So for a while I've been working on a fantasy game in which players take on the roles of great heroes (in the ancient Greek sense of those with incredible powers and larger-than-life personalities) who seek to change the world and who can in fact warp the world using naught but their will. To capture that sort of feel I've created a number of mechanics to simulate the condition of being Willful (which is the term my game will use to describe these individuals). I'd really appreciate your feedback on the systems themselves and on whether or not you think they're implemented well.

The Willful
You hear about them all the time in the real world. People who cut a swath through destiny, who for good or ill reshaped the world in their image. Larger than life, compelling, and in the end more legend than mortal man or woman. Some fizzle out and die young, some linger on in old age but all had a certain spark, whether saint or demagogue, warlord or religious figure. These are the sort of people that the players assume control of, the Willful who are born with (or who obtain) a great destiny (called a purpose) and who have the ability to reshape the world with their will alone. They come from all races of the world that the player has created, and seek to change it on a fundamental level.

Defining Virtue and Flaw: Describes what is best about the Willful personality wise and what is worst. These are determined by the player and can be any conceivable flaw or virtue. Indulging in these and suffering a set-back as a result is the way that the Willful regains Willpower, which enhances die rolls.

Drives or Goals: Each Willful has 3 main goals, things about the world that he or she wants to change. They might be as simple as proving oneself to their parents, or as grand as conquering a nation or annihilating all magic. Accomplishing Goals gives the Willful Legendry, and working towards them grants a Willful Destiny points. Once a goal is accomplished, the Willful may take on another goal.

Destiny Points: A pool of points the willful spend to reshape the world. One destiny point is spent whenever the Willful makes a Destiny check, which is 2d10+Destiny rank against TN 10 or against the Destiny check of another Willful if they seek to change something that a Willful created or altered. Successes (you get one for meeting the TN and one for every 2 by which your roll exceeds the TN) are then spent to make changes, which might range from as tiny as changing the personality of a merchant, to as large as creating new lifeforms or ripping a non-willful from the fabric of destiny. The duration of these changes is based on how in line they are with a character's destiny (or his opposition to his destiny), their virtue and flaw, their goals, and whether they have spent additional destiny points to increase the duration of the changes.

Destiny Rank: A measure of how effective the Willful is at reshaping the world using destiny points. Applied as a modifier to Destiny Checks. Increased by fighting against or working to accomplish one's destiny. Once per point of Destiny rank you possess per session another player or the GM may make a destiny check on your behalf to introduce a complication related to your destiny (ie. the Inigo Montoya knockoff mysteriously encounters a minion of the six-fingered man in the marketplace). This represents the fact that as the Willful grow more powerful, destiny has as tight a grip on them as they have on it.

Destiny: A grand destiny for the Willful in question. Working towards it or fighting against it increases Destiny rank. High destiny rank willful are nudged towards their destinies by other players and the GM taking the role of fate.

Legendry: A measure of the power of different legends about the Willful. Measured as a number, it serves as a pool of +1 bonuses that the willful can draw on for actions relating to the legend. So a willful with "Slayer of the Demon Wyrm" 5 would have a pool of 5 +1 bonuses to apply to anything that could relate to that legend, such as slaying dragons, or opposing demonic forces. When a character accomplishes a new goal, he adds to the legend's breadth and increases the pool of bonuses by an amount based on the scope of the goal (usually from +1 to +3).

Sounds good so far. I'm not sure what you want questions on, again. But I'd love to see what you do with this great concept.

Destiny System seems sensible so far.

Well in addition to soliciting general feedback on the idea for my game I was wondering if you guys thought that the story-based mechanics that I've selected encourage the sort of play that I want to encourage. I want players to play heroes with strong and distinct personalities, important goals, and grand destinies, who are just as flawed as they are great and who become living legends capable of extraordinary feats. Furthermore, I want players (and thus their characters as well) to be encouraged to shape the world to their whims, by whatever method they can muster. Do the personality mechanics that I've outlined contribute to these goals?

johnthedm7000 wrote:
Well in addition to soliciting general feedback on the idea for my game I was wondering if you guys thought that the story-based mechanics that I've selected encourage the sort of play that I want to encourage. I want players to play heroes with strong and distinct personalities, important goals, and grand destinies, who are just as flawed as they are great and who become living legends capable of extraordinary feats. Furthermore, I want players (and thus their characters as well) to be encouraged to shape the world to their whims, by whatever method they can muster. Do the personality mechanics that I've outlined contribute to these goals?