Roleplaying Game Systems and Attributes

[disableanonymos]

Of the tabletop games I have played - D&D has 6, WoD has 9, Shadowrun has 9 too, Dark Heresy has 9 again, Cortex has 6 and FATE doesn't really have any definable, but still has them if you chose to make it part of your character.

Long ago, a friend of mine said something that effected my thinking along the lines of, "Roleplaying games need attributes to give an idea of how characters are capable of interacting with their environment - you need a measure of whether someone can push that stone, or see that hidden thing."

And unless I am mistaken, look at any roleplaying game, and you will find some measure of these things.

So what attributes are needed or key to a Rolplaying game?

Looking at the attributes from the above, you can get some idea by looking at the similar traits.

Common to all five stated games are some form of:

• Strength
• Intelligence
• Dexterity/Quickness/Agility
• Constitution/Stamina/Body/Toughness/Vitality

Four of the games have some form of:

• Wilpower/Resolve
• Charisma/Presence/Fellowship
• Wits/Perception/Alertness/Reaction

The rest are unique to the system, but can theoretically be represented some other way in the other systems - and that's the question I ask - which attributes are key, and which attributes are replaceable by other systems or derived attributes?

So what attributes do you think are musts in a roleplaying game, and why?

What do you thing can be replaced by another method in a roleplying game - and how?