Let’s spend a moment talking about bad aspects—and I don’t mean in the sense that they hurt your character. I mean they follow the guidelines for an aspect that isn’t over or underpowered. Let’s take a look at some basic rules.
First, an aspect should do one thing. That’s it. Just one thing.
Second, that one thing should be in regards to a specific kind of risk.
And third, it should sound cool.
Okay, let’s take a look at all of those. And, for the sake of example and clarity, I’ll take a bad aspect and make it into a good aspect.
BAD ASPECT: “I KILL YOU IN THE FACE!”
Invoke: I kill people in the face.
Tag: I can only kill people in the face.
Compel: Make me kill people in the face.
Okay, well, it’s got the cool going on in the title. Pretty extreme. Then again, the ven like extreme. So, the name may have a certain kind of style, but the aspect itself is a bit much. Mainly in that it’s both too general and too specific at the same time. Yeah, that’s a pretty big feat, but there it is.
First off, it’s too specific. I mean, I would accept someone being a great swordsman as an aspect, but just killing people in the face is too specific. At the same time, it’s also too general. I mean, it allows you to get away with killing people with a single roll. No wagers, no nothing. That’s a bit easy. So, no. You can’t have this aspect. But, let’s talk about how to change it to make it a good aspect.
First, I sit down with the player and talk with him about what he wants to accomplish with his character. He tells me the aspect comes from the idea that he wants his character to murder with style. Okay, well, murder is definitely “in genre.” But it’s also a mechanic. In order to kill another character with a single blow, you have to make a whole lot of wagers. Having an aspect that dodges that particular rule is cheating the system and we don’t want that.
Instead, I explain to him that wagers are the way he really wants to go. Wagers allow him to narrate what happens in a fight. True, he’ll need a lot of wagers to accomplish what he’s looking for, but that comes with having the appropriate Virtues, aspects and other traits.
So, instead of “I kill you in the face,” how about something a bit more stylish and less specific. How about something like “This is going to leave a scar?” Or perhaps something like “Deadly with a blade?” Both of those point toward where the player wants to go. Both are also pretty specific. They also don’t point directly to the outcome, which is my chief problem with “I kill you in the face.”
BAD ASPECT: “I RULE!”
Invoke: Invoked whenever I take a risk.
Tag: Cannot be tagged.
Compel: Cannot be compelled.
Okay, this one is just silly. (And I really got it in playtest.) This is just someone looking for a bonus die in every risk he takes. Bad form. Try again from scratch.
BAD ASPECT: MY MOTHER’S DIARIES
Invoke: When I use my mother’s advice from her diaries.
Tag: Anyone who knew my mother can anticipate my next move.
Compel: Anyone who knew my mother can manipulate my motives.
So, this was one of mine. One of Shara’s. Yeah, I made a bad aspect. Early in playtest, I figured out that aspects were very easy to abuse. This particular one I could invoke for just about any risk. So, I decided to change it a bit.
First, I decided that Shara’s mum was good at keeping secrets. (Thus, the secret diaries.) No-one really knew her. Nobody really knew what she was up to. So, instead of mom’s diaries giving me bonus dice under just about any situation, I figured I could invoke it for the purposes of discovering other people’s secrets. Shara discovered mom’s diaries, after all. They symbolize her ability to see through people’s facades and get right to the heart of the matter.
At the same time, I thought about the tag and compel. While they seem pretty general, they are actually pretty specific. I’m kind of safe with “people who knew my mom.” She’s dead and long gone. So, what I do is talk to the GM. I tell him about the aspect and let him know that this is me inviting trouble. Also, remember that one of the plotlines I’ve outlined for Shara is finding out who killed her mother. So, the deeper into the mystery she goes, the more people she’ll meet who knew her mom.
Yeah. I’m asking for trouble.
I tell the GM that and he’s cool with it. If he had said, “No, that’s a bit too specific,” I would have conceded. After all, it is. But the GM assures me he has a plan. I fully expect Shara’s plans to come crashing down at exactly the wrong moment… because of my aspect.
So, Shara’s aspect looks a little more like this.
Invoke: When trying to learn other people’s secrets.
Tag: Anyone who knew my mother can anticipate my next move.
Compel: Anyone who knew my mother can manipulate my motives.
BAD ASPECT: STRONG
Invoke: Bonus dice when trying to lift, tear, rip or do other feats of strength
Tag: Cannot be tagged.
Compel: Sometimes too strong for his own good.
This one is tricky. Obviously, the Strength Virtue already covers this ground, but the compel is interesting. I recommended taking an aspect called “Big as an Ox.” You can find it as “Large” in the sample aspects below.
BAD ASPECT: OBSESSED SORCERER
Invoke: Bonus dice when using sorcery.
Tag: Cannot be tagged.
Compel: I want to learn more about sorcery and will ditch other plans to learn it.
The only problem with this aspect is that players don’t roll dice when using sorcery. Either you know it or you don’t. The fix here is getting the player to drop the invoke and keep the compel. Otherwise, I dig it. It allows me to throw hurdles in the player’s way. Also, the player is telling me, right on his character sheet, exactly the kind of game he wants to play. He wants to discover new sorceries. That’s cool. I did the same thing with Shara. And if he can figure out a way to add a tag, I’ll let him.
Okay, one last bad aspect.
BAD ASPECT: DUTY TO MY LEIGE
Invoke: When protecting my liege, I get bonus dice.
Tag: When taking risks that are not protecting my liege while my liege is in danger.
Compel: I have to stop what I’m doing to protect my liege.
This one almost makes it. It’s real close. The tag and compel are neat, but the invoke is too general. Remember: aspects should cover a single kind of action. “Protecting my liege” can be interpreted a bunch of different ways, so I ask the player to narrow it down.
How about “When standing by my liege’s side, protecting him from harm, I get a bonus die?” That’s pretty specific and it does what she wants. It gives her bonus dice to protect your liege lord. Also, she can’t use it when she’s killing assassins or orks out in the countryside who aren’t even close to her liege. After all, she is protecting her lord… indirectly.
She decides she wants to change the name now that we’ve changed the aspect. She picks, “I stand by my liege.” We change the invoke and now we’ve got a working aspect.
* * *
Making aspects work is an important part of the game, but don’t make it a buzzkill. A cool aspect can make all the difference in the way a player looks at his character. Just remember the guidelines.
An aspect should do one thing. That’s it. Just one thing.
That one thing should be in regards to a specific kind of risk.
And, it should sound cool.
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PS: I KILL YOU IN THE FACE!!!