A Proto-Character

So, I'm having some ideas on a number of interacting parts (moves, qualities, stats, et cetera) that I think need to be discussed together, so  I figured I'd whip up a proto-type character. Plus I figure that will force my hand into committing to some design ideas that I'm juggling in my head and provide some more fruitful discussion.

For now, any moves given might be basic, might be playbook based, might be available to buy individually, I'm not sure. Likewise with qualities.

[[commentary looks like this]]

So here goes:

Name: Bran Snow
Look: Young Man, Utilitarian Armor and tunic, long, shaggy hair, blue eyes
A Sworn Sword

Stats:
Ice: +1
Fire: +1
Steel: +2
Flesh: 0
Shadow: -1

[[I thought it would be neat to have 'ice' and 'fire' in the stats, and the vague nature of the stats got me to some thinking that I'll show more a little later. Ice is how cold, calculating, and unfeeling you are. Fire is how passionate, zealous, and so forth you are. Steel is how hard and sharp you are. Flesh is how much you're linked to your body - lithe, sexy, gluttonous, what have you. Shadow is your connection to the weird and strange. Better stats than flesh and shadow are welcome]]

Status +1 (strata 1)

[[I figure stratum 1 is about where retainers of lords hang out. Men at arms, sworn swords, maesters, that kind of thing.]]

Qualities:

Swordsman: when you fight with a blade:
roll+steel
Additionally, add the following options to your fight move:
* your opponent loses his footing
* you inflict terrible harm
* you take no harm

Devoted to a cause: when you roll to sway someone to your side, roll+fire

Bastard Born: You're a bastard, with all that entails. When making status rolls involving nobles, you count as one stratum lower.

Horseman: you can gain full benefit from riding a horse, cross country or in battle

[[Okay, so where I was going with the vague stats above is that I think the stat to move match up might be considerably more fluid than normal here. Different characters might fight with +steel, or +ice, or +fire, even though all of them might be choosing the effects of 'seize by force' or its equivalent]]

Moves:

When you fight someone, roll+flesh
On a 10+ choose 2, on a 7-9 choose 1
* inflict harm on your enemy
* take little harm
* maneuver to an advantageous position


When you read a person or a situation, roll+ice

When you seduce or manipulate someone, roll+flesh

When you try to sway someone to a cause, roll+fire

[[these are presented as the 'default' moves, that can be modified by qualities, both as to options and as to what stat is rolled. The last few were left blank just because they'd work basically like AW]]

Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly as much for this as I thought I did just now. Anything here seem particularly cool or particularly lame? Going in good or bad directions?

I like this. I don't think there's anything that stands out as particularly "off" for me.

Just one thing: so a basic move for fighting is +flesh, but because this character has the Swordsman move/quality, he rolls +steel instead, yeah?

I like the basic stats and moves. I love strata from Knife and Candle and I love how they fit in here.

What would be a basic Shadow move? Or can you get Shadow moves only through qualities? A simple "sixth sense", like opening your brain to the maelstrom kind of deal could work well, I suppose. The problem is, that kind of character is quite rare in ASoIaF by default.

Thanks for the feedback, Gregor!

Yes, that's basically what I'm going for, that the 'base' fight move is +flesh, but the swordsman quality changes it to +steel. But I'm also kind of considering the notion that there isn't a base stat for moves, and rather your qualities entirely define which stat you roll for which moves. This takes away the unifying commonality of basic moves and also means that people without a move/associated quality flat out can't try it, and I'm not sure if I think that's a good thing or a bad thing.

I think strata, especially for status, will fit in real well.

I don't know if shadow will get a 'basic' move, since, as you say, magic is pretty uncommon (so far). Perhaps a character can take a quality that lets them do 'normal' stuff via shadow (like "Unnatural lust transfixion" in AW) with less of an implication of "special powers" and a more subtle feel of "not being quite normal".