Did the author wander into the Bermuda Triangle?
No, he did not. I have been absent for a couple of weeks for one reason – and one reason alone. As you know, I have been struggling to get myself to buckle done and do the actual rewrite of Dream Factory for the Second Edition. And time is growing ever shorter, with it’s debut at CarnageCon merely two months away. All my other strategies to get myself to focus were failing, so I am employing one more: I am temporarily cutting out of my life all distractions from the goal – apart from a certain amount of...
commentSelecting Traits Part Three: Generic versus Brand Name
We have come far, grasshopper, in studying the Trait-fu. We know to pick Traits essential to the core truth of the character – because that’s how we’re going to shine. We’ve learned to be careful that the scope of the chosen Traits isn’t so narrow as to be seldom usable, but also isn’t so wide as to be abusable, usable almost always. Now we focus in on the gravy – picking Traits that enhance the flavor and savoriness of each selected Trait, bringing the overall character to a tasty fruition. Why am I...
commentSelecting Traits Part Two: Looking for Miss Goldilocks
We talked last week about selecting the right Traits for your shiny new PC – traits that embody the aspects of the character that we the audience want to see the PC embrace time and time again. However, there is another critical issue in traits selection that GMs must pay close attention to – the Goldilocks Principle. It’s about Trait utility. Here are two very different examples to demonstrate what can happen if the GM approves Traits that run afoul of this concern. John is a player who loves playing powerful,...
commentGetting It Done: two steps forward, one step back
If you have been following this blog, you are aware of the various life problems that have been assailing me over the last several weeks, the latest being the utter crash of my entire hard drive. Well, I am pleased to report in this Getting It Done post, I have almost completely recovered from that crash. I have purchased and installed Mozy.com’s backup service. I have reinstalled the majority of my core software programs. I have transferred my saved data back into the new installation of my machine, and I have replaced...
commentSelecting Traits Part One: Traits Are Good
In Dream Factory, it all comes down to the Outcome Check, or as we call them, the OC – win it, and you get decide how things turn out. Lose it, and you give the GM a chance to get creative. Which would you prefer? (grin) The standard way to win an OC – apart from being lucky, of course – is by leveraging (that is to say, invoking or risking) your character’s Traits to get extra dice, so obviously choosing the right Traits when building your character is critical. However, all too often we are tempted to hurry...
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