Attributes are one of the rarely questioned mechanics used across virtually all role-playing games going back to the root of the hobby. Most games use variations of DnD physical (Force, Dexterity, Constitution) and mental (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) Attributes.
Attributes are used to determine the outcome of various actions, either in the form of a bonus (I get +3 to my melee attack) or in combination with skills (I roll my Dexterity plus my Gun skill to snipe him). In any case, this adds an extra layer of calculation and complexity to all actions.
But why do we need Attributes in the first place?
I see two reasons. The first one is to help us describe one’s imagined character: “I’m the most intelligent wizard of the country” or “I’m an especially agile dwarf”. Using attributes quantify these descriptors and allow cross-character comparisons. At the same time, this quantification does not add much to the role-playing experience. Adjectives could work as well to support the shared world and game.
The second reason is to use Attributes as the default roll when no specific skill is available (“The door is barricaded - can I force it open? Roll Strength to see if you succeed”).
These types of rolls originate from a tradition of ‘simulationist’ games. By that I mean games that, most of time implicitly, aim to reasonably handle any possible situation, even those not explicitly covered by a well-defined skill. It also has the side-effect that increasing Attributes often is a better choice than increasing skills, creating a clear hierarchy between the two.
Could we do without Attributes then? This would certainly streamline the rules and all subsequent rolls. And of course you can still describe your character as extremely strong or smart. And this actually gives quite more flavor to design your character: Your fighting skills could be coming from years long training with a master, your natural abilities, or because you’re using specific tricks to outsmart your opponent.
Skills and talent are then what defines your character. That is, your character is now defined and judged based on what she can do. As a Game Master, I’d argue that this is enough to handle all interesting and/or meaningful situations. Most games don’t need a ‘simulationist’ approach.
Take the door breaking example above. You can assign a difficulty rating or percent chance to succeed. Or you could just ask players to choose a skill and describe how it applies to the situation (this also offers players a chance to be more creative and players with a diverse set of skills to contribute more). Or as Game Master you can just decide which outcome would bring the best story.
So let’s assume we can do without Attributes for now. How do you avoid a ridiculously long list of skills to compensate, or having your players limited in their actions because they don’t have the right skills?
Shinobigami, a Japanese RPG of ninja clans fighting a secret war in a modern setting, offers one a clean and interesting solution to this problem. Shinobigami builds on two ideas that allows to remove Attributes entirely.
The first one is the concept of skill matrix. Characters only ‘know’ 6 skills out of a total of 66. All the 66 skills in the game are arranged in a matrix, and a character can use any skill even if not proficient. In that case, they can use it to attempt the action, modulo a penalty that depends on the distance between the two skills. This system is intuitive, plausible, and encourage imaginative descriptions (imagine participating in a Cooking challenge by substituting your Necromancy skill). Another benefit of this system is that it encourages players to diversify their skill sets instead of overspecializing.
The second aspect is to structure the game sequence into different types of scenes, e.g. combat or drama. This focuses the game on the aspects that matter, and helps avoiding tangents where Attributes need to serve as backup for ‘random’ rolls or rolls that are not critical to the story.
So whether you use Game Mastering techniques to focus your scenes on what matters, or simply play games that have a tighter narrative focus, in many games Attributes might not be needed at all.
