In this game, you and your friends will tell a story together by defining the traits of the story’s characters, items, and locations. You will explore a world of your own creation, where you set your own goals, such as making friends, fighting enemies, collecting items, and solving mysteries.

Defining Traits is a flexible, rules-lite system for 3+ players. You do not need to prepare in advance.

You will need playing cards, dice, sheets, and safety tools. Read more below:

Components

Monitors

Defining Traits lets everyone be a player! Since there is no GM, each player chooses:

Scene Monitor

Dice Monitor

Quest Monitor

All 3 monitors must be present. If there are more than 3 players, then multiple players will be Scene Monitor. They can divvy up the scenes however they like (e.g., one Scene Monitor might narrate friendly scenes while another Scene Monitor narrates hostile scenes).

The monitors will pass:

The Ball

Prompts

Prompts guide the story. More information follows:

Prompts

Core Mechanics

The core mechanics depend on Arenas and Sources:

Arenas

Sources

Players use cards and dice to play. More information follows: