I think that works. One addition i suggest be added is for critcal success and/or failures.
If they perform their action so successfully or they fail so miserly, they will have learned something also (0.10 - 0.25 XP or whatever the GM deems). However just they learned something does not mean that they will accept it, so they roll a d100 towards the same goal number as before (rolling under the goal number equals success) to actually realize what they have learn.

What I'm considering doing is keeping track of failed skill checks and tallying up the number of times a character failed for each skill per adventure. At the end, those tallies would be treated as 'Failure' traits for each skill (i.e. if you missed with a gun 6 times, you'd have a Failure of 6 for your Firearms skill). Then I'd make a die roll for each Failure trait, using its rating the same way as a skill in my system - if the roll succeeds, a variable amount of XP is gained for that skill (based on how well the roll succeeds); if the roll fails, no XP is gained toward that skill, meaning the character simply got frustrated and discouraged by their failures rather than learning from their mistakes.

The Difficulty Margin of these 'learning' checks would be based on the general difficulty of what the character was attempting to do when they failed - failing at easy tasks is a lot more likely to gain a character some insight into their mistakes than failing at tasks that are so difficult, they probably would have failed even if they had had decent skill because the challenge was just too overwhelming. I'm also considering giving characters bonuses to these learning checks based on their Inrovert scores (their ability to look within themselves, self-analyze, reflect and meditate upon what they've experienced). 1 XP would probably be the maximum a character could gain toward a given skill from failures during a single adventure, but fractions would accumulate over time (and be cumulative with normal XP devoted toward each skill).

If a character gains a Critical Success on a learning check for a given skill's failures, I might just forgo XP and bump their skill to the next level, or give 2 XP to that skill, or I might give a temporary +1 modifier to any die rolls involving that skill for the next Act.

Update:

ucat - after some concept changes and much discussion, is now virtually finished, will probably be done by tonight or tomorrow
MILLANDSON - working out final touches, will very likely be done within a few days at this rate, if not sooner
mrstrange - discussing final background details - I'll respond to your draft when I have more time
Yuber Okami - a little less than mid-way through character creation
Vasuvik - decided on concept, starting character creation

Update:

ucat - finished with character creation
MILLANDSON - working out final touches; waiting on his response
mrstrange - I'll respond to your (long!) draft when I have time
Yuber Okami - waiting on your response
Vasuvik - starting character creation; waiting on his response

Update:

MILLANDSON and mrstrange - working out final touches/background details
Yuber Okami and Vasuvik - in early stages of character creation

Update:

mrstrange - virtually finished, will probably be done by tomorrow
MILLANDSON - working out final touches/background details; still waiting on his response
Vasuvik - roughly a quarter way through character creation
Yuber Okami - not far behind Vasuvik

I will be away Friday evening and busy over the weekend, but should be able to start the game soon after that (following the completion of mrstrange's character). Aside from working with the above players to finish their characters, the main focus of my spare time is going into preparing plans and character-background tie-ins for the Epic.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:47, Fri 03 Aug 2012.

Update:

mrstrange - virtually finished, waiting on his response
MILLANDSON - working out final touches/background details, still waiting on his response
Vasuvik - about halfway through character creation
Yuber Okami - early in character creation, waiting on his response
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:08, Sat 04 Aug 2012.

Update:

mrstrange - I'll respond to your message as soon as I have more time
MILLANDSON and Vasuvik - working out final touches/background details
Yuber Okami - about 1/3rd finished

Update:

mrstrange - finished with character creation
MILLANDSON - working out final touches/background details; waiting on his response
Vasuvik - discussing changes; Vasuvik, I'll respond to your messages when I have more time
Yuber Okami - about halfway finished; waiting on his response

As mrstrange is now finished with his character, I'm planning (hoping) to start the game for the 5 approved PC's sometime this weekend if time allows. Side note: having realized that the Company of the Phoenix was erected in 4996 (the same year this game is taking place), there have been some concept changes. Currently there are no Questing Knights in the party. The 5 approved characters are:

Sir David Juandaastas (a Knight recently discharged from his house guard)
Sergeant Shikaalgargund (a Vorox ex-commando Muster mercenary acting as Sir David's bodyguard)
Tchak'Ikhlul (an Ukar in Sir David's entourage)
Captain Kidhido'on (an Etyri Charioteer pilot)
Anna Sviatogora (a freewoman dancer/performer)

Also in the works are:

Baronet Daniel Hawkwood (a former Hawkwood emissary turned to a life of questing and adventure)
Baron Rafael Santiago Rolas Hazat (an ex-Hazat liaison officer now traveling the stars)
Andreas Scheuzeri (a Hesychast monk, archaeologist and scholar of the Anunnaki)

Update:

MILLANDSON and Vasuvik - working out final touches/background details
Yuber Okami - about halfway finished; waiting on his response

Unfortunately, due to a bit of a disaster irl, I wasn't able to focus on getting the game started over the weekend as I had originally hoped to do, so I apologize for that. In the meantime, LaserEye, lurker and mrstrange have been keeping themselves occupied in their prologue thread, and ucat has posted in his private thread, which is good. Currently, MILLANDSON, Vasuvik and Yuber Okami are still working on their characters, but I expect that at least the former two should be finished before much longer. Also, lurker informed me of this:


Under the circumstances, with 3 players still working on completing their characters, my free time being divided between them and preparing the Epic, and lurker's short-term loss of availability (which means 4 of the 8 PC's being temporarily unavailable), I think it's more prudent to postpone launching the game for everyone until after those things are sorted - i.e. in a couple weeks. I'd rather not begin the Epic with one of David's group absent (meaning it would just be David and Tchak, with the other PC's being separate until they meet), and by the time lurker's availability returns, MILLANDSON, Vasuvik and Yuber Okami should all be done with their characters and ready for action - which would ultimately work better for the story I have planned anyway. I hope the rest of you sympathize with my judgment here and I appreciate your continued patience.

Update:

MILLANDSON - about 95% finished; waiting on his response
Vasuvik - about 90% finished, working out final touches/background details
Yuber Okami - about halfway done

Update:

MILLANDSON - still waiting on his response
Vasuvik - about 95% finished, may actually be done in the next day or two at this rate
Yuber Okami - a little more than halfway done; waiting on his response

Update:

Vasuvik - finished with character creation
MILLANDSON - about 95% finished, working out final touches
Yuber Okami - a little more than halfway done; still waiting on his response

Update:

MILLANDSON - almost done, just deciding on possessions/equipment
Yuber Okami - have been waiting on his response since Wednesday

Update:

MILLANDSON - 99.99% done
Yuber Okami - have been waiting on his response since the 15th

Update:

MILLANDSON - finished with character creation
Yuber Okami - still waiting on his response

Just noticed a new NPC addition to the Cast List: Sir Alarus Silal Thana


And I see that Andreas Scheuzeri has returned to log onto the game today (I assume Yuber Okami is Andreas Scheuzeri).

I've just been reading all the hubbub on rpg.net about RedBrick, 3rd Ed being cancelled, and 'Revised' having very few changes and relatively poor production qualities...

This makes me a sad FS fan *sad face*

In reply to Sir Daniel Windsor Hawkwood (msg # 61):

Yes, I wasn't exactly thrilled about that either !
The person behind the original revised VPs system is pushing it out GURPS like independently. If it was the part that interested you, you can read about it on http://gamersdev.blogspot.co.uk/
From what I had understood, there was little background in V3 anyway. It is still under work thought, I don't think we will see it very soon.

In reply to Sir Daniel Windsor Hawkwood (msg # 61):

yeah it is kinda sad that RedBrick is now out of the game publishing business. But FASA is back which amounts to a *shrug*.

Im glad i *discovered* a copy of the 3e Playtest so i can compare it to the Revised edition released. 2e pdf = 315 pages, 3e Playtest = 301 pages, while Revised Edition = 384 pages.

Revised Edition is said to be more 'streamlined' with a number of additions like the stances from L5R, a passive defense value, and no opposite characteristics (Faith/Ego , Passion/Calm). I'll wait until i get a copy to pass judgement on how totally messed up this whole saga is.

I'm all for cleaning up the FS rules. Don't know which would be better for me, the 3E playtest that was in the works, or this rush job they just came out with. I'm a 'less is more' kind of guy when it comes to rules. Ah, well.

Same here, though the 3e Playtest looked pretty good.

Hopefully with my house rules, the system will be unnoticeable during the course of roleplaying. That was my objective when I developed them anyhow.

Well I have not been keeping up on recent developments regarding Fading Suns, but while 2nd Ed. was an improvement over 1st Ed., there was/is still a lot of room for further improvements and developments.

The GM's modifications addressed some of the issues as far as I understand it (such as the fact that by the canon system, one can max out attributes & skills and still have a shockingly high failure rate with goal rolls... and then there's the fact that with the limited skill points, knowledges and lores tend to get short changed even if one is trying to be well rounded).

So GM... what would you say is the rough ETA for when the campaign will start in earnest (obviously there is play going on in the prelude threads at the moment but I meant aside from that)?

If all goes well, I believe I can start things off over this coming weekend.