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<blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9082332" data-attributes="member: 7035894">Follow-up: Incidentally, I kind of dislike the term &quot;dramatic need.&quot; Because, as you can see from the example above, it can clash with a character's deeper needs, so the word &quot;need&quot; winds up being using in kind of distinct ways that can lead to confusion. With writing students, I find it easier to use the term &quot;motivation&quot;, so that you have three distinct levels of character development: the character's want (i.e. to become an Avenger), their motivation (validation, to make up for a past mistake), and their need (to let go of the past and regain faith in themselves).Ideally, there is a conflict between a character's motivations and wants, and their need. That's what drives character change. It's simplest just to describe it as wants vs. needs, especially when players are just trying to get a handle on character creation. And they don't have to know what their character's need is right away. As long as they have at least one want, you can work with that.For example, let's say your player is really new, and when you ask them to come up with one thing their character wants, the answer is &quot;treasure.&quot; That's great, because you can easily coach them to go a little deeper: &quot;Cool - why do they care about treasure? Were they poor? Do they see it as a way of showing off?&quot; That gets you to motivation. And once you have motivation, the real need can be developed as the player gets a handle on their character. If you and they are that way inclined. I don't think it's something that is at all essential right from the start of the campaign, and might in fact be counterproductive.Typically, a character doesn't even understand their real need until they encounter some sort of crisis where their typical wants and motivations have lead them into a dead end or terrible choice. So you can see how players and GM's could use wants, motivations, and need to build plots and themes that might not have been obvious at the start of the campaign. Like maybe the character wanted treasure because they see wealth as a way of proving that they matter, and they finally have an opportunity for a huge score...but it turns out that to get it they will have to betray the people they have grown to care about.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Clint_L, post: 9082332, member: 7035894"] Follow-up: Incidentally, I kind of dislike the term "dramatic need." Because, as you can see from the example above, it can clash with a character's deeper needs, so the word "need" winds up being using in kind of distinct ways that can lead to confusion. With writing students, I find it easier to use the term "motivation", so that you have three distinct levels of character development: the character's want (i.e. to become an Avenger), their motivation (validation, to make up for a past mistake), and their need (to let go of the past and regain faith in themselves). Ideally, there is a conflict between a character's motivations and wants, and their need. That's what drives character change. It's simplest just to describe it as wants vs. needs, especially when players are just trying to get a handle on character creation. And they don't have to know what their character's need is right away. As long as they have at least one want, you can work with that. For example, let's say your player is really new, and when you ask them to come up with one thing their character wants, the answer is "treasure." That's great, because you can easily coach them to go a little deeper: "Cool - why do they care about treasure? Were they poor? Do they see it as a way of showing off?" That gets you to motivation. And once you have motivation, the real need can be developed as the player gets a handle on their character. If you and they are that way inclined. I don't think it's something that is at all essential right from the start of the campaign, and might in fact be counterproductive. Typically, a character doesn't even understand their real need until they encounter some sort of crisis where their typical wants and motivations have lead them into a dead end or terrible choice. So you can see how players and GM's could use wants, motivations, and need to build plots and themes that might not have been obvious at the start of the campaign. Like maybe the character wanted treasure because they see wealth as a way of proving that they matter, and they finally have an opportunity for a huge score...but it turns out that to get it they will have to betray the people they have grown to care about. [/QUOTE]

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