Ruminating on personality traits

[jeregenest]

Okay, I’m pretty much on the fence when it comes to the whole question of personality mechanics in an espionage rpg. One of my worries about personality mechanics is that a major theme in the sources is that human motivation is an unsolvable mystery. You can be offered clues, but the meaning is to be puzzled out by the ‘reader’. And I think that in the case of Le Carre there is an unbridgeable gulf between the internal realities of individuals and that we can never completely identify with the feelings of our fellow human beings; we remain forever a mystery to one another.

That said, I also recognize that’s one interpretation and there are a lot more possible. But it does leave me the question how to model that? Or am I overanalyzing?

And I musts ay that robotnik has some very convincing things to say.

I hope peaseblossom writes up her thoughts on personality traits and this game.

Comments

Personality Types of some Le Carre Characters

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

* Exceptions in their category by having physically survived at the end of the novel. Although survivors, each suffers serious trauma and must live with a burden of guilt. All other romantics, absolutists and chameleons die by their own hand or are killed. All skeptics and cynics survive, although the skeptics also with guilty consciences.

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s definition of a first-rate intelligence as one that could embrace two contradictory ideas at the same time and still retain the ability to function seems to be highly relevant in my mind. The spying mind seems to be one that subsumes two contradictory states simultaneously and makes the combination believable. Not sure if this brings me closer to resolving personality traits but its an interesting thing to ponder.

[spiritseeker.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of a game I worked on with a "baggage" attribute. Not applicable here except for the idea. Perhaps for some tremendiously angst-filled play you could adopt a Wraith like mechanic where another player can pull the strings that trigger the player's unconscious.

Player 1: "There is no other way. Jere, I shoot her."
Player 2: "Uh, uh. I call 'Lost Love'. This woman reminds you of Angelique and the happiness that died with her in Serbia."
Player 1: "Damn. I stand there trembling. Looking at at her sleeping face and seeing a memory. But if I don't kill her, she'll tell Zaphon. If he knows who I am, the whole operation will go down in flames."

---------- Ending 1 ------------

Player 1: "I lower my gun. The though of it is too much, and duty comes at too high a price. I kiss her once, lighly, on the forhead and wish her and my lost Angelique a pleasant sleep. I take my jacket and my passport and drive to the safe-house. Once I've given the no-go, I run to the border."
Narrator: "Hmph. The operation is scrubbed and you make it out of Serbia. The director is less than pleased, though. You also find out that when Sophia told Zaphon who you were, Zaphon told others. Now you face is known throughout eastern Europe. Your concience has been cleared at a high price. You no longer have 'Lost Love' but pick up 'Black Mark' and 'Known Identity'.

---------- Ending 2 ------------

Player 1: "I steady my arm and look away. I fire twice. I try not to smell the acrid blue smoke, or the wet-saltiness behind it. I purposefully collect my things without looking at the bed. I stop as I go out the door and pause. One look is all I need; to see the sleeping form of Angelique and the bright red butterfly seeping across the bed.
Narrator: "Take 'Callous'. You stop in the hall to breathe for a few moments before driving to the Hotel D'Accord. There is no room for feelings in this buiness."

[bryant]

When I asked earlier about advantages to slipping, I was thinking of something like Unsung. Not so much for the mechanics in general, but for the concept of Instinct (which rises as you slip away from your morality), Lapses, and the Rule of Gifts. I like the way the latter brings everyone into the game.

Unsung is tuned for missions/combat, rather than the moral dilemmas one finds in the Circus, however.