect, or roughly the equivalent of 4 advantage. This is, of course, in addition to the possible plot effects of a light side point, which I think do not require any serious changes.

The GM, likewise, can flip a player's dark side point to light in order to add a despair to a single roll. A GM can also use that despair as the opposite of a light side point to basically add a "GM Intrusion" (a la Numenera) to add a bit of excitement to a situation.

After the initial roll, the players and GM have control of who can use how many Force points, but the average will be something like 1 per session per player, along with 1 GM Intrusion.

The end result, hopefully, are more useful and powerful Force Points (reminiscent of the old WEG d6 Force Point) that add color and excitement to a session.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

O

Sounds interesting. I would love to hear how it goes for you.

I don't know if I'd like that change. Destiny is a teamwork area where the players have to strategize together. Other than how your rule would affect that, though, it sounds interesting,

Considering everyone's pool will be so small, rather than trapping a player with a dark point they really don't want to even consider using to the extent that they're basically left out unless the GM does something to them first, maybe consider skipping the roll and just letting each player start with a dark and a light point?

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I agree with Haley, it seems to bypass the fun of the Destiny Pool as a shared resource.

The players consult each other, "Should I flip one?", and they feel a collective ownership of the pool.

But if you've really been feeling the need, it sounds like an interesting experiment!

I'm not sure I'd like that change as it drastically alters the utility of the various talents that employ destiny points. You say that destiny points are underpowered, but I have a feeling that is because you haven't played with these talents. Just to name two examples:

Targeted Blow: Destiny point to add Agility damage to one hit (there's a similar one for Intellect as well). That should be at least 4 for a ranged character right after generation, and it goes up to 6-7 within 15 sessions.

Intense Presence: Out of turn incidental to recover strain equal to Presence (there's a similar one for Cunning as well). Even with a middling Presence as a secondary stat, that's a ton of strain. If it's a full-on politico using Inspiring Rhetoric and Scathing Tirade plus a normal action every turn, it's 5-6 strain per destiny point which feeds into their strain-draining abilities.

Another thing to keep in mind: destiny points are far more powerful once the PCs get their skill up to the same rank as its associated characteristic. If they're rolling all yellows, destiny already straight up adds a green die to the pool.

In my opinion, destiny is plenty powerful as it is. Of course, it's your game so feel free to do whatever you and your players feel is right for your group!

I was watching some EOE being played on youtube and the Destiny Pool seamed to work well as the Gm used the Dark Side points that the pc's rolled was a good idea.

I am mostly responding to the points brought up in this article:

https://illuminatinggames.wordpress.com/tag/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire/

many of which I had felt already in the course of play.

It's true that I have not yet played in a campaign long enough to get to the Talents that use Destiny Points to activate them. That may really be an issue with my plan, depending on how often one expects to be able to use those Talents. It may be that I just need to up the power of those Talents and then plan for heroes to use them less often.

Just from the initial reaction, this sounds like a lot of extra bookkeeping for the GM, with little to no benefit for the story. The players will either know to use destiny points, or they will not. In a group setting, those who DO use them, will be able to use them to help the party. Under this house rule, those who use them will reserve them to help themselves, rather than their party mates.

I think it is an interesting idea, and should be explored. Let us know what you find out!

Kevynn

I am mostly responding to the points brought up in this article:

https://illuminatinggames.wordpress.com/tag/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire/

many of which I had felt already in the course of play.

It's true that I have not yet played in a campaign long enough to get to the Talents that use Destiny Points to activate them. That may really be an issue with my plan, depending on how often one expects to be able to use those Talents. It may be that I just need to up the power of those Talents and then plan for heroes to use them less often.

I think that blog post really downplays the impact a triumph or despair can have on the game, which is the main draw for bringing in yellow or red dice.