OCEANs and Streams

It occurred to me belatedly that yesterday's post amounted to an elaborate way of randomly selecting one of 40 character traits. Then I realized, this is a roundabout way of doing what every other random trait table does. What would make this more systematic or scientific (not saying that anything needs to be either of those in an RPG) would be to have a way of clustering traits together. So I came up with a quick alteration of this method:

1. Roll on the 1d20 - 2d6 table first, and roll three times.
2. Determine which of the three numbers is the most "extreme", i.e., the furthest from seven. Two and twelve would be equally extreme, as would eleven and three, et cetera. If all three numbers are equally distant from the middle, or if the two most extreme values are, choose one at random and bump it up (if over seven) or down (if below) by one. If all three are either twelve or two, select one at random and move the other two closer to seven by one point.
3. Randomly determine which three of the OCEAN criteria these represent. The most extreme one will be the Controlling Aspect.
4. Determine which two traits the NPC has by combining the Controlling Aspect with the other two.

For instance, suppose you roll 7, 12, and 15. Checking the d20 - d26 chart, this represents rolls of  5, 9, and 10. 10 will be the value of the Controlling Aspect. Now determine which three aspects they are: suppose they come out Openness, Extroversion, and Neuroticism. Combining with the other two, in order, that means High Openness, Low Extroversion = Un-Filtered, and High Openness, High Neuroticism = Sensitive. So we have a romantic type who wears his heart out on his sleeve.

Combinations that wouldn't happen, however, would be something like Volatile and Amiable, because one requires Neuroticism to be High, and the other requires it to be Low.

You could, if you chose, average out the values that went into composing a trait, so in the example above, the average of ten and nine would be (rounding up) ten, so our Poetic Soul would have Sensitive(10), and averaging ten and five, we'd have Un-Filtered(8). Or just use them as simple descriptors, and go by that. In any case, knowing two character traits makes for a better grip on the character than knowing only one.

cheers, Adam

An OCEAN of Personality Traits

The OCEAN theory of personalities gauges five criteria:

Openness

Interest in new ideas or different points of view.

Conscientiousness

Placing value on doing what needs to be done.

Extroversion

Attraction to other people and social situations.

Agreeableness

General likability, without implying leadership quality.

Neuroticism

Susceptibility to emotional hurt.

I have no idea whether this is even remotely scientific (although it seems a heck of a lot more plausible than Meyers-Briggs), but it occurs to me that you could use these to cobble up NPC personality types using a 2d6 scale and rating each aspect from two to twelve. If an event occurs (a PC-NPC interaction, for example) that looks like it would strain or test one of these aspects, roll 2d6: if the result is under, the NPC behaves according to the definition of the aspect. If it is over, they violate that behavior.

When rolling for a quick personality, however, it makes more sense simply to set three aspects at seven (not outstanding one way or the other), and select two to be Roll 1d5 to get first aspect, then 1d4 (and skip the one you already selected) to determine a second aspect. For each, determine if this aspect is high or low. Since average aspects are, well, average, you'll want to come up with a different distribution for the other two.

A neat co-incidence appears when you take away the three middling values of a 2d6 roll (6, 7, and 8): there remain exactly twenty dice combinations. Ergo, you can roll 1d20 for the two aspects, and consult the following chart:

d20	Equivalent 2d6
1	2
2-3	3
4-6	4
7-10	5
11-14	9
15-17	10
18-19	11
20	12

A result of 2 through 5 is Low, 9 through 12 is high. 2 and 12 are extremes, but the following charts only take into account whether the result is Low or High.

High - High correlations:

Agreeableness	Conscientiousness	Extroversion	Neuroticism	x
Polite	x	x	x	Conscientiousness
Lively	Bossy	x	x	Extroversion
Sychophantic	Obessive/Compulsive	Volatile	x	Neuroticism
Empathetic	Curious	Un-filtered	Sensitive	Openness

Low - Low correlations:

Agreeableness	Conscientiousness	Extroversion	Neuroticism	x
Boorish	x	x	x	Conscientiousness
Glum	Whiny	x	x	Extroversion
Cruel-hearted	Sociopathic	Self-sufficient	x	Neuroticism
Secretive	Shifty	Unnoticeable	Single-minded	Openness

High - Low correlations:

Agreeableness	Conscientiousness	Extroversion	Neuroticism	x
Smarmy	x	x	x	Conscientiousness
Aloof	Sedate	x	x	Extroversion
Charming	Diligent	Amiable	x	Neuroticism
Diplomatic	Driven	Sly	Anti-social	Openness

Low - High correlations:

Agreeableness	Conscientiousness	Extroversion	Neuroticism	x
Dour	x	x	x	Conscientiousness
Pugnacious	Reckless	x	x	Extroversion
Obnoxious	Lost	Asocial	x	Neuroticism
Pessimistic	Flighty	Observant	Calm	Openness

This gives us the following 40 possible traits:

Aloof

Pleasant when engaged with, but not seeking attention.

Amiable

Easy to get along with, dislikes conflict.

Anti-social

Not necessarily hateful, but doesn't like people.

Asocial

Doesn't seek company of others; is likely to take offense at imagined insults.

Boorish

Blames everyone for his/her problems; causes most of them.

Bossy

Has firm ideas and tries to enlist others to enact them.

Calm

Engaged, to the limit of their intellectual capacity, with others' ideas.

Charming

Likeable, if not inspiring. Can be a clown, or a true leader.

Cruel-hearted

Dislikes people; tries to assert dominance by hurting others.

Curious

Fascinated by philosophies, but has firm ideas of his/her own.

Diligent

Unafraid of hard work and long study.

Diplomatic

Tries to sway others to his/her point of view, tries not to be swayed.

Dour

Hard-working, resentful of those who look like they're having a good time.

Driven

Centered on a goal. Does not stray far from that center.

Empathetic

Able to see and feel others' ideas and emotions.

Flighty

Will agree to things that others say, but not stay true to their ideas.

Glum

Down on the world, and the people in it.

Lively

Up on the world, and the people in it.

Lost

Tries many things, rarely if ever sees a project through to completion.

Obessive/Compulsive

Like Driven, is centered on an idea, but may not know why.

Obnoxious

Loud at gatherings, but quick to take offense.

Observant

Sees the world of people mostly from the outside.

Pessimistic

Sees the down side of everything. Thinks they're doing people a favor by this.

Polite

Sees manners as a way to grease the wheels of social interaction.

Pugnacious

Willing to get into fights just to prove some ephemeral point.

Reckless

Thrill-seeking. Wants an audience, or co-conspirators.

Secretive

Doesn't like people asking questions about them. Their secrets are usually petty.

Sedate

Mindful of own business, and persistent at it without getting heated up.

Self-Sufficient

Keeping to oneself.

Sensitive

Wildly romantic and imaginative, but prone to mood swings.

Shifty

As untrusting of others as others should be of them.

Single-minded

Like driven, but less focused on action and more on simple faith.

Sly

Likeable, but slick.

Smarmy

A yes man, but not trustworthy.

Sociopathic

Willing to take from others, and living by an obvious double standard.

Sychophantic

Wants to be liked. Agrees to anything as a result.

Un-Filtered

Says whatever's on their mind, even if inappropriate.

Unnoticeable

Tries to be self-sufficient; may or may not succeed.

Volatile

Friendly one moment, ready to snap the next, something else the next.

Whiny

Sees no value in people who don't agree with them; never sure what they really think.

cheers,
Adam