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2004-04-08T07:37:28Z

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Nephilpal - 04/07/2004 17:10:51

I like well-thought and polite critiques. You won't offend me with
those. Also, I flat out ignore anything I find needlessly rude, so
I'm really hard to piss off.

Shoggoth has been really helpful. He pointed out a use of Callous
that I hadn't thought up, which would break his games. He has also
expressed some overall frustration that Merits and Flaws are so
dependent on players and individual adjudication rather than being
universally acceptable.

Unfortunately, there isn't a way around that. Merits and Flaws ARE
tweaks and they CAN get out of hand. Heck, I'd even go so far as to
say they get out of hand very easily. I admitted that in the
introduction for them. I also gave the big bold rule so that players
couldn't ever argue that they had a right to take them just because
the Traits were in print.

Some players could be trusted with freeform chargen. You could
say "Make a character. Make the character interesting and fair and
fun for a game with this tone and this power level." Such dream
players would walk off and come back with concepts that blow you away
and practically write stories for you. There are other players who
milk every loophole and point, trying to build the most combat
capable character they can imagine. They play by the letter of the
rules without understanding the spirit. Then you have everyone else
between the poles of that broad continuum.

Things like Unskilled, Weak-willed, Callous, Diminished Attributes
and the like... those are dangerous in the hands of a minimaxer
because they screw with the delicate balances established in standard
character creation. Is there a place for that kind of customization?
I believe so. I also believe it isn't appropriate for everyone, nor
should it be. Every Merit should improve a character's life or
capabilities in some way, with a cost appropriate to the benefit.
Every Flaw should represent a continuing liability.

Take Callous, for instance. Callous makes you less Virtuous, which
marginally decreases your available Essence pool (for many types of
Essence users) and lowers your opportunity for channeling Virtues.
Those are also minor disadvantages by some definitions, but
disadvantages all the same. But in some games, being Callous isn't a
thematic liability. So you're crueler and have no self control. You
got an extra charm out of that. Is that fair? Well, I don't know. In *my*
games, you better damn well act out your Virtues or I'm going to
start docking XP. If you have Compassion 1, you're a heartless
bastard at the core. You might cover up your cruelty with high Social
Attributes, but you really truly don't give a damn about others.
Sooner or later, that will catch up with you. You'll screw over
someone who takes it personally and has the power or friends with
power to make your life miserable. You will reap what you sow. If you
have Conviction 1, you're a sniveling worm. You aren't a coward...
that's a lack of Valor... but you don't stand for anything. Sooner or
later, your refusal to stand by your beliefs will leave your supposed
friends high and dry. When life gets tough, you'll take the easy way
out. In the big heroic epic, you'll be the bastard who sells out to
the other side because you got a better offer. And you'll get your 30
pieces of silver and the enmity of everyone who ever trusted you.
With a deficit of Temperance, you act and speak without thinking.
Eventually, you'll mouth off to the wrong person or you'll do
something so catastrophically reckless that your whole Circle will
make a point of beating your head into the wall. You'll eat the
faerie food or sleep with the war god's daughter or tell Jacint to go
[...] himself. That's when the hurting starts. How about Valor? What
happens when the coward bolts and leaves a hole in the formation? How
will your loved ones ever forgive you for running away and deserting
them in their time of need? In my games, a lack of virtue is a
liability, if only because it forfeits the chance to really BE a
hero. Callous is worth every point you get from it. Is that more work
for me? Probably. But that's why that Flaw works in my games.

Let's look at another bone of contention, though: Unusual Appearance.
Look at the real world a moment. Racism is not dead. Things are
better, but you still have white supremacy groups and slurs
like "nigger" and "chink" and "cracker." You have places where you'll
be looked at funny, and even if they don't actually say "You ain't
from around these parts!" the accusation and mistrust is clearly
written on their faces. In the world of Exalted, you have people with
really wild appearances. You've got long-toed, green-haired folk in
the east and three-eyed mutants and god-blooded and who KNOWS what
else. You have insular, clannish settlements across the world who
don't know if any foreigners are actually alien gods or demons or
Anathema or Ravagers in disguise. You have rampant xenophobia and
suspicion which doesn't die easily in a society considerably more
primitive than ours. In my series, the Haltan Eclise was
called "Monkey Boy" by a lot of characters. Those who actually knew
he was a Haltan sometimes turned that into "Monkey [...]" or "Sloth
[...]" at choice moments. And all this wasn't because he was mean,
because he wasn't mean. He was a nice enough lad. He got treated like
shit because he was different. THAT is what Unusual Appearance is
for. If someone takes that Flaw, it's not because they look
different. Looking different isn't what makes that a flaw. The Flaw
comes from looking different and suffering for it. When a player
wants to take that Trait for a character, you as a Storyteller have
to decide how bleak you want to make the world. If you want to make
Creation a cold hard place where suspicion and hatred and bigotry run
rampant, then the Flaw will justify itself. I promise you that. If
you want a lighter and happier place where humanity generally gets
along or tries to... the Flaw probably isn't appropriate for your
game.

A really good thing to do with Merits and Flaws (but especially
Flaws) is to realistically inform players how the Traits will affect
gameplay. Sometimes this is obvious. If I take X, I get (or lose) so
many dice in these situations. In other cases, as with Unusual
Appearance or Callous or Dark Fate or Destiny or Past Lives or many
others, the ramifications remain very much a matter of Storyteller
fiat. By being honest, the players know what they are in for and it
gives Storytellers a chance to work out their expectations and plan
in advance (which is always handy).

--Neph

Thus Spake Zaranephilpal/MeritsAndFlaws - Revision history

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