After playtesting Kathanaksaya with a real group of varied ages and experiences, I've decided that it was a success, albeit with one problem: how do I make sure that a character's unique abilities and skills influence the story without diverting the game away from the character-focused aspects that I really like about Kathanaksaya?
I posited the question on this thread (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=10872), and my solution was to make Abilities work the way Specialties used to and remove Specialties from the game. However, that seemed to veer too far in the other direction of other games that used player-defined skills which frankly do a better job of it.
So I'm back to the drawing board of figuring out a way to make character abilities account for something during play without sacrificing the character-focused elements that define Kathanaksaya. For a little while, my mind has been turning over a mechanic that goes back to what the original Specialties did but refines them a little bit. I'm tentatively calling this new mechanic Abstracts. Abstracts are concepts that define who the character is. Concretes are how Abstracts reveal themselves through the character. Abstracts work exactly like Specialties do, but with a few limitations. The rating for each Abstract can only apply to a single Concrete. You must purchase different Concretes separately, even if they apply to the same Abstract. To illustrate:
- NO: Cool 7 (stunt driving and kung fu and staredowns).
- YES: Cool 7 (stunt driving), Cool 7 (kung fu), and Cool 7 (staredowns)
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Also, you can only use Abstracts to enhance Story Point bids if you work your Concrete into your narrating bid.
I'm leaning towards having players be able to change their Abstracts and Concretes as their characters change, but unless they do something to gain more Story Points, they cannot increase the points they have available to purchase them.
Another thing I'm working on is character elements. I revised the point value of certain elements to reflect their importance to character and story. I also wanted to have a nice round number for a fully developed character to have, so players will know they have everything. I settled on 50 because it's close to what I have already, and it's easier to keep track of than 100. So far, the character elements, what they mean, and their Story Point values are:
1 Story Point
Quirks. What are some minor traits that make your character unique?
2 Story Points
Name. What is your character's name? What is she/he/it called?
Appearance. What does your character look like?
Hook. What is your character doing when his/her/its story begins?
3 Story Points
Strengths. What are your character's physical or psychological assets? What are your character's virtues?
Weaknesses. What are your character's physical or psycholgoical liabilities? What are your character's vices?
4 Story Points
Relationships. Who are your character's friends? Family? Loved ones? Rivals? Enemies?
History. What are some of the significant events in your character's lives? When did they happen? Where?
Motives*. Why does your character want what he/she/it wants?
Conflict. Why can't your character get what she/he/it wants?
5 Story Points
Desires*. What does your character want intensely enough to go after it?
Passions*. What are the things your character feels most strongly about?
Psyche. What is your character's basic nature? Personality? Beliefs?
6 Story Points
Purpose. Why did you create this character? What question or issue or truth was this character made to address?
The things marked with an asterisk (*) represent the characters' drives. They propel characters to act. Aside from replenishing Story Points, I have no idea what I'll do with drives. I am almost certain, however, that making in-game decisions that address a character's purpose should be rewarded with Story Points, but I am not sure how many I want to give out. Maybe I should have roleplaying character elements replenish a number of Story Points equal to the Story Point value of that particular element. Of course, the standard is, "in a dramatically interesting way."
What do you think?