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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7445487" data-attributes="member: 82106">OK, this is a concrete claim. How would you address the sorts of styles of play which are typically addressed by the signature mechanics of FATE? (I would take these to be character aspects primarily, and how they are tied into the mechanics, I know this varies to some extent between incarnations of FATE-based games).For my part I see nothing in D&D which provides anything like the dynamics of compelling an aspect in FATE, or the mechanics of scene framing which it expects. 'classic' D&D is entirely bereft of anything here. I will note certain exceptions which help to prove this assertion:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">D&D in general has classes, which are pretty good at defining characters, but they are very generic and offer no mechanics or framework for leveraging them. At best DMs might do things like take account of a character's class in determining how NPCs interact with them (IE offering an army command to a fighter, and an advisor role to a wizard).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Fighters specifically have 'domain mechanics' at high level which DO verge on something close to an 'aspect' in a sense. However, they are generic to all fighters and don't provide any mechanism to compel, nor any direct tie into structuring the plot. At best they act as guides to DMs and players, at worst as a simple resource system (a class feature).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Ability scores, particularly in early D&D, could be seen as largely something akin to aspects. Again, there's little to tie them to plot, though they COULD govern character's options in play (but there are few formal rules for this, only scattered subsystems like BBLG).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Paladins have specific restrictions. These are pretty strong, and enforced with a big stick, so they do produce some results, but not in a way very similar to FATE!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Alignment, depending on how the DM interprets it, might perform some of this work.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Race could be sort of an aspect, but this is similar to the case with class, very generic and lacking any sort of ties to mechanics that would shape the plot.</li> </ol>Specific editions sometimes have other little tidbits. 2e's XP rules are a bit of a way for the DM to compel certain things from the PLAYERS, but nothing works the other way at all. 5e has the optional Inspiration rule and associated 'character traits', but they are really kind of just tacked-on to the existing game paradigm.</blockquote>

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