Hi Folks,
I'm prepping an S&S adventure for a big holiday gaming session, and I'm wondering how others are finding character advancement to be working.
Other rpgs offer rewards for adventuring that do not seem to be 'baked into' S&S, specifically equipment, spells, and skills/feats.
Spells and feats are self-explanatory; as the character advances, he/she has access to more spells and higher level (i.e. more powerful) spells. If you think of equipment as being sort of the S&S analog, then you kind of get that here, in that higher-level characters have access to more equipment units, and therefore can carry more (but see my comments on equipment below). There are no feats, and only 3 skills, so advancement there is limited (and no opportunity to customize the character).
When compared with fantasy rpgs, S&S has a somewhat abbreviated equipment list, and the added complexity of not allowing characters to keep or sell the stuff they find along the way. Other rpgs seem to place more emphasis on finding and keeping exotic stuff that makes the character more powerful in future adventures (or can be sold, and the money used to purchase other equipment that makes the character more powerful). S&S has no concept of money, and no market for equipment. Characters are expected to hand over their equipment at the end of each mission, so no opportunity to keep the space-age equivalent of a Hackmaster +12 that was found along the way.
Has anyone else run into this? If so, how have you handled it?
Thanks,
Stephen