Thomas Shey
Legend
I'm not sure if I agree, but I appreciate the clarification of your earlier post.
As noted, in a non-abstract system, I feel differently.
I'm not sure if I agree, but I appreciate the clarification of your earlier post.
I trust that the distinction is meaningful for you and your tastes, but I'm not really sure that it is for me and mine.As noted, in a non-abstract system, I feel differently.
I trust that the distinction is meaningful for you and your tastes, but I'm not really sure that it is for me and mine.
Hey, all. This is an interesting thread, full of insightful thoughts and opinions. I want to challenge a couple of assumptions, though, that seem to have been taken as given in this conversation.
1. That people house-rule XP into two pools, for game-use and advancement.
2. That XP is commonly used by malicious GMs to screw the players.
Do these things happen? Sure. But reading this thread you'd think they were common; even pervasive. They are not—in my experience they're really rare. (In the second case, I'll point out that players can spend an XP to counter a GM intrusion; in ten years of playing hundreds of sessions, I've only ever seen it happen twice. Not the rate I'd expect if receiving intrusions was commonly seen as being screwed by the GM.)
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Also a word on the cypher limit. Cyphers are really a meta element, treated as an in-game item in some settings (like Numenera) but as purely a metagame mechanic that enhances player agency in many others. (They're termed "subtle cyphers" when used that way.) You get an arbitrary boost you can use at your discretion, but you can only have a couple of them available to you at any given time. The fact that this boost is skinned as an object in a game like Numenera is just color. Maybe that makes it easier to accept the concept?
(That said, I have to wonder if those who dislike cypher limits are actual Cypher System players with substantial experience of the system, or people who haven't played much and just dislike the limit in principle. Because I haven't really seen it be an obstacle in play.)
In the first case, it's pretty common IME to see this as a suggested house rule. Obviously you have greater experience with the fan community and engagement, but I'm not going to pretend like this hasn't been a common houserule discussed in the community since Numenera. A simple search on Cypher Unlimited's Discord channel (to which I am also a member) for "XP advancment" or "XP split" reveals a fair number of people splitting XP between two tracks: PC advancement and beannies/plot/etc.Hey, all. This is an interesting thread, full of insightful thoughts and opinions. I want to challenge a couple of assumptions, though, that seem to have been taken as given in this conversation.
1. That people house-rule XP into two pools, for game-use and advancement.
This feels less like a grounded hypothesis and more like your own negative opinions likely leading you to this conclusion.I'd suggest the only reason for the first to be rare is that people prone to doing it will just walk away from the game instead.
This feels less like a grounded hypothesis and more like your own negative opinions likely leading you to this conclusion.