Luck Again

In Luck Happens," I wrote that "Luck should literally be the result of luck, as in chance." I still believe it's the optimal method of awarding Luck, but I also believe Luck can be awarded for achieving certain goals as long as it cannot be spent on permanent character improvement. In Omnia, Luck plays no part in improving a character's statistics. It can only be used as a temporary boost. Therefore, Luck may be awarded when a character does something specific or it may be awarded randomly. The real key, as I reflect on it now, is not how Luck is acquired, but how it can be used. (It should also be noted that Luck scores and Ability scores are randomizers, not flat values, because Omnia uses a dice pool system.) Luck is no substitute for experience (except when it is), but it can be gained by having experiences.

Luck Happens

In some role-playing games, you earn Luck for accomplishing something, and you spend Luck either to accomplish something or to improve yourself so you can accomplish things. That doesn't sound like luck to me. It sounds more like experience. You don't earn luck—you're just lucky. It isn't karma. It isn't brownie points. It's just dumb luck that can happen to anyone at any time, and it can be good or it can be bad. So, maybe "Luck" isn't a good term for this kind of metacurrency. Karma is great for Marvel Super Heroes and Brownie Points are perfect for Ghostbusters, but Luck should literally be the result of actual luck, as in chance.

Luck already happens in any game with a randomizer. You roll the dice. You flip the coin. You spin the spinner. The result is pure luck. If you want a rule where you can gain Luck and use it later without stepping on the experience system's toes, you need to make sure that Luck is always acquired purely by chance.

As an example, consider any game that has a rule for critical success or critical failure. You could make a house rule that any critical success (or critical failure, or both) grants the player a point of Luck they can use later for whatever they are allowed to do with Luck. For a game with a dice pool system, perhaps there is a unique die that grants a point of Luck whenever a specific side comes up. For a card game, it's the Joker. If you're lucky, you get a Luck point.

What you can do with Luck points depends on the game, but the one thing it should never let you do is increase your skill/ability/level. That is the realm of experience, not luck. Luck that is gained should be spent on lucky breaks. Even as a resource, it should remain within its own ecosystem.

All of this has me reevaluating the metacurrency in Omnia.

As Luck Would (or Would Not) Have It

The Luck score in Omnia has changed and will possibly change again, but one thing it will never be is a reality-altering superpower like "The Force" in Star Wars or an authorial metacurrency in a story game. They have their place in their respective spheres, but this is not the way of Omnia. Instead, Luck is an intangible combination of circumstances and willpower, or Fortuna and bloody-mindedness, that occasionally enables people to exceed their normal capabilities, avoid catastrophe, and possibly even make a major breakthrough. I think this is something that accelerates the gameplay without breaking immersion. We shall see...