When designing, do you ever think of a cool trait first?

[Daniel Solis]

I have a habit of coming up with names for traits that sound evocative and somewhat appropriate for a game without actually having a reason for those traits to exist in the system.

I'll try to work the game around so that the traits have a reason to be there. Sometimes it's successful, as it was with "Whispers" in Zombie: the Coil. Sometimes they just get tossed to the side, like the "Beef/Grease/Face" stats in PUNK.

Now I've got this other trait stuck in my head for Gears & Spears: "Chroma."

I think it's a particularly cool-sounding word that fits mysticism and robots equally well, but i don't have a reason for it to exist yet! My initial thought is that chroma sounds like some kind of glowing aura of energy and power surrounding tribal heroes in times of drama. But I'd like to hear what other folks' thoughts are on the trait. So... Chroma... what is it?

[Shreyas Sampat]

I generally think of cool mechanics and then build a game around those, but it's the same thing, really, as what you're doing.

[Ron Edwards]

I did that with Trollbabe, before the image of trollbabes came to me as the Character/Color central-concept.

But it was the utterly un-evocative terminology of "the number" that appealed.

Best,
Ron

[Lxndr]

Although Fastlane started off with a weirdo idea about a roulette wheel, I wasn't really grabbed by the collar and tossed around by it until I decided on the first attribute - Sobriety.  After that, I was hella enthused.

So, yeah.  I like the nifty names.  And I like the nifty mechanics.  And the nifty concepts.  I just like nifties of any sort.

[orbsmatt]

Nifty names are a lot of fun.  I think that can add a lot of character to a game.

In fact, I think I'm going to come up with some for mine to make it more of the feel of the planet that they're on!

Boy I love inspirations!

[xiombarg]

Yeah, I did that with Rise Again, which later became Unsung...

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Wherewithal, anyone? Cerebrality?

Personally, my favorite stat name in any game anywhere - which is why I stole it for Donjon - is Discernment. It reminds me of my grandma.

[Daniel Solis]

This might make an interesting game design challenge. Grab a thesaurus or dictionary, flip through the pages at random and drop a finger. Whatever word you land on is a core stat in a your shiny, new RPG.

[taalyn]

The bibliomancy is how I come up with terminology for some of Crux: Ghedde, the biggest city in the Plasm/Otherworld, has three rivers, named Skintight, Anemia, and Glance. It goes so far to make for surreal.

And Clinton - Hear hear! I love the attributes in Donjon!! Always one of my favorite parts.

[Jonathan Walton]

I'm totally sensory in the brainstorming phase, which is partially why I have such hardcore Sim tendencies.  I picture what I want the game to look and feel like in my mind, what images and emotions I want to communicate to the players, and then I build the game to do just that.

[talysman]

I was once asked to design an RPG based around the nine traits/ability scores listed in this cartoon, but I never finished it. I did come up with a lot of cool setting stuff, though. I'd like to actually do the game at some point.

[Daniel Solis]

I'd definitely like to see what you've got developed so far. Those traits sound like a lot of fun. :)

[Rich Forest]

I do this sometimes. Sometimes it's more destructive than constructive for actually finishing ;-) When I first started thinking about Fist of the Assassin, the three core traits came to me in a flash: Life, Death, and Kung Fu.

And I've been struggling with them ever since. But I dig 'em, so it's awfully hard to part. They're good old friends. Anyway, maybe they aren't the problem--I've been pretty consistently unproductive about finishing RPG designs anyway. Maybe someday they'll be in the final version of the game. I still like 'em as a trio.

Rich

[Daniel Solis]

Those really are great trait names! I can imagine the trio spun out into a bunch of different concepts.

Life, death, rock 'n roll?

[clehrich]

Hey Paul, did you come up with Self-Loathing and Weariness early in the process or late?  Seems like an excellent example, but maybe that came late.