Entry tags:
Qualities
One of the things I like about Echo Bazaar, the on-line MUD/interactive story game I've been playing is that in some ways it feels a lot like real life.
In Echo Bazaar, every storylet (a challenge that requires a decision from the player) affects attributes associated with your character called "qualities". These qualities can describe traits (e.g., Dangerous), connections with factions (e.g., Criminals), minor characteristics (e.g., Magnanimous), or even the completion of earlier storylets (e.g., Hosting an Inconvenient Aunt).
The four main "qualities" cover most of the types of statistics involved in making a RPG or LARP character. They are labeled as adjectives, not nouns, for the two main qualities with the greatest numbers are used to describe the player to others in the game. The qualities are Dangerous, Watchful, Persuasive, and Shadowy.
Dangerous applies to your ability to use physical strength against human and non-human attackers (including vermin, some of which are more dangerous than some of the humans). Watchful is a stand-in for the old AD&D "intelligence" statistic, but in general applies to the character's ability to observe and make deductions. Persuasive is, in part, a stand-in for the old AD&D "charisma," but it generally covers all kinds of techniques one can use to get people to do what you want them to do that do not involve physical coercion. Finally, Shadowy arguably includes the old "dexterity" statistic, but applies generally to physical abilities that are typically used for committing crimes (picking pockets, burglary, deceptions).
At present, my highest statistics are Persuasive and Watchful, so I am described by the game as a "captivating (persuasive) and shrewd (watchful) lady."
You start the game with 1 point in each of the four main statistics. To get to the next point level, you need to earn a number of change points equivalent to the new level. For example, to move from level 1 to level 2 on Persuasive, you need to earn 2 change points from Persuasive challenges. To go from 2 to 3, you need 3 points, and so on as you play the game.
How likely you are to succeed at a storylet that challenges a particular statistic depends on the level of the statistic, though the game takes pains to remind the player that there is never 100% certainty about any challenge. The storylets give you a rough idea how likely you are to succeed by the words they use to describe each challenge. From easiest to hardest, these are: straightforward, low-risk, modest, chancy, high-risk, and almost impossible. A straightforward challenge will generally end in success, and an almost impossible one in failure (though, again, not always).
All of this explanation is so that I can occasionally use the game framework of Echo Bazaar as a metaphor for describing events in my life.
Anyway, last week I was trying to complete a legal brief for one of my bosses. He and I clearly could not see eye-to-eye on how to revise the thing. I last heard that he had passed the project off to a junior attorney for the addition of case law that I didn't think the brief needed.
Clearly, I had muffed a modest challenge for my Persuasive quality!
In Echo Bazaar, every storylet (a challenge that requires a decision from the player) affects attributes associated with your character called "qualities". These qualities can describe traits (e.g., Dangerous), connections with factions (e.g., Criminals), minor characteristics (e.g., Magnanimous), or even the completion of earlier storylets (e.g., Hosting an Inconvenient Aunt).
The four main "qualities" cover most of the types of statistics involved in making a RPG or LARP character. They are labeled as adjectives, not nouns, for the two main qualities with the greatest numbers are used to describe the player to others in the game. The qualities are Dangerous, Watchful, Persuasive, and Shadowy.
Dangerous applies to your ability to use physical strength against human and non-human attackers (including vermin, some of which are more dangerous than some of the humans). Watchful is a stand-in for the old AD&D "intelligence" statistic, but in general applies to the character's ability to observe and make deductions. Persuasive is, in part, a stand-in for the old AD&D "charisma," but it generally covers all kinds of techniques one can use to get people to do what you want them to do that do not involve physical coercion. Finally, Shadowy arguably includes the old "dexterity" statistic, but applies generally to physical abilities that are typically used for committing crimes (picking pockets, burglary, deceptions).
At present, my highest statistics are Persuasive and Watchful, so I am described by the game as a "captivating (persuasive) and shrewd (watchful) lady."
You start the game with 1 point in each of the four main statistics. To get to the next point level, you need to earn a number of change points equivalent to the new level. For example, to move from level 1 to level 2 on Persuasive, you need to earn 2 change points from Persuasive challenges. To go from 2 to 3, you need 3 points, and so on as you play the game.
How likely you are to succeed at a storylet that challenges a particular statistic depends on the level of the statistic, though the game takes pains to remind the player that there is never 100% certainty about any challenge. The storylets give you a rough idea how likely you are to succeed by the words they use to describe each challenge. From easiest to hardest, these are: straightforward, low-risk, modest, chancy, high-risk, and almost impossible. A straightforward challenge will generally end in success, and an almost impossible one in failure (though, again, not always).
All of this explanation is so that I can occasionally use the game framework of Echo Bazaar as a metaphor for describing events in my life.
Anyway, last week I was trying to complete a legal brief for one of my bosses. He and I clearly could not see eye-to-eye on how to revise the thing. I last heard that he had passed the project off to a junior attorney for the addition of case law that I didn't think the brief needed.
Clearly, I had muffed a modest challenge for my Persuasive quality!
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