Virtues in Mythic Bastionland

I've been writing about this remarkable quasi-Arthurian RPG for quite some time, but it wasn't until recently that I had the chance to run a campaign lasting more than four sessions (and we're still going). During play, a common complaint among OSR and NSR players emerged almost immediately: those who are unlucky during character creation are effectively doomed to play an underwhelming character, at least until the Age changes. Just imagine a knight with 4 Vigor!

Of course, the game includes mechanical safeguards to prevent players from relying too heavily on their Virtue rolls, since those are meant to be—at least in theory—saving throws against danger. And yes, there are scars, which allow you to improve your Guard. But there's no equivalent for the three Virtues (Vigor, Clarity, and Spirit), making it entirely possible to end up stuck with a score somewhere between 2 and 5 in one or more Virtues. Since character creation uses 1d12 + 1d6, the range of possible poor results is quite broad.

The overall premise of Mythic Bastionland doesn't really support the idea of playing an incompetent character over the course of multiple sessions (in my opinion). After all, you're a knight—a member of the warrior aristocracy, a noble. Yet you might end up battling with 5 Vigor, or leading armies with 4 Spirit.

The first solution I've implemented as a patch for this issue is to tie the game's between-season activities to potential Virtue improvements.

Season Actions

Whenever a Season passes, each knight chooses one of the following actions:

• Service: Improve the kingdom. Roll 1d8. If the result is higher than your Vigor, your Vigor becomes the number you rolled.
• Courtesy: Gain a new contact. Roll 1d8. If the result is higher than your Clarity, your Clarity becomes the number you rolled.
• Pilgrimage: Discover a new place within the kingdom. Roll 1d8. If the result is higher than your Spirit, your Spirit becomes the number you rolled.

The goal of these rules is that, over enough sessions (assuming one Season per session), lower Virtue scores will naturally drift toward the 6–8 range. That's still below average, but it no longer feels embarrassing or frustrating to play.

What do you think of this house rule? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!