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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LostSoul" data-source="post: 5740191" data-attributes="member: 386">Thanks.  I agree with you; I don't think that the werewolf curse is particularly interesting at the moment-to-moment level in play.  I think it does some interesting things at the strategic level, which is why I like it, but I'd rather something... that grabs you.I think it'd be hard to do in 4E.The reason why I think it'd be hard to do in 4E comes down to two points: 1) the player's responsibility while playing and 2) the social contract of 4E play.1) The reason why I think you can't just ask a player to role-play his PC as a werewolf in 4E is because you're creating a conflict of interest: advocate for your PC or role-play as a werewolf.  These two responsibilities won't always conflict, but it's easy to see how they could, and that's something you don't want in a game.In a game like FATE, where advocating for your PC means sometimes playing up the bad aspects of the curse, it works; in 4E, you don't have the FATE-point economy to help you along.  A potential solution to this problem would be to give the PC a Quest that's something like, "When your PC gets into trouble - as defined by the DM - you are awarded with XP".  Action Points might work out better.  However, there's still a problem with that:2) 4E is heavily built on the assumption of team play.  A party that works well together is much more effective than one that doesn't.  Giving players reasons to work against the team can pull the rug out from the other players who, generally, won't expect it because that kind of mechanic isn't present throughout the system.  Including a mechanic that rewards individual play over team play isn't part of the standard 4E social contract.The werewolf's curse is already a big change to expected game play, in that 4E generally assumes that a player will be able to create and play whatever PC he wants; this starts from point buy at character creation and follows through the choice of available Feats, Powers, Paragon Paths, or Epic Destinies.  There are no mechanical limitations that describe how your Elven Fighter is going to change over time.  Changing a PC by giving them this curse is a pretty big deal for a system, because suddenly you are no longer playing the PC you envisioned.Can you go into more detail about the kinds of mechanics you're thinking about here?  (Specifically, step 1) & 2)'s "roleplay manually/freeform" combined with step 3)'s "random die rolls".)  I like where you end up in step 4), but I'm not sure how you get there.</blockquote>

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