The Favor Check is Dead, Long Live the Favor Check
Today we're going to talk a little shop about Spycraft and why we did with what we did with 2.0 vs. 1.0. In response to many complaints or confusion over in the Spycraft Forums, I've decided to frame this discussion in terms of a dead mechanic, the favor check.
The favor check was one of the fan-favorite 1.0 mechanics. It allowed agents to quickly and easily requisition resources, clearance, and many other mechanical intangibles from the Agency with an action die and a phone call. But the mechanic was open to abuse, thanks to many follow on feats, departments, and class abilities that allowed free checks. It got so out of control that many Spycraft forumers, most notoriously Equinox and RegularGuy, would build entire character concepts around a guy who could essentially sit in the van for the entire mission, calling in check after check with exceedingly high average results and get the shmucks of the world to do the work for them, at nearly no risk to themselves. The problem also trickled down into Living Spycraft, much to the frustration of GCs and module designers who's plots could be foiled with a few action dice and a wily PC.
Needless to say, the design team saw this problem years before work on 2.0 began and were determined to fix it this time around. First, we mutated the game from a gear-rich environment of 1.0 to the gear-limited environment of 2.0. By making gear "pre bundled" by giving batches of items, add-ons, or writing it off as Common Items, we were able to speed up Gearing Up and turn the focus back to players doing the work (thus discouraging favor-check dependant behavior).
Secondly, we codified all existing favor checks into Resource picks. By firmly grounding the mechanic of the check as gear (and thus, more limited) and precisely limiting exactly what it was that the resource does mechanically, players could still get favors while not totally foiling or confusing the GC. Both sides of the table knew what to expect.
Finally, we flat-out replaced the favor check mechanic with Request checks. This one hurt the most to lose, but was the most necessary. Request checks allow the player to call in resources in the field, albeit at the cost of a Reserve Gear or Common Item pick rather than the much more plentiful (effectively limitless) action die. This made calling in a favor later in the mission both more difficult and more dependant upon planning rather than an easy way out from a sticky situation.
The end result was that we reduced the favor check from an ubiquitious, cheap, "no-brainer" sort of metagame resource to one that was more specific, required thought, and had an actual cost attached to it in the mind of the player. This has not been an easy thing for many 1.0 players and GCs to get past - they don't know what to do when a game gets bogged down, or the player team needs assistance. The most common issue seems to be the concern that the team simply CANNOT ask for help from anyone (common example: getting help from local authorities in a background check) without making a Request check.
Although the favor check is dead in name, it is not dead in spirit. Finding these new options simply requires both player and GC to bend their minds to meet the new mechanics available to keep games flowing. Though mechanically the Request check is the most direct descendent of the favor check, it is not the only route to get resources in the field - 2.0 offers two useful and overall better options to the old favor check mechanics:
1) Networking skill. Hey look, it's a Favor Check I can invest skill points in! Thanks to the contact rules, consultants with Investigation (as mentioned earlier), Computers, Analysis, Streetwise, Bureaucracy and even Tactics can be tremendous resources for the team to get things done. Likewise, Behind the Scenes and Backup specialists are huge resources for a team in frequent need of "just one more thing" when in the field. While the limited nature of the Networking skill prevents the serious abuse the old favor check was susceptable to, I'm a firm believer there should be one dedicated Networker per team in 2.0.
2) GC Hint: You know when players are stuck trying to get that mug shot run and don't know what to do without it? Give them the assistance and count it as a hint. Let them use one of their "free hint" Origin abilities or simply give them the info they need and take an action die for yourself. This is easily the most overlooked solution to the "favor check situation" in all of 2.0. Plus you get a tighter reign on when players have to do the work themselves or when they can delegate.
I think the framework is there for characters to get just as much as they used to be able to out of the old favor checks - it just requires a reframing of your mindset. Reserve picks are handy, but Networking and hints are truly where it's at, and what's better, they don't even need gear to use them.
Today we're going to talk a little shop about Spycraft and why we did with what we did with 2.0 vs. 1.0. In response to many complaints or confusion over in the Spycraft Forums, I've decided to frame this discussion in terms of a dead mechanic, the favor check.
The favor check was one of the fan-favorite 1.0 mechanics. It allowed agents to quickly and easily requisition resources, clearance, and many other mechanical intangibles from the Agency with an action die and a phone call. But the mechanic was open to abuse, thanks to many follow on feats, departments, and class abilities that allowed free checks. It got so out of control that many Spycraft forumers, most notoriously Equinox and RegularGuy, would build entire character concepts around a guy who could essentially sit in the van for the entire mission, calling in check after check with exceedingly high average results and get the shmucks of the world to do the work for them, at nearly no risk to themselves. The problem also trickled down into Living Spycraft, much to the frustration of GCs and module designers who's plots could be foiled with a few action dice and a wily PC.
Needless to say, the design team saw this problem years before work on 2.0 began and were determined to fix it this time around. First, we mutated the game from a gear-rich environment of 1.0 to the gear-limited environment of 2.0. By making gear "pre bundled" by giving batches of items, add-ons, or writing it off as Common Items, we were able to speed up Gearing Up and turn the focus back to players doing the work (thus discouraging favor-check dependant behavior).
Secondly, we codified all existing favor checks into Resource picks. By firmly grounding the mechanic of the check as gear (and thus, more limited) and precisely limiting exactly what it was that the resource does mechanically, players could still get favors while not totally foiling or confusing the GC. Both sides of the table knew what to expect.
Finally, we flat-out replaced the favor check mechanic with Request checks. This one hurt the most to lose, but was the most necessary. Request checks allow the player to call in resources in the field, albeit at the cost of a Reserve Gear or Common Item pick rather than the much more plentiful (effectively limitless) action die. This made calling in a favor later in the mission both more difficult and more dependant upon planning rather than an easy way out from a sticky situation.
The end result was that we reduced the favor check from an ubiquitious, cheap, "no-brainer" sort of metagame resource to one that was more specific, required thought, and had an actual cost attached to it in the mind of the player. This has not been an easy thing for many 1.0 players and GCs to get past - they don't know what to do when a game gets bogged down, or the player team needs assistance. The most common issue seems to be the concern that the team simply CANNOT ask for help from anyone (common example: getting help from local authorities in a background check) without making a Request check.
Although the favor check is dead in name, it is not dead in spirit. Finding these new options simply requires both player and GC to bend their minds to meet the new mechanics available to keep games flowing. Though mechanically the Request check is the most direct descendent of the favor check, it is not the only route to get resources in the field - 2.0 offers two useful and overall better options to the old favor check mechanics:
1) Networking skill. Hey look, it's a Favor Check I can invest skill points in! Thanks to the contact rules, consultants with Investigation (as mentioned earlier), Computers, Analysis, Streetwise, Bureaucracy and even Tactics can be tremendous resources for the team to get things done. Likewise, Behind the Scenes and Backup specialists are huge resources for a team in frequent need of "just one more thing" when in the field. While the limited nature of the Networking skill prevents the serious abuse the old favor check was susceptable to, I'm a firm believer there should be one dedicated Networker per team in 2.0.
2) GC Hint: You know when players are stuck trying to get that mug shot run and don't know what to do without it? Give them the assistance and count it as a hint. Let them use one of their "free hint" Origin abilities or simply give them the info they need and take an action die for yourself. This is easily the most overlooked solution to the "favor check situation" in all of 2.0. Plus you get a tighter reign on when players have to do the work themselves or when they can delegate.
I think the framework is there for characters to get just as much as they used to be able to out of the old favor checks - it just requires a reframing of your mindset. Reserve picks are handy, but Networking and hints are truly where it's at, and what's better, they don't even need gear to use them.
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