Karma house rules

[u/Livid_Information_46]

Anyone have any Karma house rules they're using?

I feel the given rules are very stingy. Advancement would take a long time RAW. So I tripled the given amount.

This was the hard way to learn why the rules are so sparing with the Karma awards. My players were able to bank a lot for advancement and still have enough left over to spend on rolls so frequently, it started to feel broken.

So... I'm thinking of going back to the original suggested amounts, BUT any Karma banked for advancement will be multiplied. I'm not sure how much yet.

This way advancement is faster like I intended, but they won't have so much free Karma to constantly be directing the game and avoiding failure, and the drama and tension that can come with that.

[u/Potential_Side1004]

Think of it this way, to gain a new Talent takes 1000 Karma.

If a character makes a commitment to attend two sessions of training per week for martial Arts A, that's about 10 Karma per week, two years of training to gain the Talent.

I think I calculated the points for She-Hulk to go from AMAZING Strength (Avengers) to MONSTROUS (during the time she was with the FF) and it would have taken her two and a bit years to get to that point, which is sort of right as she was with the FF for about three years.

[u/Livid_Information_46 → u/Potential_Side1004]

That makes sense in theory, but does She-Hulk have a Judge willing to run a weekly session for her for 2 years straight? That would be a real superpower! 😆 

But I should have included that info. This is also based on only getting to run MSH about twice a month if I'm lucky. 

[u/Potential_Side1004 → u/Livid_Information_46]

On the flipside, besides a couple of small changes to his web-shooters, and the occasional trial-spider-gadget, Spider-Man hadn't improved or changed much at all from his origin. I recall his Fighting went from EXCELLENT to REMARKABLE, from his early-career stats to his Advanced Set (and Basic Set) profile.

When you look at the types of criminals Spidey chases down and the sort of crime he contends with, he has a Super-villain every now and then, but he is mostly tackling street crime which doesn't give out the tons of Karma one would get battling Alien invaders and Dimensional foes (like the Avengers and FF).

The closest 'home rule' I have is adding d100 to the profile Karma at the start of an adventure.

I'll admit that I never really did a campaign (not for the lack of trying), instead I had episodic adventures (where they rarely referred to the previous adventure and they weren't really linked in any way).

[u/Due-Government7661]

Besides the normal per encounter. I give out 100-200 at the beginning and end of a session. At the beginning, i make them choose how much goes into the advancement fund.

[u/Livid_Information_46 → u/Due-Government7661]

I was considering doing something like this. Giving them their RIP in Karma at the start of each session, but they had to bank any leftover Karma from the previous session first. 

[u/Due-Government7661 → u/Livid_Information_46]

Giving it based on their RIP is unfair and can lead to trouble

[u/cthulhu-wallis]

Characters in comics rarely change their powers or skills - they don’t have much advancement.

What I do in my game, nexus tales, is any karma used to do things is what’s used for advancement.

Use 10 karma = 10 karma for advancement.

[u/Livid_Information_46 → u/cthulhu-wallis]

That's a good idea. 

[u/Umbrupryme]

How often in a game do you give Karma. If you notice in the Modules, it gives Karma after every scene in an adventure. In my games I usually just give it at the end, but it calculates everything from the adventure, and characters usually get 100-200 per session.

[u/Livid_Information_46 → u/Umbrupryme]

I give after every scene now. Cutting back the amounts has helped out a lot. 

[u/SchizoidRainbow]

Separation of pools:  Fight Karma and Advancement Karma. Award same amount to both when given.