Character Depreciation

[MachMoth]

I had a very vague idea, and instead of butchering it myself, I thought I'd share it.  Character depreciation.  In some way, characters have a set (or not *shrugs*) lifeline.  As that character is used, it depreciates, or loses lifeline.  What ever causes this, I haven't really done more than kick around.  Failed rolls, or other equivelants to damage or loss come to mind.  When that character's life is used up, it is removed from the story.  Death being the most obvious, other things may be more appropriate, depending on the situation.  Other things could even extend the value of a character, but probably (depending on application) would only prolong the inevitable.  Once the character bites the big one, I'd like to see something like TRoS's Insight mechanic, in which the character passes on some benifit to the next in line.

The application I've toyed with is a gamey game, in which characters are a resource, like anything else.  Probably a bit of Nar and Cinematic scripting, in that the characters don't simply just die from running out of HP, but because it was their time to go.  Sessions take place as chapters of the setting's history, in which characters can come and go.  A pool of random characters could be available.  I'm thinking maybe the GM could create some each chapter, that fit into the story.  The players can choose new ones, or carry over ones from previous chapters, if they fit.  As characters depreciate or pass, the players choose the paths of the characters, possibly customizing them, and maybe even getting the ability to make their own.  Really, I don't know.  This is all a big brain dump.  Chances are, I'd give into historically proven methods, and let the players make the characters from the start.  Or, meet half-way.  Something Uni-ish even.

[Lxndr]

Doomchaser, which Chris Edwards is designing, has bits and pieces of this philosophy in its structure.  Players have to "upkeep" their characters with earned XP (called Strife), or they degrade, sometimes substantially.  If XP is earned in excess of the upkeep, they can build their characters up more, but that can risk higher upkeep costs the next time around.

What doesn't exist is the Insight mechanic equivalent.  For that, you want something like Pendragon, where Glory gets passed down from generation to generation...

[Bob McNamee]

I'd think about making some form of Success, the thing that shortens the lifeline.

Just for the change...

[edited in :Isn't there a game 'wyrdd' or something that does this a bit with a bag of runes...and when you run out...]

[Jack Spencer Jr]

This sort of reminds me of Wyrd where as you play, piece are removed from your bag. The bag of pieces represents the character's fate. I forget what happens when you run out.

[MachMoth]

Hm... I like the idea of successes degrading the character.  Make the most of your success, and all that.  Also helps produce tragically successful characters... or the other way around.  Whatever.

Though, I was initially thinking of a slight gamist style approach, I can't really envision a goal, so to speak.  Character death isn't entirely bad for the player, since they can pop another character into the scene, and take over.  The player could have started with an old coot, on his last leg to begin with.  Then again, part of a character's advantage can be how they tie into the story, making used characters more useful.  (Johan has developed a Lvl3 blackmail on Anne.  Jack has a lvl2 bounty on his head.  Gustav is a lvl8 king.  His subjects worship him.  To bad he's about to, oh let's say, be assassinated.)  Just more random brain dumping.

Lxndr,
Oh, Doomchaser?!  Never heard of that one.  Tell me more.  ;p

EDIT:  Oh, if someone would be so kind as to drop a Wyrd link, I would be most gracious.

[anonymouse]

Okay, so I'm reading this Zombie Survival Guide, and getting the heebie jeebies cos it's late and I'm tired and I know that at some point, I'm going to have to sleep..

The book has several dozen "recorded attacks" which, while fictional (..oh man, tell me they're fictional ;), are pretty creepy. And it got me thinking about this character depreciation thing.

Scenario: zombie attack. Escape is not an option until a sufficient number of zombies have been killed. The players have control over every living human, infected or not. Zombie Master runs the undead horde.

Play goals are:
1) Thin out the horde so that escape is not only possible, but won't end in a messy death a few miles down the road; and
2) Escape! Come up with a Plan and do it.

Combat gets abstracted to dice rolls; one die is equal to one person or zombie. You thus set up a hard upper limit on the dice pool, a diminishing resource to watch. Anyone who gets infected is going to infect more people, and so on, so your characters are going to grow less while the zombies will grow more.

(in fact, I like that idea so much I hearby dub it the "zombie dice pool"; player dice diminish while GM's dice grow. everyone must love the zombie dice pool.)

Example of play! Zombie Infection Simulator

[Lxndr]

In the final draft of Fastlane, every time you resolve a conflict, the attribute you just used goes down by one.  Whether you win or lose, whether you bid one chip or a thousand, that's the case.  That's a pretty clear case of depriciation, as well.

[Daniel Solis]

Combat gets abstracted to dice rolls; one die is equal to one person or zombie. You thus set up a hard upper limit on the dice pool, a diminishing resource to watch. Anyone who gets infected is going to infect more people, and so on, so your characters are going to grow less while the zombies will grow more.

Thinking about doing something like that for the caper RPG. Qualities of successes or failures are determined by how many resources you wager. If you succeed, the amount you bet is transferred over to the GM and becomes "Heat." Heat represents the power of the police (or other authority) to interfere with your caper.