Goal orietented Aspects

[CottbusFiles]

Greetings,

i am reading (and playing) the Burning (B. Wheel/Empires and Mouse Guard) games right now and they have something a bit similar to aspects. Beliefs and Instincts (and goals). Especially beliefs are meant to always be about a goal that the GM then complicates.

Can this work with Aspects? Let's say Harry Dresden is called on a case about people turning into flowery constructs.
Jim then takes an aspect of "Determined to find the biomancer". The GM than can than complicate that.

Do you know what i am talking about? Can this work with aspects?

[Sanctaphrax]

Sure, why not?

[UmbraLux]

Compels can be complications.  Aspects, temporary or permanent, may well include goals.  So yeah, as Sanctaphrax said, "Why not?"   

[InFerrumVeritas]

Sounds good.

[admiralducksauce]

Absolutely, and as a Burning Empires fan I feel foolish for not doing this earlier.

YOINK!

[sinker]

I think ideally one would compel a personal aspect of the character to represent his motivation for that goal. In Harry's case he has many aspects that have the potential to do this, such as: "Wizard Private Eye", "The Temptation of Power", "My Mother’s Silver Pentacle", “He Did The Right Thing”, "Faerie Debts", "Lost Items Found", "In Love With Susan", "My Girlfriend Is A Semi-Vampire", "Warden of the White Council", "Perpetually Broke", and "Mentor to Molly Carpenter".

Edit: Damn, I forgot the best one; "Chivalry is not dead, Dammit!"

Of course I think you could also give the character an additional aspect as well, but I think using their motivation gives them a deep connection to the goal rather than simply a goal.

[devonapple]

Compelling one's High Concept or Trouble is probably the easiest way to reflect this situation.
Also, Aspects *can* be changed at milestones, don't forget.

[Becq]

In my view, character aspects are intended to bring out who the character is, not just what they happen to be doing.  So if the goal is important enough that it shapes the character, then that's great.  Compare, for example, the following two aspects:
My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die.
Determined to find the Biomancer
The first one mixes a goal (or rather, an obsession) and the motivation for the goal.  The second just sounds like a task, and really doesn't say much about the character with the aspect.  However, it could certainly be tweaked into a good aspect!

[UmbraLux]

I agree, as a character aspect Determined to find the biomancer could be improved.  That said, it needn't be a 'character' aspect.

The story arc itself may have aspects.  (See Fred's comments on the fate fractal.)  One of those might be Must find the biomancer before another victim becomes a flower!  If you don't want to call it a story arc aspect, it could also be a temporary aspect applied to the PCs by whomever gave them the job.

[Nyarlathotep5150]

   I'd have a bit of a problem with people taking "goal Aspects" related to the specific story. As something like "Determined to find the Biomancer", could, justifiably, be invoked for nearly every roll pertaining to that story. Then, since you can change an aspect at every Milestone, you can just switch to a similarly universal aspect at the beginning of the next story.
   Thats a bit too open ended for my taste. I'd say, for a goal to really be deep enough for an aspect, it would have to be the type of goal that is going to span multiple cases.
   Example: Harry touches a Blackened Denarius and is shackled with the Shadow of a fallen. He could, take an aspect related to his goal of getting rid of the Fallens influence. A goal that transcends any individual Case he may have. Then, 5-6 cases later, when that goal has run its course, and the group decides its about time to tie up the Fallen angel story arc, they play out the dramatic climax of that story, and Harry changes that aspect to something else.

[Harboe]

Well, since I typically let them have milestones before revealing enough (or even anything) about what's coming next, I wouldn't mind a player trying to do this...
Okay, so currently picking "Gonna cut an 8-Lane Highway Through the Red Court" or 'Thump' said the Police Officer would probably be decent aspects... but that's what they get for declaring war on the Red Court, who happen to be in firm control of the citys police.

And again, that aspect would land them just as much trouble as benefit, so... fun!

[CottbusFiles]

Well, since I typically let them have milestones before revealing enough (or even anything) about what's coming next, I wouldn't mind a player trying to do this...
Okay, so currently picking "Gonna cut an 8-Lane Highway Through the Red Court" or 'Thump' said the Police Officer would probably be decent aspects... but that's what they get for declaring war on the Red Court, who happen to be in firm control of the citys police.

And again, that aspect would land them just as much trouble as benefit, so... fun!

Exactly. It works even better if you do this before you know the story. Let's say you have 3 characters and each one has one of those aspects:

People need to wake up
Gonna cut an 8-Lane Highway Through the Red Court
Ex-Mentor to a wannabe Necromancer

than you have goals for everyone and can put obstacles into their paths instead of waving the plot carrot.
It's just simple Flags but you can clearly use aspects for that.