I suppose YMMV, but to me it’s central. You see, the Hunter becomes a hunter because she heard a higher calling, and believing in it is what keeps it going.
You can rename Conviction to Faith, and it probably shows what I’m hinting at. That faith can get you out of trouble (supernaturally so) but it’s also precious. You’re still human, flimsy and prone to errors, susceptible to doubt.
And you’re way out of your league. All the time.
In oWoD’s Hunter: The Reckoning, you can’t advance your Edges (supernatural abilities) with XP.
To do so, you have to gamble Conviction during the session, while using said Edges (those Conviction points gambled add dice to your pool, ideally improving your odds).
If you succeed at the task, you gain Virtues (with which you can later buy points in Edges).
if you fail the task, you lose Conviction points. If you run out of Conviction, you lose your ability to use Edges at all until you rest/meditate/recover for a full week.
Not sure if it qualifies as “conceptual” or non-mechanical to you. But I love it.
Perhaps not with those exact names, but there’s a fix:
I settled on Campaign Cartographer 3+.
It has a steep learning curve, but seems to be the most powerful tool by far.
The easiest Traveller version is definitely the one from Mongoose.
Also, you should check out Seth Skorkowsky’s overview videos:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL25p5gPY6qKVUg6ys5N1oRlsBI7DTByyI
Yeah. Very well summarized.
Perhaps I’d also add that the advancement is earned with blood and sweat. 😅