Shared Control of Characters?

[Shreyas Sampat]

In a game I'm working on, players are dissociated from the characters.  The players are to represent temptations that pull the characters away from their goals, and ultimately hinder them from being what they want to be.  The characters are intended to be at least somewhat autonomous, governed by explicit goals when they are not being influenced by one or more players.

I admit that I'm concerned that casting the players as the negative influences is not necessarily a charming choice.  Alternatively, the players could take the role of the characters, and the temptations could be impersonal forces, able to be activated by anyone.

Now, my problem with this is how to effect this autonomy, and how to resolve the issue when goals come into conflict.

My idea is that the characters have one or more Virtues, qualities that make them more likely to win out over a player's influence.  Meanwhile, players have one or more Vices, qualities that strengthen their influence.  These are quantified on some kind of scale.  For example, a character might have the Virtue "Rapture: I Paint my Dreams", and a player trying to influence that character might have the Vice "Sloth: Watch Football".  Then their numerical qualities come into conflict somehow, maybe using some sort of dicepool mechanic.

But what happens when the conflict becomes multipolar?  What if another player comes into the action, with a second Vice?  Suppose that the character has another Virtue, and is torn between them?

[Paul Czege]

Hey Shreyas,

You should take a look at Ian Millington's http://www.collaborativeroleplay.org/games/ian/wraiths">Wraiths. I think you might consider a system where the players of the vices introduce conflicts into play, and the other players have rules they use for assessing and addressing those conflicts on behalf of the shared PC's.

Paul

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Paul's point is excellent - a great deal of power can be derived from disconnecting single players from single characters, but it's all the more important for adversity vs. resolution to be decoupled.

Here's an idea to consider: that characters are co-authored in traditional role-playing more often than people like to admit.

Best,
Ron