A Bit from My Hack: Growth

I'm working on a hack or two that will probably never amount to enough to share. But there was one idea I've developed which I thought others may be interested in.

It's called Growth, and it was inspired by the Angel's move to gain +1 weird when a patient dies under his/her care - as well as my distaste for the generic +1 STAT moves.

The idea is that every character class has six options for Growth. When any of these incidents occur, you check a box and immediately gain +1 to that STAT.

For example, for the Old Soul:

[] +1 Cold      | Someone you are looking after dies.
[] +1 Sharp   | You are betrayed by someone you helped.
[] +1 Flesh    | You administer a love potion.
[] +1 Mantle    | One of the mighty owes you a favour.
[] +1 Ruin       | You kill a helpless person.
[] +1 Gold       | You sell what you think is a bauble.

What do you think?

I think that's pretty neat.

Initial Reaction, Sans Reservations: That's really fucking cool.

Reservations
1. Each of these can only be "unlocked" once, right? This must be the case, because otherwise it's going to eclipse the rest of the mechanics.

2. Some of these are too immediately achievable, incentivizing people to troll for XP.

The "Someone you are looking after dies" example is my favourite, as you can't easily jury-rig that situation just to unlock the stat boost. It's a tell for what the character is about, it's going to steer situations in a particular direction, and it will happen in its own time.

Contrast with the Ruin and Gold examples: I could just do those for the boost. I'd have to fight my baser urges if I wanted not to do that in a game.

Contrast with: "You are betrayed by someone you helped" for Sharp - it isn't a tell for the Old Soul. It says that the Old Soul helps others, but I have to squint to extrapolate much more than that.

In short, each one should be: telling, part of an implied situation, involve relationships and dynamics beyond the single character.

I love the basic idea. Making +1 moves more interesting is a great idea.

I agree with mcdaldno's reservations, and I feel like there might still be some twist missing that no one has thought of. It doesn't feel quite right yet, but it is a very good idea.