Milestone Leveling in the Identity System

     Hoo, boy. Been a while, hasn't it? Suffice to say, life is what happens when you're making other plans...or developing a TTRPG, as it turns out. However, despite relative radio silence, development on the Identity System (formerly APRPG) has been continuing unhindered. In extensive playtesting, I've discovered that players can gain a helluva lot of power extremely quickly. There are streaks of multiple sessions where my players answer all 5 Experience questions. That, coupled with a few failed rolls here and there, means that they're leveling up once a session minimum. This is...not optimal for pacing. Eventually, every player character will have +3 in every Skill, an Aspect for every possible situation, and no real reason for rolling at all because their success is almost guaranteed. In short, it would remove player specialization. It would remove their Identity. So, what do I do? Do I make the campaign a meatgrinder? Well, that would cut off potential story threads every time a character dies. Do I increase the amount of Experience needed to level up? That would be a patch job at best, particularly ambitious players would still level up every other session rather than every session. So, I have a bit of a dilemma. 

    One possible solution is a classic of long-form TTRPG campaigns- Milestone Leveling. Whenever the player characters complete an arc or major story beat, they would level up. This would be a way to make sure character power increases in time with the pacing of the story, but there's a few options on the Leveling Options list that are meant to be used in the moment (Remove or lessen a Condition, or Instantly heal Harm and Stress up to the nearest benchmark.) So what to do with those? Well, maybe those could stay linked with the legacy Experience system. You gain Experience when failing rolls, and after essentially filling out your punch card, you gain an additional safety net in case you need it.

    The Identity System is meant to be about consequence- about self-discovery and living with failures. That sounds pretentious, but I'm serious. The reason I changed the name from APRPG to the Identity System is because leveling up is meant to be a way to further define your character's identity. Every time you add an Aspect, you're further cementing who your character is. Your Aspects aren't just tokens you can cash in for +1 on a roll, they are your character.

    So, how would this (optional) ruling work? I figure these two things can be split into two categories, something like this:

Completing an Arc:

-Add +1 to a Skill of your choice

-Add an Aspect 

Filling your Experience track:

-Lessen or remove a Condition

-Instantly heal Harm and Stress up to the nearest benchmark

    I'll continue working on optional Milestone rules, but this is the rough outline for now. I fear this system is diverging from my initial intent of simplicity, so it is subject to change over time. Next up, rules for hacking and/or magic, an explanation of the new magic system on Itherande, and probably some lore. I want to keep this blog updated, and ensure that I continue developing the Identity System throughout the mundane horrors of day-to-day life. I haven't given up on this project. I'll try to keep it updated once or twice a month. Until next time, thank you for reading!

                                                                                                            -AA