In most commercial RPGs, plot points represent the
heroic quality of player characters, which separates them from other people in the game world, and as such are spent to increase a character's chance of success in combat or other actions. Examples include
Fate points in
FATE (also RPGs based on the
FATE system),
Edge in
MechWarrior,
Fortune dice in
Feng Shui or
Force points in the
Star Wars role-playing games from
West End Games (
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game) and
Wizards of the Coast (the
Star Wars Roleplaying Game). In some RPGs, mostly
indie RPGs, plot points are rather a way of involving the player in the story. They can be spent to introduce something into the game, or to add a
previously unrevealed fact about a character. Examples include
story tokens in
Capes, the seven types of
Narrative privileges (
Privilèges narratifs) in the 2nd edition of
The Last Chronicles of Erdor (''
Les Chroniques d'Erdor, in French) or backgrounds in Dogs in the Vineyard''. In
Steve Jackson Games's role-playing game
Toon, plot points are used as
experience points, awarded for completing in-game objectives and used to increase a
player character's statistics. The first role-playing game to incorporate plot points was
Top Secret by
TSR, Inc. which gave each character between 1-10 luck points. Each luck point allowed a player to reverse the consequences of a single roll. Character creation in the
Serenity Role Playing Game (2005) is point-based; in addition to that, players are able to spend plot points to change the outcome of die rolls, which become a standard feature in licensed games based on dramatic series. In the
Cortex System, players receive plot points as a reward for role-playing the disadvantages of their characters, and this interrelation between plot points and complications was a trend that was more in line with indie game design than the more traditional role-playing system of Cortex. In the
Smallville Roleplaying Game, plot points are a central resource which
player characters gain by using complications and can be used to access superhuman powers.
Leverage: The Roleplaying Game also featured a plot-point economy, using the distinctions of the characters. ==References==