Modification to the Deviant Wheel

[Rob Lang]

The Deviant wheel in Icar is way of indicating how a character will respond to various situations. It deals with raw emotions, such as foolhardyness, generosity and so on. It's only a guide for the players and for the GM when applying roleplaying points. There are no mechanics rigged to it.

Some of the deviant wheel items have worked better than others. Generous/Selfish is one pair that I don't think works too well because super-selfish characters don't work well in most gaming group. Foolhardy is an example of a good one. Firery/Calm should really be controlled by the Soul stat, because you roll Soul to see if the characte panics.

They are all generic to human nature and would apply today. However, Icar has some special philosophies that could be charted on the deviant wheel. The obvious one is Technologist/Humanist. A Technologist believes in human augmentation and automaton rights, a humanist believes in nature and human only societies. The other one I think might be quite good is Loyal or Anarchist. Loyal people would believe in the Imperium and Anarchists believe the Imperium is rubbish.

The Deviant wheel has been really good for sparking in-character conversations between players. A foolhardy character might run in get embroiled in something, against the desires of the prudent character. I want to improve the deviant wheel to help those sort of interactions. By adding philosophical points of view onto the deviant wheel will highlight them and also allow the players to disagree on principle, rather disagreeing because your personality is that way.

All comments and critique welcome!

[misterecho]

I like this idea as long as is uses or mechanics are clearly explained. As i've never come across anything like this before i'm not sure how its used etc.

[fish]

I think the Suspicious <-> Reliant combo are not quite the right opposition, perhaps Accepting rather than Reliant.

Also the three pairs
merciless <-> merciful
cold <-> loving
vengeful <-> forgiving
are all fairly close. I think that merciless + vengeful should be merged as they would rarely be played at opposing ends. I'm not sure that it would be possible to successfully play vengeful + merciful or merciless + forgiving. I'm sure you remember with my last character 4 in merciless, vengeful and loving did lead to disagreements on how my actions were interpreted.

I wouldn't rush to get rid of generous <-> selfish. I think it remains playable and an important character trait even if it doesn't promote a group harmony.

Also I think you may have picked the wrong combo for the soul stat. I would have put courageous/fearful as being made redundant by the Soul stat

Finally, the philosophies. Initially I liked the idea of adding these to the wheel but then I decided they were a bit out of place in with personality traits. Having said that perhaps some part of the character sheet outlining the various cultural philosophies and your characters stance would be useful.

So having disagreed with everything you've said I'll finish off by saying I do really like having the deviant wheel.

Fish

[Rob Lang]

And welcome fish - the longest playing Icar player and chief of the bastards.

merciless + vengeful is a good candidate for merging. I agree. Good thinking that man. I think I might merge all the three you mentioned. I am not surprised you think that generous/selfish is playable given the style of play you've exhibited in the past. You're also right about courageous/fearful. Bummocks.

Philosophies and the Wheel
I know what you mean about philosophies and character traits being different from philosophies but I think the Deviant wheel can be dual purpose in this way due to the way people use it. They question the wheel in times when a moral decision is made. I think philosophical ideas often impact these moral choices. It's not just about what sort of person you are, it's also about what you believe. Your Deviant suggests at how you might react in given situations and I think a philosophical choice can be part of that.

Of course, it's change from what we've been doing but I think some items on the current wheel are more useful than others and I would like to put more useful ones in.

[fish]

Hello

I think there is still room for cold/loving and vengeful/merciful though it is a tricky line to tread when they are opposed.

Putting my reservations aside on the deviant wheel, your right it totally makes sense to put philosophies on it.

[Rob Lang]

[misterecho]

Surely the Polar opposit of Humane is Inhumane, does this not work? too similar in a vocab scense?
perhaps cruel works better?

[Rob Lang]

I think cruel is better. I didn't want the same word with 'un/in/not' across the wheel - it looks weird and is difficult to read in a hurry.

Another point is that the wheel is arranged roughly across the vertical access of 'good' and 'bad' traits (that being subjective). The philosophical additions will have to go either side of the vertical as they are not determined simply as good or bad.

[misterecho]

What an excellent little device!

[Rob Lang]

You can steal the idea for your Star Wars game if you like. I am sure Force affinity could go on a Star Warsish one.