Half-Baked Advancement Ideas

Eliza Ivanova

Lexi’s Deeds are still the best advancement system for base GLOG. Recently, I’ve been tinkering with it to try and make it better. (blasphemy!)

My primary goal is to shift it from a “checklist” system to something that feels more like you’re recording your character’s story. Let me know if any of the ideas below feel like they have some meat on them.

Legendarium

> When you accomplish a deed, add it to your Legendarium. (a space on the front or back of your character sheet) Track the number of deeds you’ve accomplished; at 2, 5, and 9 deeds, advance.

This is really just a change in wording from the base deeds mechanic, but there’s some neat upsides. One is that you can go back and read it to see where you’ve been, which FEELS really cool. Another is that you can use the same wording (“add X to your Legendarium”) with certain templates…

A: Tragic Hero
When something bad happens to you or your party, you can suggest to the GM a worse thing that happens only to you. If they accept the suggestion, add it to your Legendarium.

^ proof of concept for a sort-of-replacement for class-specific deeds, tied to a narrative ability. Speaking of which: 

Tragic Deeds

> Add the following to the list of available deeds:

• Make a horrible mistake.
• Lose something precious.
• Be cast out by friends or family.
• Host a decent funeral for a friend.
• Forge a lifelong enmity.

Maybe this isn’t a good idea; advancement triggers are strong incentives, so maybe you don’t want your players actively sabotaging their characters’ lives for templates. At the same time, tragedy has been a formative force in the histories of many literary figures.

Someone else in the blogosphere definitely came up with the idea of deciding on milestones collaboratively at the start of the game. I am placing a bounty on this post; 29 internet points to the knave who can bring it to my comment section, dead or alive. 

Epithets

> When you level up, instead of gaining a new template, you may gain an epithet from your Legendarium. Add it to your character’s name and gain an appropriate ability. Use Spwack's mindset list for inspiration or invent your own.

I’m still considering where these would fit in a system that already uses template leveling. It may be that it’s simply too much for a lite hack, but I do like the idea of integrating these somehow with the Legendarium.

Perhaps there’s a hack idea in here where all advancement takes place through diegetic accumulation of epithets. Your character’s name would become a longer and longer record of their amazing deeds, as well as a list of their skills. [ex: “Morjin, the Curious, Who Slayed The Royal Trolls, Who Seeks All That Glitters, of The Golden Cavaliers”]

Something to think on. 

Legacy

> When you make a new PC, you can invoke the legacy of a deceased or retired PC. Add it to your Legendarium; you were inspired by or are attempting to emulate them.

Another loose-y goose-y idea, inspired by Die Trying’s experience. There’s no real tradeoff for character creation; you start one step closer to level 2, and that’s it. I mostly like the idea of new characters paying respects to old characters. I think it would be really interesting to invoke legacies across campaign settings.