RE: Flaw or not? (was Raiding for Hostages)

From: Mike Holmes <mike_c_holmes_at_...>
Date: Mon, 09 May 2005 09:54:08 -0500

>From: "Silburn, Luke" <luke.silburn_at_...>

>As far as I'm concerned all abilities can be flaws (and vice versa)
>depending upon context.

Here's my take on Flaws. Mechanically in contests they are just another ability. All abilities can be used positively or negatively. So what makes a flaw a flaw? Two things.

1. When taking a flaw, the player is saying to the narrator that, not only can the ability be used negatively (heck, I used a character's Strong against him last IRC session), but that the narrator should look for opportunities to have it come up. That is, not only should the narrator be considering it more often and in more contests as a negative thing, but he should acually contrive situations such that the flaw becomes a problem relatively frequently. Essentially a flaw is the player giving the narrator a liscence to hose the character with regards to the flaw, in that it should come up time and again.

Note that this is not really all that harsh. If you take a 10W flaw, that's only a -3 on the contests in which it's involved. Meaning that it won't often actually sway the contest. It's inclusion, however, will color the contest in an interesting fashion, by pointing out some human flaw in the character. By including the flaw, the player ensures a certain type of conflict. Don't take a flaw if you don't want it to come up in play!

2. Flaws are free. This is how I advertise them. "Get yer free abilities here, any reasonable level! Get em while they're hot! No charge for abilities that can be just as useful as all of your other abilities (never mind that they'll be a problem a lot, too...)." What I allow as a flaw is any ability that I can see being easy to use against the character with some frequency. If I know I can create situations in which the flaw will come up, then I allow it.

Mike