The Fortune Convention: A new beginning

Well, I've been doing brutal things to my game system. It only slightly resembles it's original form (and it's a hell of a lot shorter). And I'm hoping you guys will be willing to take a peek and let me know your thoughts.

Some backstory:
Originally I just wanted a system to stick my world to, so I went shopping around. I looked at D20 (couldn't stomach it at all), I looked at Action (tolerable but didn't thrill me & I don't like the OGL anyway), I was looking everywhere. Then this guy (Matt Drake) said he could write up a system for me (all mine, no dealing with licenses, etc) in exchange for providing art for one of his books.

So I jumped on it. I made some notes about what I wanted to happen, we talked back and forth and he wrote me a game system. Seemed like a pretty good one too, nothing groundbreaking that I know of, but perfectly servicable. I was happy.

But every now and then I'd get to thinking... "Why am I doing this when it's not that different from other games? Why do this one just to avoid licensing issues, when licensing a known game would probably be more profitable? And if I'm not thinking that my system is the best damn thing since electric lights, why am I forgoing profit potential to use it? But there were little things about it that I really liked, every time I tried to paste my concepts onto another system... it just didn't feel right. So I went back and forth, back and forth.

After awhile I think hanging around here started to have an effect. I was thinking less about the setting, and more about the system. After awhile, my thoughts were less "what system can I use for my game?" and more "What do I want my game to be?" I figure that has to be your guys' fault.

So I started looking around, and asking questions, and looking around some more. And doing a lot of thinking. I identified some elements from different games that really seemed to synch with the things I like about games, and identified some elements that I don't like about games (and was slightly surprised at how much of the later, and how little of the former was present in my existing system).

This, combined with a growing urge (likely also something I caught here) to do things my way or no way, I decided to start over. I told myself I was going to put together a system that appealed to me more than any other system I have ever seen, or I was going to use an open system and the hell with it.

I took my existing system and deleted everything I didn't really, really like about it. Then I took the elements I had found from a couple of other games and glued them to the side, tweaking them mercilessly to work with my base mechanic. I sprinkled on some ideas I'd picked up here and there, and then I wrote some new stuff to fill in the gaps.

And... I think I've got a system.

I don't know if it's going to work like I think it will (playtesting will tell), but I'm hopeful. Of course it's still not innovative (though it's certainly more "modern" than it was), but I think it's going to be cool. For the first time I feel good enough about my game system to post it here, and let you guys shoot it full of big, smoking holes.

I put together a current draft, and if anyone feels like looking it over and offering comments (let me know if I'm missing something important, or you spot something I botched, or whatever), I would be eternally grateful.

Link here:
www.madelf.net/dump/FCPlaytest_112604.pdf

Thanks!