RPGnet Columns
05-20-2005, 10:19 PM
Post originally by Ian Sokoliwski at 2005-05-20 21:19:51
Converted from Phorums BB System
I may ramble here a bit, so I want to get the point of my posting here up front: While I get the idea that most games seem (through attitude, mechanics, and metaplots) to be designed around advantage-only PC's (high-abilities, high amounts of advantages/merits, that sort of thing), there are also those that do actually seem to be more about flaw-only PC's and storytelling ideas. As well, there are many many players who seem to revel in that sort of thing, even outside of those particular games.
Okay, flaw-based systems. I'm going to go with 'Vampire: The Masquerade' here for this one. Sure, much of it is easily played as 'tragically hip killers who kill because they are cooler than those they kill', and hey that is a valid (and amusing) way to interpret the game. However, I've generally seen the entire system as being about playing PC's who are entirely based around one central Flaw: they are Vampires. Everything with a pulse is your enemy (basically). You (as the PC) may have funky super powers, but ultimately you are Damned, and will be forced one way or another screaming into Hell (unless you are playing a Golconda-style game...obviously there are exceptions here).
Another example is Hunter: 'the Reckoning'. The central flaw is that your PC knows that nasty things are really out there. All the Edges and Conviction and Second Sight in the world ultimately will not save them from the near-certain knowledge that there are countless things out there that want to kill you and everyone around you.
Virtually any and all horror games have the idea that the main advantage the PC's have (knowledge, power, ability) is directly as a result of the main flaw they also have (knowledge, being hunted, inability to live a normal life).
Now, on to the flaw-based players (what an odd phrase...). There have been quite a few player over the years in a variety of games that I've GM'ed that were more interested in the various flaws and disadvantages present in many RPG's. Indeed, I ended up banning the White Wolf flaw 'Dark Fate', as I simply determined that, ultimately, all characters in any WW game, being characters in a horror setting, would already have some sort of 'dark fate'.
Still, people were more than happy to take serious flaws and disadvantages (Haunted, Susceptibility to Magic, Weak-Willed, Hunted by [CIA,FBI,UNCLE,CONTROL,Boy Scouts of America, etc]), and not just for the points they would receive. They really enjoyed riding that 'downward spiral' into madness and death; perhaps they viewed it as as much fun as taking the 'high road' into heroism that so many games seem bent on having the PC's pursue.
Heck, let's face it, the primary reason for the success of 'Call of Cthulhu' as got to be based on this whole enjoyment of 'losing', by both players and GM's.
Even many super hero game characters have, as their initial motivation, something really dark and horrible, some flaw (essentially) that the PC has to eventually overcome (the funky powers allows them to perform the duties of a super hero, but that initial flaw is what gives them the drive to *be* a super hero).
None of this is meant as a direct criticism of the column 'The Myth of Advantage'; rather, an alternate point of view. Certainly, I'm all for the creation of an entirely flaw-based game system - it would create fascinating possibilities. Indeed, anything that pushes the art and design of RPG's into new directions is all good.
Cool column :)
Converted from Phorums BB System
I may ramble here a bit, so I want to get the point of my posting here up front: While I get the idea that most games seem (through attitude, mechanics, and metaplots) to be designed around advantage-only PC's (high-abilities, high amounts of advantages/merits, that sort of thing), there are also those that do actually seem to be more about flaw-only PC's and storytelling ideas. As well, there are many many players who seem to revel in that sort of thing, even outside of those particular games.
Okay, flaw-based systems. I'm going to go with 'Vampire: The Masquerade' here for this one. Sure, much of it is easily played as 'tragically hip killers who kill because they are cooler than those they kill', and hey that is a valid (and amusing) way to interpret the game. However, I've generally seen the entire system as being about playing PC's who are entirely based around one central Flaw: they are Vampires. Everything with a pulse is your enemy (basically). You (as the PC) may have funky super powers, but ultimately you are Damned, and will be forced one way or another screaming into Hell (unless you are playing a Golconda-style game...obviously there are exceptions here).
Another example is Hunter: 'the Reckoning'. The central flaw is that your PC knows that nasty things are really out there. All the Edges and Conviction and Second Sight in the world ultimately will not save them from the near-certain knowledge that there are countless things out there that want to kill you and everyone around you.
Virtually any and all horror games have the idea that the main advantage the PC's have (knowledge, power, ability) is directly as a result of the main flaw they also have (knowledge, being hunted, inability to live a normal life).
Now, on to the flaw-based players (what an odd phrase...). There have been quite a few player over the years in a variety of games that I've GM'ed that were more interested in the various flaws and disadvantages present in many RPG's. Indeed, I ended up banning the White Wolf flaw 'Dark Fate', as I simply determined that, ultimately, all characters in any WW game, being characters in a horror setting, would already have some sort of 'dark fate'.
Still, people were more than happy to take serious flaws and disadvantages (Haunted, Susceptibility to Magic, Weak-Willed, Hunted by [CIA,FBI,UNCLE,CONTROL,Boy Scouts of America, etc]), and not just for the points they would receive. They really enjoyed riding that 'downward spiral' into madness and death; perhaps they viewed it as as much fun as taking the 'high road' into heroism that so many games seem bent on having the PC's pursue.
Heck, let's face it, the primary reason for the success of 'Call of Cthulhu' as got to be based on this whole enjoyment of 'losing', by both players and GM's.
Even many super hero game characters have, as their initial motivation, something really dark and horrible, some flaw (essentially) that the PC has to eventually overcome (the funky powers allows them to perform the duties of a super hero, but that initial flaw is what gives them the drive to *be* a super hero).
None of this is meant as a direct criticism of the column 'The Myth of Advantage'; rather, an alternate point of view. Certainly, I'm all for the creation of an entirely flaw-based game system - it would create fascinating possibilities. Indeed, anything that pushes the art and design of RPG's into new directions is all good.
Cool column :)