Mythic RPG has the most holistic character advancement rules I have ever read. Advancing a character not only can be done by several methods, but all of those methods are clear and logical, and flow out of the narrative of the emergent story, guided of course by the soloist questions.
This adherence to a holistic approach also means character Attributes and Abilities and decline over time do to the wear of old age or the slump of retirement. The attachment to the story should please most narrative favoring roleplayers, and the realistic approach should please most simulationist.
Strewn throughout the chapter are useful Resolution Tables that are filled out to provide examples of how the process is to work. Though I will do my best to summarize the procedures, this is a must read chapter to get the fullness of the system.
When to Check for Advancement?
In most RPGs characters gain either some equivalent of experience points, an abstraction of achievement that brings on a raise of level or some other power increase, or the get some sort of point pool for purchasing new or higher abilities. Mythic has neither of these mechanics. Instead it continues the use of the Fate Chart to determine what improves when. These Fate Chart checks are made when certain "growth" criteria have been reached. This can be done from an extraordinary success, at the end of a period of training, or after a certain duration when any person living the lifestyle of the character would naturally improve.
Experience
"At the conclusion of an adventure, you should look your character over and see if there were any abilities or attributes that came into play during the adventure where the character did something extraordinary." pg.89
This is the closest that Mythic RPG character advancement gets to other RPGs. If you do something so well that you end up remembering the end of the session and go "WOW", it is probably worth an Advancement Check. The experience should be a success that went beyond the norm and had an impact on the session. Naturally, these will get less common the more accomplished a character becomes, but do to the random nature of Fate Rolls, and your own creative ingenuity in overcoming or circumventing the challenges that a narrative sends your way, it will probably happen more often than you would think.
Training
"Training is the most common way characters learn and grow, just like us." pg. 90
Training is typically how we learn a skill, whether it is in some formal setting, an informal tutor, or just grinding it out on your own, we learn by learning. Well so can your character. Training cost down time and character effort, so while training there are limited other things you can do. To make this less confusing there are training guidelines that can be summarized as follows
- Training can only be done between Adventures. Your character will have to be out of the hurly-burly to focus on the training.
- The effect (Ability or Attribute) being trained for must be explicitly stated.
- The amount of training time must be stated in advance, and will take longer for scores that are already high than it would for those that are low. It takes little time to make little gains, but bigger gains demand more time and effort. This of course should be tailored to the Ability or Attribute in question.
"Even if a character is not actively training, and isn’t having any major experiences, the simple process of time can advance a character. In a sense, this is the same as training, except it takes place over a longer period. For instance, a man of 40 can be expected to have a broader range of knowledge than a man of 20, simply by virtue of having lived longer." pg.90
This does make a remarkable amount of sense, as we make our on travel on the river of time we learn things that are part of our daily lives. Sometimes these maybe small hobbies picked up but never taken to a professional level, or the maybe the natural growth that takes place as your experience enriches in a job. Fortunately this too has a series of guidelines so we won't be groping around for when we should make the next check.
- What is to be raised must be clearly stated.
- There must be a clearly stated reason why the passage of time would increase the Attribute or Ability.
- A reasonable amount of time must have passed to warrant the check.
- Lastly, the check cannot have been improved in any other way during the passage of that time.
Technically speaking anything can be advanced, but some are trickier than others. Because this part of the game requires a narrative reason for advancement, as well as a check you will usually have to find a narrative reason to make the check.
Attributes such as Strength, Agility, and Reflexes, could arguably be increased with an exercise regiment. The same argument can be made for IQ if you, the player, can be creative, but what exercise will increase Intuition or Willpower. Like the author I will leave that up to you, but if you can make an argument that will please yourself then I say go for it. It is your solo game.
Abilities are usually skills, and thus there is a framework for building them up. Want to be a better boxer, get an instructor and hit the sand bag. Want to be a better Actor, sign up for local productions and get some experience.
Other Abilities, like psychic powers, or super powers, may be harder to justify, but if you can come up with a creative training regiment, or if during the game you have a breakthrough Experience these two can be raised.
Strengths and Weaknesses the author suggest will be the hardest to buy up, or buy off. Strengths usually reflect an internal knack, not shared by others, and thus finding teacher will be more than a little challenging. Also Strengths are not rolled in and of themselves, but are roll modifiers on the whole.
Weaknesses of some sorts can make since to buy off, but the narrative of them is extremely important. If you want to get rid off a characters alcohol ism then you are looking a them finding extensive therapy and resisting a lot of temptation (mind if the succeed, perhaps they can use that as a reason to increase Willpower), but no amount of counseling will bring back a severed hand. At least not in most games.
Advancement Fate Check
After the appropriate amount of time has passed, and all other criteria met it is time to ask the Advancement Question. This is like any other Fate Question, it has 4 possible outcomes and at the end of it you will have a definitive answer. It is an odds check and it will be modified by the quality of that time and effort put into it, how high the skill already is, and any other factors you can think of. But at the end of it all it is a Fate Check like any other. (see pg. 92 for excellent examples).
Other Forms of Advancement
With all of that said, increasing the little block on a character sheet full of numbers is only one kind of character advancement. The other kinds are gained in the narrative as well, but are more story and less stat. These could include, getting an object that is more powerful (in a fantasy or high tech game... or just a bigger gun in a modern game), getting a job that dribbles or pumps in income, making friends in the right places, or earning some sort of social status. All of that could grow out of roleplaying and a good Fate Chart check. If the gain is not temporary and will stick around (unlike a piece of equipment that may break or get used up), you should probably confirm it with a Fate check and make a note of it on your character sheet.
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