Abstract
Problem: Arcanum's fate points — a mechanic letting players guarantee outcomes — never felt integral to the game. Players either hoarded them or ignored them entirely. Why did they fail, and how could they be fixed?
Approach: Tim Cain reflects on the origin, intent, design flaws, and potential fixes for Arcanum's fate point system, drawing on his experience with the tabletop RPG Torg's "possibility points."
Findings: Fate points failed because they weren't integral to gameplay, had a passive UI (buried in a dropdown menu), offered mostly delayed effects that couldn't compete with the immediate full-heal option, and gave players no clarity on when they'd earn more — leading to hoarding. Fixes would include transparent award schedules, a bank cap (use-or-lose), action-oriented UI (hold a key while performing an action), and balanced effect options.
Key insight: A great mechanic becomes irrelevant if players don't understand its economy (when they earn it, when they lose it) and can't use it through natural gameplay actions rather than menus.
1. Origin: Torg's Possibility Points
Tim Cain traces fate points directly to the tabletop RPG Torg, which featured "possibility points." In Torg, your character (a "storm knight") could spend a possibility point to declare an outcome to the GM — anything remotely possible would just happen. "I'm fully healed." "This weapon critically hits." "This item that's out of charges works one more time."
The mechanic was table-turning: normally players tell the GM what they want to do and the GM determines what happens. Possibility points reversed this — the player tells the GM what is going to happen. Tim had never seen anything like it in a computer RPG and wanted to bring it to Arcanum.
The entire fate point system — design, code, and implementation — was solely Tim's work.
2. Three Design Goals
Tim had three goals for fate points:
Reinforce that the player is special. Arcanum had a running joke where Virgil believes you're the reincarnation of a chosen one, only for you to discover that person isn't even dead. Fate points were Tim's way of "winking at the player" — you really are special, mechanically.
Increase player agency. Fate points let you guarantee outcomes. Even with a tiny percent chance of success, you could "fate it into happening." Tim wanted players to feel empowered to attempt risky actions.
Reduce save scumming. Rather than reloading 20-30 times to successfully pickpocket a weapon off an NPC, players could spend a fate point and make it happen instantly.
3. Why They Failed
Tim is candid: "I don't think they were a success, and that's entirely on me." He identifies several interconnected problems:
3.1. Not Integral to the Game
Fate points were completely optional. You could play the entire game without using one — or even knowing they existed. They felt "glued on" rather than woven into the experience.
3.2. Passive, Menu-Driven UI
The interface was a dropdown menu listing things you could spend a fate point on. This was entirely passive — you'd select an option from a list rather than actively using fate points through gameplay actions.
3.3. Delayed Effects Couldn't Compete
Most fate point effects were deferred: "the next time you gamble," "the next time you pick a lock," "the next time you attack." The one immediate option — full heal — dominated usage because:
- A guaranteed critical hit doesn't guarantee a kill
- A guaranteed skill success can be achieved through save scumming anyway
- A full heal might be impossible to get any other way
3.4. Unpredictable Economy Caused Hoarding
Players had no idea when they'd receive fate points or how many they'd get throughout the game. Tim's instructions to the level/narrative designers were to award them at major story quest completions and occasionally for impressive feats (killing a boss, defeating a unique enemy). But this wasn't communicated to players, triggering the classic "too good to use" hoarding problem — exactly what the original question-asker described.
4. How Tim Would Fix Them
Tim isn't sure he'd even include fate points in a remake, but if he did:
4.1. Make Award Points Transparent
Every major story quest would explicitly list a fate point as part of its reward in the journal: "4,000 XP + one sword + a fate point." Knowing more are coming reduces the urge to hoard.
4.2. Implement a Bank Cap (Use-or-Lose)
Players could bank up to a limited number (say 3-5). Any fate point earned beyond the cap would be lost. Combined with knowing when the next one is coming, this creates spending pressure. Additional game elements could temporarily increase bank capacity — perhaps until the next story quest completion — further encouraging use.
4.3. Action-Oriented UI Instead of Menus
Instead of a dropdown, treat fate points like power attacks: hold a modifier key (e.g., Alt) while performing an action. Hold Alt while attacking for a guaranteed critical. Hold Alt while lockpicking for guaranteed success. Hold Alt while pickpocketing to guarantee you get the item unnoticed. This makes fate points feel active and integrated into moment-to-moment gameplay.
4.4. Balance the Effects
Rebalance options so full heal doesn't dominate. For example, replace the instant full heal with a "critical heal" — whatever a critical success on the heal skill means at your current level. This makes all fate point effects operate on the same logic (guaranteed critical on your next use of X), creating more interesting choices.
5. The Bigger Lesson
Tim compares fate points to Outer Worlds' flaw system — both contain a "good idea somewhere" that needs better implementation. He believes the core concept of player-declared outcomes has genuine potential, but the execution in Arcanum suffered from being disconnected from the game's core loops, hidden behind passive UI, and lacking a transparent economy.
"Maybe they just need to be implemented a little differently."
Source: Tim Cain — "Arcanum Fate Points"
6. References
- Tim Cain. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xt6kMhx1GQ