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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6100023" data-attributes="member: 42582">Notice there's no reason at all inherent to RPG design why that should be so. And in some games it's not.The closest I came to describing it was by comparison to Nietzsche and to existentialism more generally. I don't see how that has anything to do with random personality mechanics.As for discovering the personality of a character by playing it, that is what BW aims at. Player writes Beliefs and Instincts, GM frames scenes, and then, in and by play, we find out what sort of character this PC is. Nothing to do with random personality mechanics, which no one but you has mentioned.My point is that your examples aren't generic. They're specific to a particular, GM-dominated mode of play: the GM-insereted plot device, and the GM-mandated Big Bad. Whereas, if the players are driving the game, there are no MacGuffins - because the things the PCs are after actually matter to the PCs; and there is no pre-ordained "Big Bad".The same assumption about GM force is inherent in your assumption that dice rolls are a substitute for GM narration.When it comes to RPGing, rampant GM force is not the only game in town.</blockquote>