When I was asked to become a GM for my friends, I immediatly became aware that I wouldn't be running an existing system or campaign world. Now, don't get me wrong, I turn to them for inspiration all the time, but on a fundamental level I knew (and still know) that it would be very hard for me to accommodate and become familiar with someone else's world and all its implications. I believe that devising a campaign is a highly intimate act, as all act of creations are, and I wasn't sure I would be able to grasp and keep in my silly head all the concepts and nuissances of pre-existing worlds. Also, I'm horribly lazy, so that's that.
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| Definitely not me. |
With that realization, however, came another: if I wasn't going to be running an existing system or campaign, I needed to create my own (Mission "Avoid Hard Work" Not succeeded). Although I was aware of the humongous task ahead, I was also somewhat relieved and infinitely more comfortable, because in the act of creating something new (or at least something that I could call my own) I would also be learning it and interiorising it. The usual questions, fluffly and mechanical, arose: What kind of setting? What tone? Fantasy? Sci-fi? Hard-magic? What are swords? Can we find true happiness?What are the gods? (Never mind, they're dead). And then THE question came: what attributes are the PCs going to have? While the classic six are always there to lend you a hand, I knew they wouldn't suffice. I seem to always be moving between the philosophical standpoints of "EVERYTHING MEANS SOMETHING" and "WORDS ARE JUST WORDS AND I HATE THEM", and hell were these attributes going to mean some shit! They are the characters's access door to the world! How are they going to experience true MISERY if I don't give them an attribute for that? Eventually, I ended up settling for some fairly mundane attributes that I was very proud of at the time because look at me I'm not mainstream! (For what it's worth, the attributes are: Skill, Vitality, Intuition, Knowledge, Presence and Ruin).
TL;DR: Everything means something, attributes are no exception and they should tell something about the world (or not, you do you, man).
SO
What if the process was reversed? I mean, instead of thinking about your campaign and coming up with a Carapace attribute because you are a turtle and keeping your shell in good shape is paramount to avoid dying (I'm not sure how turtles work to be honest), what if you were given a set of attributes and you had to infer the world from them?
Well, I present to you...
THE ATTRIBUTE GAME!
How to play?
Choose attributes from each list, explain their function and write your setting! Or, if you, like me, suffer from choice anxiety, pick one of the following editions and simply start rolling!
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| Not this one. |
How to play?
Choose attributes from each list, explain their function and write your setting! Or, if you, like me, suffer from choice anxiety, pick one of the following editions and simply start rolling!
Simple edition: roll once for Physical, Mental and Special.
Slightly less simple edition: roll TWICE in each table.
D&D edition: roll THRICE for Physical and Mental.
Bloated Edition: roll THRICE!!! for each table.
WTF IS THIS???: ROLL SIX TIMES ON THE SPECIAL TABLE.
WTF IS THIS???: ROLL SIX TIMES ON THE SPECIAL TABLE.
Galaxy Brain edition: man, I don't think I can stop you at this point, proceed at your own discretion!
Physical
1. Skill
2. Vitality
3. Strength
4. Fortitude
5. Dexterity
6. Reflexes
7. Agility
8. Finesse
9. Vigor
10. Might
11. Stamina
12. Brawl
13. Toughness
14. Speed
15. Constitution
16. Size
17. Accuracy
18. Brutality
19. Endurance
20. Mobility
Mental
1. Intuition
2. Knowledge
3. Presence
4. Intellect
5. Will
6. Empathy
7. Awareness
8. Logic
9. Cunning
10. Memory
11. Perception
12. Courage
13. Guile
14. Insight
15. Wits
16. Psyche
17. Senses
18. Patience
19. Communication
20. Focus
Special
1. Power
2. Warmth
3. Violence
4. Mind
5. Heart
6. Blasphemy
7. Craft
8. Leadership
9. Hunt
10. Resilience
11. Desire
12. Motivation
13. Judgement
14. Lore
15. Drive
16. Instinct
17. Focus
18. Psyche
19. Cunning
20. Faith
21. Primal
22. Kick
23. Charm
24. Void
25. Magic
26. Ruin
27. Potency
28. Weird
29. Talent
30. Gift
31. Glory
32. Taint
33. Legacy
34. Influence
35. Breath
36. Corruption
37. Edge
38. Appearance
39. Conduit
40. Luck
41. Quickness
42. Resolution
43. Discretion
44. Vigilance
45. Witchcraft
46. Erudition
47. Tech
48. Imagination
49. Focus
50. Time
51. Understanding
52. Culture
53. Awe
54. Valour
55. Misery
56. Song
57. Social
58. Synthesis
59. Wound
60. Dread
So I played the Simple Edition and this is the result:
Skill - Your hands and overall bodily proficiency.
Guile - How good you are at deceiving, persuading and charming people. Enables and enhances Battlespeech.
Wound - A measure of your closeness to the Carnifex. It widens and bleeds with your suffering as you become closer to the Penitent One. The bigger your wound, the more powerful your Afflictions grow and the more prone to violence you are. It also measures your ability to withstand and inflict pain.
Pretty neat. Skill is your typical yet relatable stuff to do things with your hands, probably roll to hit and perhaps defend. Boring yet familiar, it keeps things grounded. Guile speaks of a setting of intrigue in which raw intellect might be important but the ability to twist words and bend meanings is far more impactful. Perhaps intrigue abounds, a rigid hierarchical structure in which your ability to turn the rules in your favor is more important than actually following them. We can call it The Hierachy for simplicity's sake. Wound gives me extremely religious vibes. The Hierarchy is based on suffering and repentance, there is some original sin that everyone shares in that must be expiated. Those who suffer become closer to this ideal, gaining in power both social and literal, but also losing their sanity in the process as their Wound deepens and violent urges take over them. There are laws and doctrines that regulate pain and suffering and a lot of pompous ceremony around these. Bodily punishment must be sanctioned by the Hierarchy, as only those who are closer to the Carnifex can truly comprehend the meaning of suffering. Verbal and psychological abuse is another matter entirely (that's where Guile comes in).
Some possible classes:
Brutalus - (high Skill and Wound, low Guile) Also known as the Fists of the Hierarchy, they are trained from childhood to withstand all kinds of pain and bodily torment. As a result, they become extremely close to the Carnifex in a primal, atavistic way that allows them to enter bloody rages of wanton destruction. They tend to self-harm, and their blood-annointed armors cover only their vital spots, as they relish the pain they suffer as much as the one they inflict.
Blood Speakers - (high Guile and Wound, low Skill) Ministers of Pain, Ambassadors of Agony, they interpret the laments of the Carnifex and enact his will. They know the true name of suffering and all its epithets and can invoke them to inflict torment upon others or tame their pain into an obedient servant. They tend to occupy the upper echelons of The Hierarchy and most of them are held in high esteem by the general population.
Servitor - (high Skill and Guile, low Wound) Not everyone is fit to understand the designs of the Carnifex. The Hierarchy understands that and is not foolish enough to disregard those Whose Wound Does Not Bleed So Profusely. They tend to occupy administrative positions and are often in charge of devising and implementing compliance doctrines in the worlds the Hierarchy assimilates (this is now SciFi apparently). Those who show true talent for craftsmanship work in conjunction with the Blood Speakers to build monuments of suffering and astonishing beauty that are employed as places of worship, social gathering and torture chambers (because there is truly no difference between the three).
Some possible classes:
Brutalus - (high Skill and Wound, low Guile) Also known as the Fists of the Hierarchy, they are trained from childhood to withstand all kinds of pain and bodily torment. As a result, they become extremely close to the Carnifex in a primal, atavistic way that allows them to enter bloody rages of wanton destruction. They tend to self-harm, and their blood-annointed armors cover only their vital spots, as they relish the pain they suffer as much as the one they inflict.
Blood Speakers - (high Guile and Wound, low Skill) Ministers of Pain, Ambassadors of Agony, they interpret the laments of the Carnifex and enact his will. They know the true name of suffering and all its epithets and can invoke them to inflict torment upon others or tame their pain into an obedient servant. They tend to occupy the upper echelons of The Hierarchy and most of them are held in high esteem by the general population.
Servitor - (high Skill and Guile, low Wound) Not everyone is fit to understand the designs of the Carnifex. The Hierarchy understands that and is not foolish enough to disregard those Whose Wound Does Not Bleed So Profusely. They tend to occupy administrative positions and are often in charge of devising and implementing compliance doctrines in the worlds the Hierarchy assimilates (this is now SciFi apparently). Those who show true talent for craftsmanship work in conjunction with the Blood Speakers to build monuments of suffering and astonishing beauty that are employed as places of worship, social gathering and torture chambers (because there is truly no difference between the three).
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| The Taking, by Kay Tang |
Some thoughts for closure and a note on categorization
While not the best generator ever, I think this can be some food for thought, especially if one wants to experiment or imagine how a new setting might look like but dosn't want to make all the effort of actually creating one. It just occurred to me that the Special attributes could be made even more defining if they acted as character classes or something unique to each character. So that when rolling a PC, you would have some shared attributes (Intellect, Agility, Strenght, etc.) and an exclusive one for your character (All hail the Carnifex!).
As I writing the list, I realised that many of the items I list as Special could very well be mental and viceversa, which goes to show how fickle boundaries are and how weak they actually reveal themselves to be when tested. It would also be an interesting experiment to just roll for attributes randomly and then assign them the Physical, Mental or Special quality and try to ratiolanise that within the world's logic. I leave that exercise to minds more capabla than mine.
Anyway, if you do play the Attribute Game, please share your creations in the comments. I'll be eager to read them! (and probably steal them for my games! hehehe)
When you look at how many stats there can be, one starts to recognise how some systems group themselves up differently. For instance, White Wolf (WW for short) has many attributes but uses each of them sparingly and many are never used in combat. Whereas d&d is using attributes more and more, both in and out of combat.
ReplyDeleteIt got me thinking how some of their ability scores could be expanded but no doubt they have condensed the amount to make it more reproachable since they want a bigger player base.