Go Play Talislanta with 24XX (+ A Quick Hack)

Here is an extract from the free PDF of Talislanta 4E (all of it is online distributed by the creator and it's amazing).


Muse Telempath

"He wants me to ask you where you plan to drag us both next, dear thing." [as translated by a Whisp companion]

"Are you truly as aloof and frivolous as you appear to others? That is not a matter that you would ever deign to discuss. There is little that you find interesting enough to drive you to speech. Your voice and the languages of the other humanoids are such limited tools. You find yourself frustrated when forced to rely upon them. Such moments are rare, for your whisp companion accompanies you always, translating from your telempathic projections for those confused by them. The being with whom you have bonded has long
since grown accustomed to the images and emotions you send and responds with thoughts for you to perceive. This confidante, your friend and lover, has led you upon experiences that other Muses
will never know, unless you choose to show them through the telempathic images that you compose to complement your music. There is a vicarious thrill, it is true, in experiencing this other being’s life through your bond. There is a sense of aesthetic value in the ripples of historical tide that you witness. There are the vivid impressions from which you derive your art. Yet this obsession may be as ephemeral as your creations. Your bond-mate, you are certain, fears as much. If it is to be, it will make a grand lament indeed."

Appearance
5'6"-6’, 80-140 lbs. Skin, hair, and butterfly-like wings in pastel hues (blue, aquamarine, turquoise, violet, rose), delicate features, lithe body.

Skills
Flight d8, Telempathy d8, Artificer d8, Art d8, Music d8, Natural Magic d8

Equipment
Translucent gossamer robe of pastel colors; one or more musical instruments; pouch (pigments, blossoms, nectar); whisp companion; whisp companion may have 25 gold lumens.

As you can see, you can use these as-is for 24XX. There's stats and skills expressed with +Xs but you can just ignore that and assign skill increases willy-nilly based on the skills that sound the most interesting/expressive. You can go read the Talislanta 4E Primer right now that's like 20 pages and you get a quick description of the Seven Kingdoms (one of the many regions of the continent of Talislanta) and a bunch of archetypes ready for play.

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I'm not super interested in mechanical advancement and wanted to reduce the numbers of the sheets without getting rid of the skill die mechanic. Here's one such hack:

Saving Throw
When players try to avoid risk, roll a d6 skil die.
Increase it by one step (d8, d10, d12 tops) when:
-Your background would help
-Your talent would help
-Circumstances are favorable

If something puts you at a severe disadvantage, decrease the skill die one step (min. d4).

If somebody helps you, they roll their skill die and share the risk.
Take the highest die.

1-2 Disaster (suffer the full risk, GM decides if you succeed at all. If risking death, you die.)
3-4 Setback (A lesser consequence or partial success. If risking death, you're maimed.)
5+ Success The higher the roll, the better.

Sample Character
Alstrid, a 16yo Squire with Friends in High Places, who Sucks at Fighting
- Out for Revenge (wronged by their Rival, Katren the Brave)
- Courtly Manners

(I rolled on d20 tables for a name, age group, background, talent, weakness, motivation (w/question, here, "who wronged you") and a roleplaying tip).

Under this model, like in Classic Traveller, advancement would only be diegetic (increases in finances, status, or accomplishing goals to establish oneself in the setting more; perhaps picking up new skills by being taught, or new unique equipments through credits. While one could want specific items for each background, I prefer to tell the players they can just assume they have anything that it'd make sense for the character to have, and make a luck roll (1d6, low is bad, high is good) if uncertain. Cause I'm lazy but also this allows unique and often interesting loadouts that further distinguish the backgrounds; even if everyone plays a Knight, they'll most likely be outfitted differently (and just like that I want to run an all-Knight adventure...)

In this case you can just use the Muse Telempath description and skills (without dice) and play from the description alone. This marries the freeform aspect of FKR that I love with the funky resolution mechanic of 24XX.