Why I Like Flawed Characters

tim-cain character-design rpg-design flaws disadvantages gurps fallout outer-worlds restrictions role-playing

Abstract

Problem: Why should RPGs give players mechanically flawed characters instead of letting them build toward perfection?

Approach: Tim Cain traces his design philosophy from early D&D campaigns through GURPS, Fallout's traits, Arcanum's backgrounds, and The Outer Worlds' flaw system, illustrated with two memorable tabletop stories.

Findings: Flawed characters create more memorable, challenging, and reactive gameplay. Restrictions force creative problem-solving and prevent the "god among mortals" power fantasy that makes late-game RPGs boring.

Key insight: The best RPG moments come not from what characters can do, but from what they can't — flaws generate emergent stories that perfect characters never would.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phMzoU7DOFA

1. Origin: From D&D Restrictions to GURPS Disadvantages

Tim Cain's love of flawed characters began with restrictions he imposed on players in his late-1970s/early-1980s D&D campaign (the same ones that led to "dumb dialogue"). When he moved to GURPS in grad school, he discovered the disadvantages system — traits you buy for your character that aren't beneficial but give you more points to spend elsewhere. This mechanic formalized what he'd been doing intuitively.

1.1. Philosophical Roots

Two Joseph Campbell books deeply influenced this thinking:

  • The Hero with a Thousand Faces
  • The Power of Myth (based on Campbell's PBS series)

Campbell's core idea: heroes go on journeys, face challenges, and — critically — learn they are not perfect. They explore new realms, gain power, but must come to grips with their own imperfections. This resonated with Cain's belief that character flaws make for better storytelling.

2. Evolution Across Games

Cain traced how the concept evolved through his career:

  • GURPS — Disadvantages: buy negative traits, get points back
  • Fallout — Traits: good and bad effects glued together (the original Fallouts did this well, later entries "kind of lost that")
  • Arcanum — Backgrounds with pros and cons; players could always lower stats
  • The Outer Worlds — Flaws: the game watches player behavior and offers flaws reactively

2.1. The Outer Worlds' Flaw System

The Outer Worlds innovated by inverting the traditional model. Instead of choosing disadvantages at character creation, the game monitors what happens to you during play:

  • Take lots of damage from robots → offered Robophobia
  • Fall and take damage repeatedly → offered Fear of Heights

This made the game feel more reactive — like it was watching and responding to your playstyle. It also felt narratively logical: "My character has nearly died five times from robots — maybe they should have a healthy fear of them."

3. Two Memorable GURPS Stories

Cain shared two stories from a GURPS campaign at Interplay with Leonard Boyarsky, Chris Taylor, Scott Everts, and Spencer Kipe.

3.1. The One-Armed Alcoholic Fighter

Scott Everts built a fighter — high health, high strength, high dexterity — by sacrificing intelligence, taking a missing arm (no shield, one-handed weapons only), and making himself an alcoholic (might start drinking during the day).

Spencer Kipe built a mage and took morbidly obese as his disadvantage, which massively slowed his movement rate.

3.2. Story 1: The Swamp Elemental

The party camps near a swamp. A swamp elemental attacks. They're outmatched and decide to run. Tim points out: the elemental is fast, and Spencer's character... isn't.

Chris Taylor, without missing a beat: "We run until we can't hear Spencer screaming anymore."

Spencer's character got eaten. He rolled up a new one — a skinny mage this time.

3.3. Story 2: The Dungeon Ladder

The party reaches a wizard's tower. The dungeon below is accessible via a trapdoor with metal rungs set into the wall. Tim notes: rungs require two hands. Everyone stows their weapons — but Scott is missing an arm. He makes a dexterity check to go down one-handed. High dex — he passes.

After hours of dungeon exploration, a massive creature rises from a chasm — giant beak, tentacles. Way beyond their ability. They run for the ladder.

Scott needs to climb the rungs one-handed again. But Tim asks: "You've been down here a few hours, and you have alcoholism. Have you been sipping from your flask?" Scott needs a Will roll (based on his low intelligence). He fails — meaning he's been drinking, meaning his dexterity is now lowered. He fails the climb check, falls back, and the tentacles grab him.

Chris Taylor, at the top, slowly closes the trapdoor.

4. The Lesson

Cain's takeaway is direct:

  • Flawed characters are fun
  • Flawed characters are memorable — these stories happened decades ago and he still tells them
  • Flawed characters introduce challenges the player brought — not arbitrary difficulty, but consequences of choices made at character creation
  • Flaws prevent the "god walking among the populace" endgame that plagues many RPGs

He wishes more RPGs explored this design space. The Outer Worlds wasn't the end-all — there's much more that can be done with player-driven negative traits and reactive flaw systems.

5. References