Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
Really its something of a hypocrisy mechanic where the civilised despite their veneer of politeness are usually greedy, cruel, scheming liars whereas barbarians are more direct and honest about their passions.The thing is, I wouldn’t want to push players to feel they have to make their characters as uncivilized as possible for mechanical benefit. I would want “highly civilized” to be a valid character choice, with a different set of pros and cons.
Is there another word, better than 'level', that you would prefer to use to describe the difference between a game in which you gain power/abilities piecemeal, versus one where you achieve that in chunks with numbers/labels attached to them?
EDIT: I understand that in theory the distinction could have no relevance to gameplay, because a highly granular progression could still be based on levels. But in practice that would mean a lot of levels. So in general the distinction between leveling and non-leveling games tends to be a difference in power curves.
Conan goes from being a minor theif to becoming a brigand, and mercenary rising through the ranks to become Captain of Armies and a Leader of Pirates, then on to becoming King - his progress is shown via gaining new career skills (thief, pirate. mercenary), greater understanding of the supernatural, and increasing Fame and Influence as a leader of men.
Its definitely progress, which in Fate would be modelled as changed and new Aspects, rather than bulk levelling.