If you like the FFG Star Wars light/dark side point mechanic, you might also like how Fate handles Fate Points. Here’s the gist:
Each PC has a pool of Fate Points (FP). At the start of each session, if their pool is lower than their character’s “Refresh” score (typically 3), it resets to that score.
A player can spend an FP to:
invoke an Aspect on their character (or on the situation/location) to get +2 to a roll, increase the difficulty of an opponent’s roll by 2, or reroll the dice. They can also give the FP to another character to make a hostile invoke on another character’s Aspect. e.g. “since I’m a Debonair Swordsman, I’ll add +2 to to my Fight roll”, or “you still have that Slashed Palm from before, so your Fight roll is more difficult.”
compel another character into some course of action that creates a narrative complication. The player controlling that character must either accept the compel (and receive an FP), or spend one of their own FP to refuse it. Unlike a hostile invoke, a compel is more about narrative complication, e.g. “you find a contact among the rebel militia, but uh oh, since you’re a Debonair Swordsman it’s an old flame of yours, and the breakup was pretty messy!”
establish some useful detail/contrivance. e.g. “I cast my eyes around the tavern for a suitable weapon. Is there maybe an old, still-sharp sword mounted on the wall?” would probably require an FP, but “is there a chandelier at this ballroom party?” wouldn’t require one.
A player gains FP by:
accepting a compel or receiving a hostile invoke, as above
conceding a conflict.
If you gain FP in a scene, you don’t get to use them until the next scene.
The GM begins each scene with FP equal to the number of PCs (plus any gained from the previous scene), pooled across all the NPCs they control. They gain and spend FP in the same ways, except that they don’t need to spend an FP to make a compel.
If you like the FFG Star Wars light/dark side point mechanic, you might also like how Fate handles Fate Points. Here’s the gist:
Each PC has a pool of Fate Points (FP). At the start of each session, if their pool is lower than their character’s “Refresh” score (typically 3), it resets to that score.
A player can spend an FP to:
A player gains FP by:
If you gain FP in a scene, you don’t get to use them until the next scene.
The GM begins each scene with FP equal to the number of PCs (plus any gained from the previous scene), pooled across all the NPCs they control. They gain and spend FP in the same ways, except that they don’t need to spend an FP to make a compel.