Re: Collecting the PAQ - pretty darn long

From: Andrew Dawson <asmpd_at_...>
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 00:13:13 -0500


At 08:59 PM 03/30/2000 -0800, Roderick wrote:
>When working on the Relationship & Personality stuff, my vision (possibly,
>nay probably, shortsighted) was of using them to augment abilities, *not* as
>forcing a player to play a certain way due to die-roll. My thought was more
>of the "I'll use my relationship with my Clan to augment my Debate ability
>to defeat the Lunar Missionaries", or "I'll use my Love Family to try to do
>a final action" than a Narrator forcing me to do something because of them.

I like this approach, but I also think that these relationship abilities are hooks for the Narrator to use to determine what motivates a character. Heck, even a D&D game can have character stories and hooks beyond "there's treasure and monsters in those caves."

I guess there's also an element of wanting to play a character that has some verisimilitude. If I want to play a two-dimensional power monger, I'll play a computer game, but tastes vary. Complaining about social and personality characteristics gives me the message "I just want to run amuck without any thought for how I fit inside the game world besides my awesome abilities."

Finally, the player picks the personality elements. Don't pick them if don't want them.

-Andy

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