So I’m running my first session of BWG this evening, focusing on character and world generation, but in anticipation of the more crunchy sessions, I had a few questions.
First of all, aside from the allocation of Artha, do character traits grant mechanical Advantage? Does my “Scarred” Man-at-Arms gain an Advantage dice for Intimidate against a target that is likely to find his ruined visage scary? Does my “Trustworthy” Priest get that 1D to get the truth out of one of his parishioners.
Similarly, can a player turn down Advantage dice in order to make a test harder to secure advancement?
Or in the end, does all this come down to GM fiat?
I’ll probably be hassling you all with lots of questions like this in the next little while, so thanks in advance!
Character traits generally shouldn’t give out dice, or change obstacles. That’s the purview of die traits. What you can do is have the trait make your life harder—someone is less helpful because you’re a scarred freak? Have some fate artha!
Unless it absolutely makes no sense players can refuse advantage dice, or more accurately not request them. It’s in some sense up to the GM to adjudicate, but it’s good to be flexible.
Well, BW says that advantages are a result of circumstances. It feels like it’s a little different than FoRKing, which you do optionally. If you don’t want the advantage, get rid of whatever is causing you advantage. (That’s assuming that the GM handed you an advantage.)
Characters traits don’t grant dice, no. Rather they are roleplaying seeds that, if played well, have the potential to evolve into the more powerful traits.