Bad Stuff

[Cassidy]

What is bad stuff?

All the stuff that players seem loathe to mention about their characters. The flaws and quirks that really don't help characters achieve success in the conventional sense.

Stuff like...

Cowardly; will always try and back down from a confrontation;
Unlucky; fate almost never favors the character;
Poor; character is destitute and poverty stricken;
Tainted; evil and corruption hangs like a pall over the character;
Doomed; cursed to die at the hands of a loved one;
Deformed; character is a hunchback, often shunned;

Anyone ever put together Pool characters with significant flaws? Stuff that is likely to hinder their characters rather than help them?

Just curious.

[Bankuei]

Well, it would make sense that if you're using the alternate rule of giving out a die regardless of outcome, that folks might be more inclined to have and use such traits.  More importantly, since an MOV is in the players hands, even with the normal rules, you could play it as the character's struggle with their flaw, perhaps overcoming it at critical moments and falling prey to it at others(Gollum, anyone?)

Chris

[James V. West]

Having character flaws listed as Traits was something I wanted to avoid entirely. Or, more accurately, I wanted to avoid making the distinction between flaws and gifts and all that. Why?

Because the "Victory" in Monologue is a deceptive term. The dice rolls aren't about character success, they're about who gets to talk and "do I get a die or not?". Flaws should be evident in the character and don't really need any clarification.

The example character I have in the rules is Damart and one of his Traits is "Driven by love". That's a flaw, isn't it? Or is it an advantage? Depends. If he's gonna do something for his dead love then by hell he's gonna do it...in that case it's a gift. If he shouldn't do something, but his heart is forcing his hand...that's a disadvantage.

And that's why I didn't break Traits down into positive and negative lists.

However, in the spirit of varaiations, have at it! I'd just make sure there is a good reason for it.

(edited for typoooos)