04-21-2014, 10:30 AM
My thoughts are probably a bit different from everyone else. I liked the setup that was there originally (you must have a certain number of spheres bought, a certain number of Magely skills bought in order to ask for a Seeking) if only because it provided a guide to when I should expect to even start thinking "Seeking".
That's because I have nfi what constitutes enough character development. I just did my first Seeking a few weeks ago, and I feel deeply uncomfortable going to anyone and saying "Yeah, I expect Arete now!" without having some guideline to follow. In other words, I don't really like the idea of Arete being a kind of nebulous, whatever goes kind of concept, because I will fill out all my Mages' spheres for a level first before thinking they're ready, and never get up the courage to ask, if a ST doesn't beat me across the head and push the issue. But I realize that concern is going to be rare among this crowd, hah.
As far as XP cost, I feel like the sphere level costs are fairly good at providing a check on the power of characters. You can't actually do anything with another Arete dot that you couldn't do before - it just gets easier. You have to actually buy the next level spheres to gain a bump in abilities, and that is pretty expensive too. If Sam wants a game where Mages increase in power more quickly, this is a way to get that done.
The only problems I can see are perhaps people getting upset because now Arete becomes a completely subjective thing. Perhaps a ST and a player could not be on the same page and it causes conflict. But, that was already the case, huh? Another thing might be that a player gets dejected trying to figure out a hard Seeking (because they're going to get harder) and this causes conflict. But ST conflict happens. Especially in a game that's already quite "anything goes" and open-ended as Mage. We'll have to trust each other to be fair.
I vote a yes. I have reservations about making it all subjective and such, but I can see I being good for roleplay. Storytellers would have more freedom to play with Seekings and Avatars, and I like that aspect.
That's because I have nfi what constitutes enough character development. I just did my first Seeking a few weeks ago, and I feel deeply uncomfortable going to anyone and saying "Yeah, I expect Arete now!" without having some guideline to follow. In other words, I don't really like the idea of Arete being a kind of nebulous, whatever goes kind of concept, because I will fill out all my Mages' spheres for a level first before thinking they're ready, and never get up the courage to ask, if a ST doesn't beat me across the head and push the issue. But I realize that concern is going to be rare among this crowd, hah.
As far as XP cost, I feel like the sphere level costs are fairly good at providing a check on the power of characters. You can't actually do anything with another Arete dot that you couldn't do before - it just gets easier. You have to actually buy the next level spheres to gain a bump in abilities, and that is pretty expensive too. If Sam wants a game where Mages increase in power more quickly, this is a way to get that done.
The only problems I can see are perhaps people getting upset because now Arete becomes a completely subjective thing. Perhaps a ST and a player could not be on the same page and it causes conflict. But, that was already the case, huh? Another thing might be that a player gets dejected trying to figure out a hard Seeking (because they're going to get harder) and this causes conflict. But ST conflict happens. Especially in a game that's already quite "anything goes" and open-ended as Mage. We'll have to trust each other to be fair.
I vote a yes. I have reservations about making it all subjective and such, but I can see I being good for roleplay. Storytellers would have more freedom to play with Seekings and Avatars, and I like that aspect.