Realising a Potential
Realising potential usually involves something unusual happening to the character within the game, allowing access to changes that are rare or unusual. Examples may be
- Showing an immediate talent for a skill or ability never previously encountered or used. (use the force, luke! or "you shoot pretty well for a reporter.")
- Undergoing an event that changes the characters outlook and drive significantly, leading to improved attributes or skills centered around that theme. (They didnt kill me, but they'll wish they had...)
- Developing new skills, abilities or talents that are revealed as a result of gameplay (acquiring a psychic ability, a new language quickly and fluently, learning an obscure martial art or science, having a unique gene or an unusual connection to an NPC, catching a weird gene altering disease, acquiring a symbiotic bond, etc).
- Some power ups may involve acquiring new qualities and drawbacks. These must balance to a five point maximum. Qualities should be limited to 10 points maximum.
Powering up and gameplay. The idea behind the above rule is to allow for two basic types of PC - the previously established hero and the companion, who is far more open to the change brought by peak experiences. This kind of mimics the changes you see in some sci-fi series, where initially one dimensional characters acquire new areas of skill or knowledge that increase their competence across a broader range. Quite often, it is the ones who intially have less to offer that change the most.
The idea is that companion players who find something within game that grabs them can throw a power up request at the GM (moi), then we sit down and hash out details of what (While in the interests of the game, I reserve the rights to 'when' and 'how').
To use some examples
- Luke Skywalker finds out he is force-boy!
- Samantha Carter acquires Ga'ould memories and Naquada blood.
- Willow learns magic.
- Delenn becomes half-human.
- Daniel Jackson learns Ga'ould technology and languages.
- O'Neill has the ancients gene!
- Daniel Jackson ascends.
- Spock returns to a different timeline.
- A Vorlon opens Lyta Alexanders mind.
- Ellen Ripley is cloned.
- Sarah Conners survives an attack by a terminator.
