Kaelik wrote:Previn wrote:Well, the last just seems like Shadowrun style advancement to me, so I can totally see that one.
If I wanted to play Shadowrun, I'd play Shadowrun, because it has legitimately good things going on, but when I see "micro-advancment" in a fantasy dungeoncrawler I hear (You level four times as often, and you get +1 to some shitty thing every time you level. You get this instead of being able to cast a new cool spell, because that would be OPed for a micro advancement, and you can't macro advance, because then you'd be not micro advancing.)
Basically, I see "Your stone shape effects 5 more ft^3 of volume" instead of "you can cast wall of stone."
I never saw a fantasy game where the advancement is that bullshit actually. Not sure if this is hyperbole or what.
Dark Heresy uses a "microadvance" system that sort of works. You have levels, and you gain levels by spending XP on advances. Once you spend X number of XP you level, which opens up another 20 or 30 options to spend XP on. The list is cumulative, so at level 5 you can buy advances in levels 1-5.
It works fine splitting things up that way, because the psyker gets one major uber power per level and 3 minor powers per level, and they can be bought at any time. Learning an entire class of weapons or training in a skill is usually 1-200 xp, and you get 2-300 xp per session. So each session you get a tangible reward usually. Most things cost 500 or less.
The down side is twofold. One, paperwork is HORRIBLE. I eventually broke down and printed lists of all the advancements for each character, and the players use a highlighter and highlight what they've bought. I was prompted to do this when I did some math on a couple of characters and realized that they had like 1000 xp spent in doubling and tripling up on advancements they had already bought.
Second problem is decision paralysis. Throw in shit like contacts, and at level 5 the average character has somewhere around 120 skills, talents, buffs, and other options to spend experience in. It can make leveling slow.
Otherwise, it does work. Nobody feels like they have a stagnant character at least.