HierophantX Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 So, while pillaging my old Pendragon books for tidbits to use in an upcoming medieval campaign, I got to thinking all wistfully about Traits and Passions. I think I'm going to dump them into the mix. I kinda like 'em. Ultimately I may just run a KAP campaign for my son and a couple friends but has anyone else used this aspect of Pendragon with BRP? Of course there's also the temptation to develop some sort of system that accounts for regional cultural differences, like in KAP, but that's probably too much to work on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fschiff Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 p. 294 of Gold book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HierophantX Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 I guess my question wasn't clear... I meant to ask what experiences people have had with using this system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rust Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 I guess my question wasn't clear... I meant to ask what experiences people have had with using this system? I did use a limited system of Pendragon traits and passions to give the players an idea of the cultural background of their characters and of the expectations of the characters' society, but this system was in no way binding for the cha- racters, they could always act differently, although acting against the cultural expectations often led to unfriendly reactions from other members of the cultu- re and to an increasingly tarnished reputation. It worked quite well, but we cea- sed to use the system once the players had developed a good understanding of their characters' culture. Quote "Mind like parachute, function only when open." (Charlie Chan) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atgxtg Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 This isn't relly adding something new to RQ/BRP but more a matter or returing something to it's roots. Personality traits in RQ hark back to the Thieves World boxed set, and were even incorpoated into the alternate RQ3 character sheet printed in an issue of HEROES magazine. If incorpating traits and passions into BRP, I'd suggest incoprating some sort of bonuses like Pendragon has. It would certainly help to include require trait ratings into RQ-ish cult writeups, and add in some minor perk for having all the right traits at a high rating. Quote Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDLeary Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I think they go back even further than that. It was the core of a system for how Dragonewts would act back in the RQ2 days. SDLeary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogspawner Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I've tried various Pendragon-derived Traits mechanics over the last few years. The current version is looking good so far: Each character has a few (up to CHA/4, round down) player-chosen Traits. If they are doing something in the manner of one of their traits, they can have a re-roll (max one per session per trait). Doing something significantly in the manner of a trait (or consistently/persistently over a session), then... (1) if they have it, they gain a 'Bonus Experience Point' (similar to Legend Improvement Rolls). or (2) if they don't have it, they gain the 'threat' of acquiring the Trait - another such act means they get the Trait, displacing a current one (player's choice which). Yes, all the Cults have a few 'Favoured Traits' (just 3). And progress in cults depends on 5 Cult-Favoured Skills - but each cult Trait exempts the character from one of those five. This mechanic is good because: It's the simplest; No tracking of percentages for Traits; Only relevant ones are listed; Driven by player choice/actions; Carrot not stick (mostly) - but can still cause awkward 'allegiance' changes and religious problems. Thoughts? Quote Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I think they go back even further than that. It was the core of a system for how Dragonewts would act back in the RQ2 days. They were also in Griffin Mountain, albeit in a sketchy form. They can be useful, especially when on HeroQuests. However, most of my players haven't liked them, so I don't really use them. The thing that annoys them is that it takes the control away from the player at certain critical times. When I played, I used them as a random decider when I couldn't decide/care what happened - I rolled on an opposed pair to see which way my PC would act. It normally worked out well. Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogspawner Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 The thing that annoys them is that it takes the control away from the player at certain critical times. Yes, that would be annoying. That's a big benefit to the Traits mechanism I suggested above. Unlike Pendragon, it never takes control - players always have control over their own characters. Quote Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HierophantX Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 I like it. It seemed like "too much" somehow just to completely port over the Pendragon system. This has enough meat to it but isn't too cumbersome. I like to think of it as a method of holding characters accountable for their actions without the manichaeanism of a Dark Side Point or something. And, a character having a famous characteristic starts to develop a reputation. A high "Just" score helps establish the character's reputation for fair-mindedness and influences how NPC's treat him and his companions. Peasants less likely to revolt against a fair lord, invitations to intervene in the disputes of others. World-spanning religions and great empires have been built on such things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogspawner Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I like it. Glad to be of service! Quote Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjetilKverndokken Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 They were also in Griffin Mountain, albeit in a sketchy form. They can be useful, especially when on HeroQuests. However, most of my players haven't liked them, so I don't really use them. The thing that annoys them is that it takes the control away from the player at certain critical times. When I played, I used them as a random decider when I couldn't decide/care what happened - I rolled on an opposed pair to see which way my PC would act. It normally worked out well. Passion and traits do not take control away from players... The players themselves choose them, thats how they want their characters to be played. the wants of the players may not be the same as the wants for the character. Though for groups that wants total meta-control of the character (ignore parts of its stats) they would not fit. --- I have not used them since I hosted pendragon, but it looks to be quite the same function. Quote Tea and Madness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogspawner Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 (edited) Passion and traits do not take control away from players... I have not used them since I hosted pendragon, but it looks to be quite the same function. Yes, the Griffin Mountain traits mechanism Soltakss describes is virtually the same as Pendragon's, just d100 not d20. And it was used for Dragonewts in an early publication - to simulate their bizarre non-human behaviour! So that method does take away player control from their characters in play, I'm afraid (more than most of us would find acceptable, anyway). That's why the system I defined up-thread is better, IMHO - it ensures players are always in control of their characters. Edited March 17, 2012 by frogspawner link to post with non-controlling traits mechanic Quote Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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