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Originally Posted by Tim Kirk
as much as I like the attribute/plot hook element
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Since you’re the resident MSH guru, I had a thought about that aspect of T&J which you singled out several times: the ability for the player to assign “damage” to traits of his choosing and thus play out why Spiderman has to break his date with Gwen because he lost a fight with Doc Ock (yes, I’m reading old Spiderman comics right now, so I’m using Gwen instead of MJ. In my world right now, Gwen isn’t dead).
Now, in MSH, characters gain Karma for doing good things and lose it for doing bad things…like breaking dates with the swinging Ms. Stacy. It’s a resource pool, as noted. Now this is just off the top of my head and I haven’t really thought it out, but what if you turned the process upside down and eliminated the Karma pool. Instead, players are allowed to spend karma when they want, but they then “pay” for it by having an appropriate loss. That is, Doc Ock’s secret underwater base collapses on Spidey and he is left for dead. He spends 80 Karma to boost his Strength roll to get out from under some fallen debris and escape. Spidey’s player wants to pay for that through his romantic life; the GM decides that 80 Karma is worth one broken date with Gorgeous Gwendolyn and ensuing complications therefrom (which might allow Doc Ock to become Aunt May’s border while Pete is distracted by his romantic troubles). Alternately, the player might decide that his payment means that he is required to do something that would earn him 80 Karma (god knows what that is; I can’t recall the chart from memory.) Maybe he will be forced into a situation later where he has to rescue innocent bystanders from a plummeting Neutralizer-device and leave himself open to the good Doctor’s tentacles.
Note that none of the above is meant to suggest avoiding T&J or the like. I’m just thinking is all.