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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6934626" data-attributes="member: 42582">I don't see where it mentions personality at all.Falstaff has "god given" abilities, that is, ability scores. An alignment. His/her participation in the game ("acting out") takes place by reference to these. Interaction with fellow players and characters is mediated via character class (fighter, cleric, MU). His/her activities are defined in functional terms - primarily acquiring gold and other treasure and renown (ie XP), which is likely to involve some fighting.Nothing in the description of Falstaff the fighter gives any indication that a character with the same stats, alignment and class would engage the game differently.As far as appearance and history are concerned - which are the only nods to the AD&D 2nd ed-style "personality" - these are expressly flagged as something that might be provided by the referee rather than the player.Clearly this is what AD&D 2nd ed does, as I noted in the OP. But I don't think that Gygax's PHB does at all. I haven't gone back to look at Moldvay Basic (I'm guessing, but not sure, that your quote is from Mentzer).I don't think that classic D&D is that different in this respect. It has fairly clear - though somewhat open-ended - win conditions, namely, earning XP by getting the treasure out of the dungeon.I continue to think that the most distinctive thing about a RPG is that the fiction matters to the resolution. This is what differentiates it from miniatures skirmishing, board games, etc.Because the fiction involves a particular person (the PC), I think it's inevitable that the personality/motivations of that PC will emerge in some fashion, even if very attenuated, as part of that fiction. But this can be, and I think often is, a byproduct of playing in the functional sense.As far as the other games you mention are concerned, this relates to [MENTION=205]TwoSix[/MENTION]'s question upthread about more indie-style RPGs. I can't comment on all the games you mention, but in Marvel Heroic RP (which I've been running a bit recently) I think the mechanics are intended to make personality/colour part of the character's function. (Hence mechanics like Distinctions, Milestones, etc.) So performing the character's function will inevitably bring the character's personality to the fore, and perhaps lead to it changing (eg in my MHRP game, Nightcrawler ended up forsaking his Catholicism under Wolverine's more cynical influence, taking Mental trauma in the process). The colour of the characters is not mere colour; and it is not a factor primarily just in free roleplaying or in choosing what action to declare. It matters to resolution.I suspect Fate might have a comparable dynamic, but I've never played it, just read it.Some of those games might make it quite hard to establish clear functions for PCs. That would tend to suggest that they're more enjoyable for those who think the 2nd ed AD&D description of roleplaying is more apt than Gyagx's.I think this raises a slightly separate point - namely, if "roles" are functions then who gets to choose the functions? It also relates to [MENTION=205]TwoSix[/MENTION]'s question upthread about more indie-style RPGs.Clearly some groups approach this issue from the point of view of a pre-given list of functions that have to be filled. This is especially significant if the content/focus of the scenario or campaign has been determined in advance according to some fairly generic template (eg dungeon delving, or a typical published adventure).But a game or a group might approach "role" primarily in terms of function/capacities and also choose their own functions, expecting that the GM will then run adventures that suit the particular characters the players have come up with. The all-thief party in AD&D is one example of this. This is also how I've always run Rolemaster: the players build the PCs they want - which are defined in very intricate mechanical terms - and then I build the scenario around that. There is no pre-set list of functions, but that doesn't mean that the "functional" approach to RPGing can't be adopted.</blockquote>

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