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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8247515" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Not at all. People are literally sharing other ways of doing that in this thread, and have in many others that you've read.It's really real!!!!Sure, that's a perfectly fine way to play. I do think it works for certain approaches, or certain types of games. I don't think I'd ever want that to be the default for my PCs. I prefer when my PC actually feels like a part of the world....that they existed and had a life before the game starts, and that those past experiences can matter to what we do in the game.That makes me feel much more involved and immersed than if we're both strangers arriving in a new frontier in every game.This sounds like it's a bit of flavor and not much else. Kind of like the Traits, Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws of 5E D&D. It's there, and it potentially helps give a sense of character, but it doesn't influence play a lot, and usually only when the player would like it to.And that's fine. I think some of us here in the discussion prefer when something like a character's flaw may actually be a flaw that causes trouble for them. I prefer that, I think. That can be achieved through some mechanical carrot, maybe offered by the GM or maybe suggested by the player....I think Fate does this, though my experience with that game is minimal. Blades in the Dark does it by simply offering XP if the PC struggles with their Vice or their Traumas; so it's still up to the player, but it offers them a whole new XP trigger that they can use to advance.These kinds of mechanics make it so that the character traits of the characters are more central to play. They actually come up and matter, so that the game is actually about them.Again, this is possible to do with something like D&D 5E's Traits and Flaws, but it will require a player who is wiling to work at it, and maybe some effort on the part of the DM make sure that it carries more weight.</blockquote>

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