Generating Aspects

Each character will begin the game with five Aspects and gain an additional Aspect with each rank advancement. While the number of Aspects is fixed, individual Aspects can change over time. A character could gain or lose a group affiliation, incur an injury that makes him no longer "Dazzlingly handsome," etc. An Aspect may or not be tied to game stats; some will, some won't.

On the other hand, if the character has a Hindrance that is meant to be roleplayed and not directly represented by mechanics, like Overconfident, Curious, or Connected, then that Hindrance needs to be reflected in an Aspect. So, if your character has the Addicted Hindrance, he should have an Aspect like "Stoner," "Loves the bottle," or just plain old "Drunk all the time." Whatever best describes his situation.

I think it's time for an example using real characters. Let's try Harry Dresden himself. Some examples we could consider are:

• Hard-boiled detective
• Warden of the White Council
• The only wizard in the phone book
• Impulsive smartass
• Chivalrous to a fault, Knight in shining armor, or Old fashioned boy
• I have a fairy godmother
• I've seen the Dark Side and I spat in its face
• Guided by my conscience
• My dog is smarter than me
• Friend of the little people (this one can be applied both figuratively AND literally)
• Honor demands it!
• Dysfunctional family
• Electronics hate me
• I have powerful friends…and more powerful enemies
• Underworld ties (again, this could be used to refer to his ties to Marcone or to the Nevernever)
• Can't keep a good man down
• Hard to kill

All of these statements can be applied to Harry. The better ones for our purposes are those that can be used to create interesting situations in the game, or to pull into play when the character is stuck. So how would we use some of these Aspects? I'll start at the top.

"Hard-boiled detective" could be used to introduce plot elements. Say Harry is very busy thinking about his current difficulty, when the GM holds up a bennie and says, "A distraught woman approaches you. She has one of your business cards." If the player accepts the bennie, then he and the GM play out a quick encounter.

If he turns it down, the woman excuses herself with a promise to call him later or maybe he quickly takes her name and number with a promise of the same. Point is, if the player accepts the offer, then it becomes an interesting scene, possibly at the expense of distracting the player and the character from matters at hand. If he doesn't accept, then the situation dissolves.

From the player's standpoint, say Harry is in the same situation as above, trying to put together the pieces of his current mystery, and he's either stumped, or needs something done that he doesn't have time to do. He could spend a bennie to invoke "Hard-boiled detective" and suggest that he calls in a favor to get information or have someone run an errand for him. Either way, this idea helps move the game and story forward, so the GM would likely accept the suggestion.

My favorite of Harry's Aspects is probably "Impulsive smartass." We can all see how the GM would invoke this – the same way Butcher does in the books: by having Harry mouth off in the most inappropriate way at the worst time, insulting the person he really needs to favor. The player could use it to have the perfect comeback when facing an annoying NPC or to bait someone with a verbal distraction. Personally, I highly recommend this as an Aspect.