Attributes Should Be a Guideline for Personality

[bloodtide]

I can't be the only person who does this.

You are not.

Do you incorporate a player's attributes into their personalities at all?

The player? No. The whole point of Role Playing is to play a role, not just be yourself. Only bad players just "act like themselves".

Which games do you do this?

Any and all games.

How would you play a D&D character with a low Wisdom but high Intelligence?

Easy enough, this is a book smart individual with very little common sense.

The Doctor is the classic example here. As is Data from Star Trek. And nearly all the characters on the Big Bang Theory.

Or Guyas Baltar

 

[John Dallman]

How does someone even get an attribute of 3 in D&D short of a curse or something odd?

Early 1980s, a group playing OD&D. Roll 3D6 for stats.

 

[Umbran]

Only bad players just "act like themselves".

They are only bad players if they, or the folks at their table, are not having fun because of what they are doing.

Making the play unfun is really the only way to be a "bad player".

I expect being highly judgmental of other people's play is far more likely to make a table unfun than playing just as your own personality.

 

[MGibster]

They are only bad players if they, or the folks at their table, are not having fun because of what they are doing.

Making the play unfun is really the only way to be a "bad player".

I'm in agreement here. There are a lot of different ways to play, and so long as everyone is having a good time, I'm hard pressed to think someone is a bad player. I've known players who play essentially the same character in every campaign, and they're still fun to play with. I had one player who played a dwarf no matter what the campaign. Cyberpunk? His character was essentially a dwarf.