Here I am, deep in the pit of game design, plugging away at a project I've been working on intermittently. I end up in the world of personality mechanics: some games use a carrot, some games use a stick.
For example, in Call of Cthulhu, SAN is the stick. Doing *x* nets penalty *y*, so avoiding *x* becomes a policy. As a result, investigators make a conscious choice to confront the critters whose mere existence will make them insane. Bravery! It's what's for dinner.
On the other hand, some games use the carrot. Doing *a* nets reward *b*, even if *a* is a negative trait. This means that character will often attempt to get the reward by doing *a*. Result: Drama!
One of my players was adamant about his opposition to the Stick. He felt that it gets used too frequently as just another resource depleting mechanic, that it is used to railroad the players by jabbing them with a stick until they behave.
I think he's had terrible DMs. But still, I put it too the forum: Is there a problem with Stick-based personality mechanics?
** Note that I've designed the mechanics as a Stimulus: Response situation, with the stimulus in the DM's control. So instead of a player saying "I am bloodthirsty", the format becomes "When I am ignored, I tend to eliminate the offender." So as the DM, I know that if I make an important NPC pointedly ignore the character, the character gets hit with the Willpower penalty if they don't try to eliminate the offender. The idea is that it takes effort to overcome your poor impulses.
For example, in Call of Cthulhu, SAN is the stick. Doing *x* nets penalty *y*, so avoiding *x* becomes a policy. As a result, investigators make a conscious choice to confront the critters whose mere existence will make them insane. Bravery! It's what's for dinner.
On the other hand, some games use the carrot. Doing *a* nets reward *b*, even if *a* is a negative trait. This means that character will often attempt to get the reward by doing *a*. Result: Drama!
One of my players was adamant about his opposition to the Stick. He felt that it gets used too frequently as just another resource depleting mechanic, that it is used to railroad the players by jabbing them with a stick until they behave.
I think he's had terrible DMs. But still, I put it too the forum: Is there a problem with Stick-based personality mechanics?
** Note that I've designed the mechanics as a Stimulus: Response situation, with the stimulus in the DM's control. So instead of a player saying "I am bloodthirsty", the format becomes "When I am ignored, I tend to eliminate the offender." So as the DM, I know that if I make an important NPC pointedly ignore the character, the character gets hit with the Willpower penalty if they don't try to eliminate the offender. The idea is that it takes effort to overcome your poor impulses.
Carrot and the Stick
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