Badass Kung Fu Demigods design journal pt 4

So, these rules are a little bit slapped together compared to the previous, still extremely slapped-together, rules. Unlike the previous ideas this really has no equivalent from previous versions of the game and involves a bit more brutalization of sacred cows. 

In previous drafts one element I've consciously avoided has been any kind of meta-currency: no fate points or bennies or hero points or what-have-you. BAKFDG started off as kind of a substitute for Exalted, one of my favorite games in concept (if not execution) and before I made it I looked at a lot of Exalted substitutes made by others. One that always rubbed me the wrong way was FATE, because I felt the central conceit of Fate points clashed with the high-powered setting of Exalted. I felt like it was important that the Exalted not make use of out-of-game metacurrency because it undermined their status as supreme, monolithic badasses. One of the Chosen does not win a fight because they're a main character and a main character always wins a fight..they win a fight because they're a quasi-divine warrior who can punch through castles. 

While I haven't changed my mind, I have come up with a mechanical concept that I quite like and straddles a satisfying middle-ground between "self-reliant ubermensch" and "cast adrift on the seas of narrative". For now I'm referring to this as the Spotlight system. 

Each character has a Spotlight which can be expended in a variety of ways: 

• Make a Boosted roll related to one of your Defining Traits. 
• Get Back Up: recover from being KO'd (probably still injured?). Can only do it once per scene.
• Make a narrative declaration about the scene. These are normally relatively minor, but can be significant if it relates to one of your Defining Traits. 
• Fill up a Tension Bar. 
• Trigger a combo (I'll get to this later, assuming I don't decide that combos are ridiculously overpowered). 

Everyone gets a single Spotlight at once and they're "refreshed" once everyone has used their Spotlight. I might introduce a mechanic to restore your Spotlight in exceptional situations, but I like the elegance of just refreshing as soon as everyone has had a chance to use it. This does carry over from session to session, so it will kind of rely on folks not hoarding...but that's also kind of a table problem. Rules can't fix bad players or bad GMs. 

I do feel like I'm missing a use for spotlight I thought of at some point and neglected to write down, so expect the possibility of this list expanding a bit.