Trait systems: sanity

From: Benedict Adamson <ben_at_cd.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 13:21:17 +0100


My complaint (as a sometimes GM) is not so much players who don't roleplay `their character' as players who play their characters in ways that no sane person would ever act, usually in response to my statement that their behaviour is having some effect. For example, a character is cautious and methodical in a scene, soon after I rule that the character has not completed a (different) task because the character was being cautious and methodical---Noooo says the player (slightly retroactively), the character did _that_ quickly.

I don't like the idea of having to dictate how players should pay, nor do I like the abuse such power gaming does to an attempt to run an interesting session. Any trait system that requires dice rolls to determine behaviour is dictation by the GM, because the GM is deciding when to roll the dice. But I think a trait system might (I haven't used
one before) encourage roleplaying by poor role players (I don't see the advantages for players who are good roleplayers).

I suggest an alternative to dice rolling:
* let players choose the initial traits of characters;

Power gaming then becomes pointless: the more the player tries to power game, the sooner the character is removed from play.

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