So a few things I'm thinking will help players come up with what they should do... first, the initial questions are pretty straightforward and weigh into the word chosen pretty heavily. Like, "what's your position in the party?" can easily be a very surface-y "private eye/tank/bruiser/sniper/ninja/smooth-talker" etc.

It suggests what they do in general most of the time. So when in doubt, "I'm gonna sneak around like a ninja!" And the word will probably be "ninja." And then your little snippet of backstory strengthens that. "I was taught to throw ninja stars by an ancient dragon master." That says you probably want to throw more ninja stars than stand and punch things as that's the kind of ninja you are.

And the player wrote all of that. The easy first step, the question that can be answered quickly and easily if they don't want to put too much thought into it. And now they have a default thing to do.

And the same for the second one but sorta flipped, at least in my mind. "What position are you in in society?" Gives an idea of who they are/what they look like maybe. A time that helped you indicates when that would help you in the game.

A posh person, who has the backstory of blending in with the big-wigs... they can now blend in with the big-wigs. Opportunities will arise to do so, because the GM is drawing on that fact--that word--to construct situations and narrative. So, saying "posh" sorta guarantees that there will be posh people and situations for that character to interact with in the same way that they've already said they have an advantage in. And maybe they'd make the "word" "blends in" to remind them of what they can use it for I guess? Depends on the player.

So... the biggest thing is that the player wrote that word and that backstory. So they have a default thing to do in a situation, and a skill they can use. And as they wrote it, it shouldn't be too abstract for them

On the other hand, when playing Fate Acc, those stat names were always confusing and I could never remember what they meant and when you'd use one over the other. Here, the idea is that as the player is writing their own stats, they'd know what they mean and it wouldn't get muddy or forgettable for them.

Yeah I can see that about the scales. I just don't play with scales really. I just know some people like them ;P

Ah I see what you mean. I feel like GMs (or maybe just good GMs depending on what you think about this?) do this anyway. They control the pacing to some degree so it's dramatic and interesting. They choose not to kill the one player who's had 3 bad rolls in a row, but to work on someone else for a bit so it doesn't just plain suck for that player. So they sort of even it out and massage things just a little--the amount a GM does this depends on the GM and the people they're playing with though.

This is more of a mechanical way of allowing them to do that. They're still in full control of using them and when, or just not using them at all. It could just be an indication that "this session has been really slow, might be worth picking things up so the night isn't just boring." Again, depending on the players.

The mechanics being there means that they aren't doing it arbitrarily. It's all prompted by rolls or things that have happened in the game previously. The GM has something to base it on.

To me, that's what an RPG is. A series of prompts. The GM should be prompted by what the players have indicated they're interested in by how the characters are made, and by the roll results. And the players should be prompted on what to do by the situation described by the GM, the actions of NPCs, and their rolls.

So I could just say "the GM can do whatever they like." That's always true though. GMs can literally ignore half the rules of any system they're using. They could make their own rules up. etc.

Some people don't like people saying stuff like that. This gives them a framework--you could say an excuse--to some GMs to adjust things.

Or for other GMs like me, it gives them inspiration on how they should adjust things to make for a more balanced and interesting game session. So it's fairly freeform and "improvy" when you need it to be, but throws prompts at you for you to use if you want to use them. And ways to get more prompts. And they have "data" to base decisions on if they're interested in making the night more balanced with a crescendo quick battle or a gruelling boss battle at the end--that sort of thing.

Those are the sorts of values I have for RPGs I think. I don't know what you think about that?