You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8447233" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think the intricate intersection of the various resource/advancement tracks is intriguing. They include:* Pathos (both hp and a type of fate point; recovered fully during every Voyage, a bit like a modern D&D long rest); * Divine Favour (both hp and a type of fate point, earned during the Voyage via the Sacrifice phase and also via the Vault of Heaven); * Fate (both emergency back-up hp and a type of XP but on a one-way track to "death" of the PC); * Glory (the main type of XP, earned by succeeding in contests, which are the main action of play); * Bonds (a type of fate point, earned with other PCs via in-play decisions -including hanging back in a contest and providing support rather than participating - and also the Fellowship Phase; and earned with gods via in-play decisions and also the Vault of Heaven); * The Vault of Heaven (an over-arching success track, which propels the game towards the endgame and generates Divine Favour, Bonds with the gods, and PC advancement independent of both Glory and Fate on the way through; as well as Wrath ie divine adversity).They generate real decision points in play, both mechanical/optimisation, but also fiction-oriented (both exploration/interpretation - Should I use my Divine Favour with Poseidon now, given I don't think I'll have another ocean-oriented contest on this island? or How will calling on a Bond with Ares at this point affect the Vault of Heaven - and also pro-active - How can I make this fight with a giant serpent into a contest of Craft & Reason, so I can spend a point of Pathos and bring my Craft & Reason die, which is bigger than my Blood & Valour die, into the contest?). And there is a healthy element of player-vs-player contest in the decision to spend Bond to assert leadership - because then you can shift the terrain of a contest onto your favoured terrain - and to get full Glory for a contest you have to not only succeed against the DC, but you have to be the best of the successful heroes.So far, the only bit that has fallen a bit flat is the question-answer aspect of the Fellowship phase.But in typing this I've had a little bit of a breakthrough!One aspect of PC build is Epithet (which has a die rating) - eg a hero might be the Swift-footed (d6) Achilles. When departing an island, a player can change their hero's Epithet to reflect any change that occurred on the island - and in our last session one of the players did this. An aspect of character advancement is also gaining a second Epithet, which is a power-up because you can only include your Epithet in your pool if the fiction makes sense (eg being Swift-footed can help when running or in some fighting, but probably not in talking or performing a ceremony).As presented in the rules, the decision about changing an epithet is made before the Fellowship phase. But it might make more sense to have it afterwards, so that the discussion in the Fellowship phase can feed directly into the sort of self-reflection involved in thinking about a change to one's epithet.</blockquote>

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