I’m looking to be running a game of Uncharted Worlds soon, and I have a question about stats and the advancement system. Namely, most PbtA games I’ve played or looked at let you buy a stat increase with an advancement, and let you increase one of your stats up to +3 if you want. Uncharted Worlds doesn’t let you do either of those things; is there a particular mechanical or philosophical reason it doesn’t?
My players are used to games where they can increase their stats over time, and I’m worried they won’t be happy about the fact they can’t in UW. Would it be game breaking to let them spend XP to increase a stat, up to a maximum of +3, via the alternative advancement rules in Far Beyond Humanity? If not, what do you think would be a fair XP cost for doing so?
I’m not sure if it would unbalance things, but the game does provide a way at character creation to advance at least one of the stats. Each Background provides a stat boost if the player chooses that skill from the background. I usually caution players that this is the only way to raise a stat and it’s worth considering carefully at character creation.
Angela Murray Thanks for pointing that out, I’ll be sure to let my players know that they have that option at character creation. I’m still concerned about them not being able to improve their stats over time.
It is a thing I could see players getting concerned about, but my experience with PbtA games is that they usually run for about 5-10 sessions before reaching a good ending point, making the need to increase stats less imperative. I’m sure there are exceptions, but this seems to be about what most games work out to.
As long as they know up front they can mitigate that -1 or make themselves really competent with two +2s, they should be pretty solid for most of the game.
Not to mention, UW, unlike some other PbtA games has the ability to help and assist one another more easily accessible to the players. Get Involved as a move can help mitigate even the worst rolls if the PCs are working together as a team.
Well, unless you have someone with the Reckless move and they end up blowing out the side of a space derelict in the attempt to get rid of all the space spiders that are suddenly hatching around them. 😉
Reckless is such a fantastic move. 🙂
It is true that there is no option to increase stats once the game has started, but I feel it is mitigated by very powerful help move that pushes the move doer a whole success level up instead of simple +1.
I also feel that UW is very team focused game and encourages such helping each other with moves.
I also had a thought about giving opportunity to buy stat points with XP, I think 8-10 seems like good price for a stat point.
Hmm, I hadn’t thought about how powerful the Get Involved move is; you guys are right that it’s quite a bit better than similar moves from other PbtA games, or even most other RPGs I’ve played. I guess that explains the lack of +3 stats; wouldn’t want to make things too easy for the players. I think I’ll run the game as-is to start, and if my players get antsy about their stats after a few sessions, introduce the ability to raise them via XP. Thanks for the responses!
Angela Murray I didn’t even need Reckless to cause a TPK when I played UW: I just rolled snake eyes on the Jump test!
I expect you’re projecting too much by saying “my players are used to stat increases and will not be happy without them”
Probably don’t just do it because you feel the numbers should be able to go up. Think about what you and the players gain when those numbers go up and how the moves actually change.
You’re the best judge of what is or isn’t “balanced”–or at least, you’re better positioned to make that judgment for you and your players. I found making the attached image really helpful for thinking about stats in AW.
One fun fact about AW’s stats is that they weren’t at all symmetric. There were more playbooks based around certain stats than others. It was very hard to come by Sharp bonuses compared to the other stats, and easy to come by Weird bonuses. Further, far more moves use weird than use any of the other stats. One could certainly make it easier to get +3 sharp without breaking or “unbalancing” the game, but it’s helpful to understand what effect that has on progression through the game’s system of moves and whether or not that’s what you actually want.
The same goes for all the games in the PbtA family. 🙂
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dDyzgYkcgyfnCMkiW3X6qZ8c_l7dwFKcbEJScbjCOlPYCI_RwKqflQYaNqdh556icqHgouetr7KHEzKyYsm8E8Hia7OZO9IVOAw=s0
One thing I tried to do with the stat balance of UW is to provide a good percentage of “interesting twists”, while trying to mitigate the propensity towards stat-focus/maximization. I tried a variety of knobs during playtesting UW, but the ones that felt the best ended up being:
Flattened stat curve: By avoid extremes (-2s and +3s ) and keeping the average curve range in the +1 ish average (-1, 0, 1, 1, 2), secondary stats are still viable, leading to a wider range of stats used during play.
Dual high stat: By making the Origin skill boost a stat other than the character’s high stat (upping a +1 to a +2 usually), the Origin bonus also creates stat diversity, giving characters the feeling they have more options outside of an otherwise narrow stat focus.
Promoting teamwork: To encourage team play, I increased the effect of Get Involved, which had the knock-on effect of making Rolls succeed more often. Soft-capping the stats at +2 made complications more common (~60%) making teamwork even more valuable.
Note that there is one way of getting a +3 stat, through the Scoundrel career’s Addict skill. That said, the Addict has their own risk-reward loop, and the otherwise undesirable focus on one stat becomes a narrative-appropriate obsession instead.
I appreciate the deemphasis on stats.
Thanks for the insight. I’ll play it as written to start with, and only add the ability to buy up stats via XP (probably to a max of +2) if the group as a whole really wants it.
As I see it, the plethora of skills and keyword-dependent mechanics make character advancement revolve around getting the right equipment to match your skillset and evolving that skillset as the campaign evolves.
My group has steadily accumulated enemies who are heavily armed and instead of asking for stat increases they’ve gone for hardsuits (small walker vehicle) and hunting for exotic/illegal weapons.