ChrisTalbot.com

Based on my posts the other day about roleplaying and player/GM interaction and collaborative efforts, I've been reading through some parts of The Forge to find ideas. One that I really like is the idea of "kickers" (a term coined by Ron Edwards). The standard definition of kicker doesn't really mean much to me, so I won't repeat it. The gist is that when you begin a story, your character should have just had something big happen to him/her.

One example used on The Forge is: "I just got home from the airport and when I opened my luggage, my stuff was gone and was replaced with ten kilos of cocaine." That's a paraphrase, but it's close enough. It drives characters into action from the get-go. It's a neat idea, and it goes above and beyond the idea of having a fleshed-out history for the character.

I think I'd like to try using this concept in the future -- maybe if and when I run that Buffy the Vampire Slayer game. ;)