ReaperWolf
Mongoose
Has anybody implemented a simple system for flaws in LW games?
Reading through the Heroes of Magnamund (HoM) each of the classes comes with a set of inherited character flaws such as the buccaneers' opportunism and love of freedom and the Sommelunding Knight who is staid and duty bound. Even the Kai Monks have their own code of honor and sense duty to the Order.
You'll have to understand I come from a GURPS, HERO, and MasterBook background so these systems are IMO essential to a complete game. As always, this isn't for everybody and some might feel these systems promote powergaming or get in the way of ROLEplaying promoting ROLLplaying instead. YMMV.
These are implied character elements that really shouldn't be ignored and yet players tend to read and remember only what benefits them, like their Disciplines. A simple disad system would define these traits making it more difficult for players to just gloss over them and do whatever strikes his or her fancy even if it is in direct opposition to the intended role of the character class.
So what I was thinking of a simple list of traits ranging from physical such as allergies, color blindness, limps, and poor hearing to mental which would include habits, phobias, nightmares, and social flaws such as being an orphan, an outlaw or criminal, being marked by the Darklords, or being outcast or being actively hunted by an enemy or a rival, possibly a paramour. Weird disads would encompass things such as unlucky, having a bad aura detectable as EVIL or Dark Lord tainted, or suffering a curse.
Basically this would be a means for a character to distinguish themselves from another character.
I'm thinking to keep it simple disads will be binary, either you have a stutter or are afraid of snakes or not. Alternatively disads could be ranked as minor or major but all should provide some narrative mechanism whether it compels behavior such as kleptomania or induces fear in the case of phobias or factors into in-game encounters such as having a limp or missing an eye.
Anybody done something similar?
>>ReaperWolf
Reading through the Heroes of Magnamund (HoM) each of the classes comes with a set of inherited character flaws such as the buccaneers' opportunism and love of freedom and the Sommelunding Knight who is staid and duty bound. Even the Kai Monks have their own code of honor and sense duty to the Order.
You'll have to understand I come from a GURPS, HERO, and MasterBook background so these systems are IMO essential to a complete game. As always, this isn't for everybody and some might feel these systems promote powergaming or get in the way of ROLEplaying promoting ROLLplaying instead. YMMV.
These are implied character elements that really shouldn't be ignored and yet players tend to read and remember only what benefits them, like their Disciplines. A simple disad system would define these traits making it more difficult for players to just gloss over them and do whatever strikes his or her fancy even if it is in direct opposition to the intended role of the character class.
So what I was thinking of a simple list of traits ranging from physical such as allergies, color blindness, limps, and poor hearing to mental which would include habits, phobias, nightmares, and social flaws such as being an orphan, an outlaw or criminal, being marked by the Darklords, or being outcast or being actively hunted by an enemy or a rival, possibly a paramour. Weird disads would encompass things such as unlucky, having a bad aura detectable as EVIL or Dark Lord tainted, or suffering a curse.
Basically this would be a means for a character to distinguish themselves from another character.
I'm thinking to keep it simple disads will be binary, either you have a stutter or are afraid of snakes or not. Alternatively disads could be ranked as minor or major but all should provide some narrative mechanism whether it compels behavior such as kleptomania or induces fear in the case of phobias or factors into in-game encounters such as having a limp or missing an eye.
Anybody done something similar?
>>ReaperWolf
