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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tetrasodium" data-source="post: 8598964" data-attributes="member: 93670">I'm not averse to other mechanics if they existed instead but pretty much yea. BIFTs are an abominationI've never had the chance to read the rules of or play burning wheel but feel like I've seen the DoW described enough times to be vaguely aware that I don't object to it even if I don't quite remember enough to vaguely grasp them.  I'm a big fan of meaningful social mechanics found in a lot of modern ttrpgs & probably have more than a few posts trying to explain them in relevant threads <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Lets get away from the awful sister example & use some (maybe bad) examples that might fall under mere coincidence[spoiler="Like these"]I'm not pulling from actual gameplay & just trying to  give examples that don't need too much beyond "most of my games are set in eberron or similar"<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Players want to do something in a low to medium nonhostile situation without a nearby guard noticing.  Alice has soldier background & asks if he could try swapping war stories with the guard for a bit as a distraction> Yea that seems reasonable roll $whatever</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Players are traveling through a border checkpoint that might cause some complications due to  whatever reasons (ie plot, contraband, etc), Bob has criminal or spy background & asks if he can use his experience with that to help him decide if it would be better to do X over Y.  Alternately it could be something like "before we set out to cross the border, which of these plans seems best based on my experience as a spy/criminal"/"do "I feel that we've overlooked anything in our plan based on my background?" >cool roll Y<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Same sutuation, Bob wants to pull rank & try to get the checkpoint guards to excuse the contraband on account of it being part of a promise he made to an old squadmate> roll X... </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Same situation Dave the guild artisan wants to say he's working a contract for one of the dsagonmarked houses to make sure nobody gets embarrassed by the contraband while slipping the officials a bribe.>Roll X</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cindy is a noble & the players want to infiltrate lord whocares's manor for whatever reason.  Cindy asks if it's reasonable that she's been to his manor in the past at some kind of noble social interaction that would give her a general idea of the layout when the players are deciding which route they want to  take a stab at.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">airship is doing bad things with gravity, bob says "as a spy would It be reasonable to say I'd heard the proper steps to take for survival when faced with a broken flight ring like this?"  Alice says similar as a soldier who might have been trained or interacted with soldiers who served on one enough to have a clue.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some might give partial information/good enough success, others might change the problems at the other end entirely. the border checkpoint might for example be fine with letting them store their "family heirloom" in the customs lockup for a few days because the party got voluntold to go do this other thing the customs folks want done.  Lord whocares might be a little too into Cindy or realize she was involved & want to make things difficult for her family.  Alice might have a lot of buddies from the war who want to catchup or involve her in problems when it might be complicated too.  Bob might have actual criminal/spy problems find him at exciting times because of things his character did that he's  not personally aware of as a player.</li> </ul>[/spoiler]None of those are really much more than an excuse to justify using one skill over another or possibly changing the situation in ways that let someone get involved.  It works out great & players will feel awesome being linked to the world once they start doing things like this.  With my regular group it works great, but with other groups & newbies I need to be more careful about allowing it because of a one two combo of not being able to complicate things  for the PC combined with the flat "nope... no it 's not, we never talked about that" followed by "zomg my backstory is MINE you controlling monster of a  GM inserting things in MY backstory" type impulses that are so prevalent in 5e.I wind up looking like I'm playing favorites/bearing a grudge against the newbies I don't know if Alice Bob Cindy or Dave  is at my table with a bunch of newbies or unknowns or worse they feel entitled to thrust a long & ill fitting  work of fanfiction  they call a backstory like those others must have.  The effort might be appreciated but collaborating with the DM on a backstory that uses semiquantum elements to create excitement & drama is just not often welcomed all that much in the era of "players own their [nearly unkillable] characters that need nothing" of 5e.</blockquote>

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