Spending Points

I’ve always liked the idea of points as a tracking and resource mechanic. If you know the system well enough, you could more or less plot the amount of things you can do in a day, if the points are the be all and end all of the game’s resources; if not, say in the case where points are a buff to your abilities, you can plot out about how many “extra cool” things you’ll be able to do. It adds a nice layer to the game’s strategy, as well as being a relatively nice boon for both the player and the GM. I can’t tell you how many times Drama Points in Cthulhutech or Willpower Points in World of Darkness saved my characters.

This was, in part, one of my inspirations for the “Story Points” and “Bargaining” mechanics in NAA D6. There was one time in a World of Darkness game where I “bargained” with the GM the same way you do in NAA D6. My character was going to be killed and I have some willpower to burn, so  told him I’d burn a couple points if he let me live. The GM was more of a storyteller than the type to let the dice fall where they may, so I think he wouldn’t have even killed me in the first place – but he seemed glad to have a fair out, so he let my guy survive the encounter, with a very bruised will, but alive.

To this day I still enjoy D&D 3.5 psionics, because there was just something satisfying about tracking those points, spending them, counting them against what you could do during the day, and there always were just enough to get by. I houseruled a few ways to replenish them (if opponents saved against your psionics powers, or you otherwise failed entirely to use them effectively, you would get a few points back), and in all-psionic campaigns (minus the Soulknife, that one sucked so much I always banned it to keep things fairly even) it would be pretty fun. D&D 3.5′s psionics points were fairly reasonable to keep track of and to spend.

Fast forward to 4e, and we have Psionics again. While I don’t actually like the Psionics system in 4e (the fact that it sticks you with 3 renewable attack powers and builds-in derivatives, just feels wonky) it is still very reasonable to add up your points and track them. It doesn’t really become an imposition on the player and is fairly fast and natural. Aside from the mid-range expenditure, it doesn’t really diverge much from the rest of the system – it’s just an expression of “a couple of at-will powers and a couple of encounter powers” but in points form. Though the points always come back at the end of an encounter, which is of course done to keep it in line with the rest of the game, but takes away some of that resource management thrill.

Looking at another system where you spend points, we have Mage: The Awakening. Now, I liked that Mage barely ever actually asked you to spend your points. You could choose to spend them yourself, and the high level or powerful spells asked you for some, but you could get by without ever spending mana. Willpower too. Both of these things were more like “there when you needed them, or when the GM required them” and both were partially the inspiration for NAA D6′s story points, as mentioned above. In NAA D6, story points never have to be spent. Or at least, that was the idea.

In practice, I wrote a lot of things that do tell you to burn points. Unsurprisingly, this makes those things low priority picks for players. While at one point I entertained the idea of having a point economy for actions, similar to 3.5-style magic and psionics points (except for everything significant), I decided instead to reduce the SP influence on the game economy, making them more like Cthulhutech Drama Points or Storyteller Willpower. I think this will be simpler for everyone, though I still like the idea of a point economy. One thing I also want to bring back is a failure track that gives you a boost if you keep getting unlucky.

So what have your experiences been with point-economy games. Do you prefer the style of D&D 3.5 Psionics, or more like Mage: The Awakening, or some other game? Would you rather they be like Cthulhutech’s Drama Points, where they’re just a buff? Are they too fiddly for you? Do you prefer games where there’s no resources like that, or where they are more easily renewable?