[yorrick]

I'd have to agree that character beliefs and goals seem to be the engine that drives BW and BE.

Your lifepaths and basic beliefs provide the substance of your character and a general direction. It seems to me that the premise of BE (I’ve ordered BW but not yet receieved/read it) is that the most important aspect of your character is the dynamic process that follows creation—doing things that matter. The philosophy seems to be that the most important actions are those that challenge the comfort zone of your character. If you aren’t actively risking something—be it a belief that defines your character or a more tangible setback on the path to your goals—then the mechanics of gameplay are actually different. Color scenes can be fun and flavorful and they just happen the way people want them to happen—as with color technology, which is very flexible. But if a scene involves something that characters can lose or win, then it is a conflict that has to be resolved and you have to play that conflict. I think the reward/advancement system reflects this as well.

It seems to me that the negotiated aspects of conflict resolution are in place to make this process of constantly testing your characters less of an all-or-nothing proposition. That is, you can recover from failure because there is room to negotiate something useful. Your reward for success AND failure is getting the chance to adapt to the new terrain and test yourself again.

But at the heart of all the abstracted conflict mechanics and negotiations seems to be questions centered on you and your character: What matters to you? What do you want to achieve? What will you risk to accomplish it? Who will you be when you reach the end of that path? The mechanics are there to lay this process bare. It seems kind of intense, but it is all about active rather than passive characters.

Just my impressions.