I am always looking for ideas from other game systems and supplements, and a very interesting one is Zozer’s Solo. One of the cool things I learned from that supplement was to use talents as roleplaying opportunities by having the player explain how the character obtained them.
Talents As Part of PC Backgrounds
While the Solo supplement from Zozer is designed for use with the Cepheus Engine game system, it definitely has some applicability to The Fantasy Trip. In Cepheus, characters have skills, which translate to talents in TFT. The neat thing that Solo has that I had never considered was using a PC’s talents to add character backstory.
What does that mean? Well, it means adding parts to the character background by explaining how the PC gained each talent. How and why did the character gain the Thief talent? Did the PC learn archery (Missile Weapons) as a boy, or was it drilled into him by the military? Each talent is an opportunity for more story, and consequently more hooks for future adventures.
And actually, the same applies for spells. The player could come up with bits of background in how the wizard character learned each spell. Were all of the PC’s spells learned from a single master wizard or school? Or were some of them learned that way, and others through adventures to find a teacher? This would be even more important if it was a Hero who learned magic!
Why Do This?
As I mentioned, adding this background information is a very simple and useful way to add more depth to your character. It forces the player to really think about some of the details of his character, and come up with the reasons for why they are the way they are.
Not only that, it gives great opportunities for the GM to come up with story hooks and adventures for the player. All the other players do not need to have all of that detailed information, especially the really juicy parts, but the GM should have it.
This can help him craft adventures that take advantage of all of those bits and pieces: "Wait! This is the body of my old weapons master who taught me the sword when I was a lad! Who did this!?!?"
Party Relationships Add More Depth
Beyond just talents and spells, Solo also has a method for developing and documenting the relationships between PCs in a party. While this was intended to be done during solo play, the method could be used for multi-player gaming as a starting point for the roleplaying to happen.
Basically, a d66 is rolled on a table to determine the kind of relationship that two PCs have. If the result does not make sense, the player rolls again or simply picks one. Either way, it is useful as a spark to creativity in working out the basic relationships. This would be done for the relationships between all members of the party.
This can even be used to take advantage of character backgrounds and histories. How do the PCs fit together? Are there any hidden conflicts? All of these things normally come out over time during actual play, but having the players come up with this information from the start helps jump start that process.
Now, obviously, everyone does not have to follow this method. Frankly, it can be a lot of work, depending on how much detail you want to add. Some folks will just want to get to the crunchy bits of combat and adventuring. But I have started doing it, and it really does help me–especially when I am playing solo (which is really all the time!)
What do you think? Have you all been doing this anyway and I am just late to the game? Let me know!
Marko ∞
(Originally published on inthelabyrinth.org, on 10/5/2018.)
