Forgotten: Why have a past?

[whiteknife]

[imago]

Why choose between useful and important memories?

When I was a child, my dad taught me how to climb. He explained to me that it wasn't about strenght or agility but patience and endurance.

In this case, not only the character has recalled a skill (climbing), but also an NPC (father) and mental traits (patience and endurance) as well. I think a valid solution would be, then, not just providing a skill but also tie the memory to other aspects of the character. You get a mechanical advantage and revealing background at once.

Hmm... mental attributes might be something the player should know in advance, where memories become explanations for having them ("oh, that's why my character has Resolve 3").

I'm not that knowledgeable of your sources, but they seem to be the kind of games where mental attributes are very important.

And those NPCs would be psychological Flags just waiting to be used by the GM.

(ok, now I want to run a Silent Hill game using this)

[whiteknife]

You make a good point. I suppose that looking back on it there's really no reason to distinguish between the two, but I'd been doing it for whatever reason without much justification. This is exactly why I posted the idea: to see if someone else's viewpoint would shake things up for me. Thanks. Anyways, if anyone else wants to comment feel free, but for now I think I'll run with something similar to imago's idea, as it seems to be just what I'm looking for.

[chance.thirteen]

If you create the right framework during a recall you lay claim to mental and emotional traits that may serve you well later. Like courage, patience, a way with kids, attentiveness to details, and so on.