They also use them for adding to dice rolls (and activating criticals (instead of rolling to confirm)), but I’d much rather they spend ‘em on the more unusual stuff – it feels more heroic (which is cool), and is always more surprising for everyone at the table (which is even more cool).

After all, we expect action points to spent to ‘guarantee’ important rolls – we don’t expect tables to be kicked into villains’ faces, or charges to get intercepted in order to allow the rest of the party a chance at escape.

Obviously some players are a bit more imaginative with this sort of thing than others, but that’s to be expected really.

My next game was Serenity RPG, which has them as a core concept, and that went better. The players developed a habit of blowing them all on key rolls, usually late in a session. What I appreciated, and rewarded, was the special effort at RPing and imagination that accompanied that roll.

In both games where we’ve used them, they’ve made the game more fun for everyone. They’ve also become a bit of a running joke, because most of us usually have a surplus — I think my druid has close to 40 right now.

I love the idea of limiting them but making them much more useful, so FYIA tokens sound great to me. Shouting, “Fuck you, I’m awesome!” when using them would be a definite bonus, too.

Patrick: I enjoy FATE, including Spirit of the Century, because their Aspects work a lot like the Fate Points you invented. In the right genres, a wild “wahoo” moment’s what it’s all about.

PW: Awarding action points for failed actions sounds like a great solution. That seems like an excellent way to promote the activity you’re aiming for (leaping on tables, etc.) and ensures that the fiction matches the die rolls. I like it a lot… I may have to try it out in our next session.

Fang: I kept an eye on your Game Design Heretic and was thrilled to see your post when you said you’d figured out how you were going to put it all together. Scattershot’s design discussions were some of the most inspiring discussions I’ve stumbled across yet. Good to see you around again!

Do you use action points (or anything similar) in your group?

Actually? I’m designing a game around them and little else (well, a ‘roll under the number’ resolution system).

I sure hope it works!

Here’s the rationale: D&D is not a system that rewards risk taking or creative exploration of your options. The most effective players know that the best option is taking a 5′ step and using Full Attack. They don’t bother leaping on tables, attempting to run across logs and attempt ranged disarms with whips.

The reason these actions aren’t taken as often is they are gambles. There is a large chance you will lose an action doing nothing. However, if they know even on a failure they will receive an Action Point, they will be more open to trying the crazy schemes that pop into their heads. On a success they’re already rewarded (performed cool action), on a failure they get a compensation.

I think every system should have mechanics like these, and I tend to buy games that do have such mechanics included. The game is just more fun when you have that strategic option to make something happen when you really need it. As long as the resource is limited it really does add a nice touch to the game.

I like action points because quite often they don’t guarantee a success, just improve a near miss. Also sometimes I will let a player burn an action point INSTEAD of rolling a die to do something truly dramatic. Like letting the somewhat frail elven mage kick in a door that normally he wouldn’t be able to do. Since in the long run it wouldn’t matter, the fighter would just do it on the next round anyways, why not let the elf feel dashing for a round?

-Rhev