Traits as tags for storytelling

[RemingtonRyder]

At the moment, traits are mostly numerical in value. Which is fine and all, they set colonists apart a bit more, but inevitably some are considered 'best' and the others rarely see the light of day.

Well, how about this. Suppose that the storyteller could look at a pool of colonist tags (or even tags resulting from trait combos) and generate story based on something in that pool?

This is not a case of 'oh you have no shooters, I'll send a raid of all shooters lol.' Although I was thinking about combat a little bit.

Let's say that a pawn has the Volatile trait. It typically lowers the mental break threshold which means the pawn is more likely to snap under pressure. Okay, but what if the storyteller decided that when this pawn gets injured, he flips out and retaliates if he can.

Slothful, also typically seen as a negative trait, reduces global work speed. Suppose that passing by another pawn who is working, a slothful pawn is chosen by the storyteller to temporarily slow the working pawn down with idle banter.  The banter does improve the mood of the worker, so it's not all bad. It could be a good use for those minstrels.

Psychically hypersensitive is another one which tends to be avoided. The storyteller decides that now and then, a pawn with the tag for this will get a free re-roll when attempting to recruit a prisoner.

[Kegereneku]

If I understand, the idea is for storyteller to generate event or manipulate your pawn based on traits and context ?
With the way you phrased it, I though for a moment you wanted the storyteller to change the pawn trait.

What I think is that it sound complicated and counter-intuitive. Generating behavior based upon the actual experience human have of those trait is outside a computer reach, each behavior would need to be hard-coded and check meticulously the context to avoid for example thing "out of character" to happen at absurd moment.
Also if you can't expect a volatile to break or must care about slothful contaminating (even temporarily) other the whole point of traits stop making sense.

On the idea of generating events based on the numerical value of trait, I though it could be a good idea but I'm doubting it because as players we would find jarring that a psychically sensitive colonist force some event to happen more often.

A better way I suggest to avoid some trait being seen as "best" is simply to give randomly events and game-mechanic where a 'bad' trait (Abrasive, Volatile, Psychic sensitivity...etc) turn out to be very interesting (how many cannibal and psychopath do we have in this forum)

[RemingtonRyder]

Hmm. Okay.

What I meant was, these traits are useful and I like them. However, they are very rarely essential to the plot. They should introduce complications.

What I mean by that is that they make things more interesting, as you pointed out above. Currently, a numerical advantage or disadvantage just doesn't cut it - not to say that numerical mechanics are bad for the game, but they're a bit too simplistic.

I think what would be enjoyable (and enjoyable for Tynan to work on) is adding some simple mechanics to those traits which give them an impact beyond the numerical and will give players a reason to be curious and see what traits and trait combos can do to spice up their playthrough. Admittedly, my examples weren't that great.

So, a better example for a Volatile colonist, not too complicated, is to give them a unique and amusing soft break. You can avoid it if you have something for them to binge on, but I digress.

Bob is on a hair-trigger all the time. He is the first to break in any tough situation. He will not wander around in a daze like some, preferring to yell hysterically that everyone is doomed.

Other pawns around Bob may have varying reactions to this outburst. You as the player may decide what is the best way to deal with him. A couple of interactions that you can use on Bob would be a nice bonus.

[Kegereneku]

I see what you want to do, but numerical value are the best way to do so.

The game simply can't generate psychologically appropriate reaction on the fly, so you would have to hard-code every single reaction and every single other's reaction to that reaction, along with limit to avoid reaction that look absurd to the context.
Then, even if Tynan had the time to do many of them, it would feel hard-coded "Oh hey, my Volatile guy might have his special break should I help it ?", plus the chance of frustrating illogical reaction like a slothful pawn interacting with someone you want to work fast in a time of emergency.

On the other hand... having simple numerical interaction between traits, like "Famous Person" and "Fan" or say "Psychically Sensitive" and "Mind Reader" keep things manageable.
What I mean is that there's no problem with the way it is done, there's just a lack of event or mechanic that can make "bad trait" retroactively worth the trouble.

[RemingtonRyder]

I guess it's a discussion to be revisited at a later date, then. *shrug*

[kingtyris]

+1 for this idea, and I don't think properly implementing it would be too cumbersome at all.