Attribution

A thought occurred to me the other day, after a long discussion of Traits, ranks and such. I don't want to take away the flexibility of Traits, but I do want them to be less nebulous (so you can get a better idea of the "literary power" of a given Trait), and to simplify the Auction evaluation algorithm. So here's my compromise:

A Trait is a short descriptor of a quality of the Character who has it (think of it like an Adjective from Grammar school). All Traits are useless in a context that they don't apply in, so they normally have a value of 0. When they do apply, they are given the value of 2.

However, a Trait may also have sub-Traits (lets call these Attributes to distinguish them) that give more information about the Trait that they modify.

For example: "Acrobat" is a Trait. While "-Parallel Bar Specialist" and "-Since he was 5" are both potential Attributes of "Acrobat". Which would be written like this on the character sheet:

- Acrobat
   - Parallel Bar Specialist
  - Since he was 5

Now, this is a Trait with 2 attributes. It doesn't really matter what they are to the computation, but it is used to determine if the Trait is applicable in the current contest. If any of the Attributes doesn't apply, then the whole Trait doesn't apply. However, when they do apply, you compute the value as 2^(number of Attributes + 1). That way, Traits are valuable, and non-comparable ones are treated separately, while at the same time, things that have had a lot of emphasis in the development of the character are appropriately stressed. Multiply the results

Example computation:

Gunman tries to Shoot a Gymnast.

Gunman has the following Traits:

- Professional Soldier
     - Plays by the rules
   - spent 800 hours on the Rifle Range
- Trickshot
  - Revolver Specialist
  - Quickdraw
- Steady Hand

And Gymnast has the following Traits:

- Acrobat
  - Parallel Bar Specialist
  - Since he was 5
- Fast Reflexes
- Fit as a Fiddle
     - From Intensive Gymnastics Training

Now, if these are the only Traits that these folks have, lets take a look at how it'll play out if Gunman tries to shoot the Gymnast with a Revolver from in a crowd.

Now, Gunman declares that he's going to "shoot the Gymnast suddenly while drawing his Revlover" and bids the following:

- Trickshot
  - Revolver Specialist
  - Quickdraw
- Steady Hand

he does not bid "Professional Soldier" because the "spent 800 Hours at the Rifle Range" does not apply while he is not using the skill set associated with the Rifle (as in he's using a different kind of firearm, and he isn't really taking time to aim).

The value of his bid is: Trickshot * Steady Hand = 2^3 * 2 = 2^4 = 16

The Gymnast, having already apparently noticed the gunman gets a chance to react and dodge, declares, "I'm gonna try to dive out of the way" and bids:

- Fast Reflexes
- Fit as a Fiddle
  - From Intensive Gymnastics Training

He does not bid this "Acrobat" Trait, since he is not doing anything that his "Parallel bars" skill set will help him with (as in, he is not doing something that requires upper body strength).

The value of his bid is: Fast Reflexes * Fit as a Fiddle = 2 * 2^2 = 2^3 = 8

Now, since the Gunman has 16, and the Gymnast has 8, the Gunman shoots him, and inflicts a Wound of some sort.

Note to self: figure out a less nebulous way to figure out if a Attribute applies or not. Also, explain the margin of victory... Maybe Attributes should be restricted to answering "How" or "Why"?