Ambition Levelling

 A while ago I tried writing my own TTRPG. Turns out, that's hard and I did a bad job. There are parts of it I like even now, such as the class + subclass system, the alchemist and psion, the heavy emphasis on the d12, and an action system heavily inspired by Pathfinder Second Edition. My favorite part and the namesake of the system however, is the ambition system.

Ambitions represent a sort of modified milestone leveling that's prevalent in DnD 5e. Instead of relying on the GM choosing when players level, ambition leveling relies on player set goals and desires to level. This puts it somewhere in between gold for XP and milestone, where players are encouraged to go into the world and explore to level but there is also a narrative tied to their growth.

Ambition based leveling.

Ambitions are a representation of a character's goals, both long-term and short-term. A character should start with 3 ambitions, but can gain more whenever they find something new they aspire to do. I would be wary of having more than 10. Ambitions should be reasonably difficult to achieve but that doesn't mean they have to take a dozen sessions to complete. Building a castle is a reasonable ambition. So is finding a hoard of treasure or defeating the evil necromancer in the cave. A character needs a mix of both.

Ambitions are player-chosen with GM supervision. It is a player's idea what they think their character wants to get done, but it is up to the GM to make sure the player isn't picking ambitions that are too easy or too far away. Collective party goals are also ambitions. If the party is on the hunt for the queen's holy sword, they should ALL complete an ambiiton when they find it.

Whenever a player fulfills their ambitions, that ambition is completed. Once a player completes a number of ambitions equal to their current level, they level up. At level 1, completing one ambition is a level. At level 2, characters must complete 2 NEW ambitions to gain a level. Because character ambitions vary and some things are easier than others, characters will naturally level at different rates.

Why do it?

Ambition leveling is a simple and player directed way to level in games with a greater focus on narrative. The system won't work well for your generic dungeon crawl, but that's not its intended purpose. It's designed for games centered on faction play, drama, and narrative. 

The system is, I will admit, untested. There is a chance that leveling will occur too quickly or too slowly or any number of other flaws that I'm not seeing. That said, I am open to criticism on it. While I think the idea is sound I am sure someone will find something bad mechanically about it.

D20 ambition ideas.

Roll (d20)	Ambition
1	Destroy an evil
2	Find something of great value
3	Break an ancient curse
4	Learn something valuable
5	Find that which was lost
6	Steal something important
7	Kill something dangerous
8	Repair relations between two feuding factions
9	Join a secretive faction
10	Kill someone important
11	Help a faction do something of great importance
12	Start or end a faction
13	Explore the unexplored
14	Become a lord
15	Restore part of the world
16	Fulfill a prophecy
17	Overcome an internal struggle
18	Start or end a religion
19	Make a powerful ally
20	Do something truly evil