I've vaguely suspected for a while that the adage "Kill your darlings" may apply to the Pentasystem's 5x5 grid of arenas vs realms, on which all attributes must be placed. It was part of the system from early on, but it was always a bit arbitrary. Proof of this came just now when I compared, side by side, the grid I came up with out of my setting ideas brainstorm with the original character grid and found several things that were on both, but in different locations. Is communication Emotional/Physical or Mental/Physical? Are prejudices Emotional/Quintessential or Creative/Quintessential? Does it matter, or am I just straitjacketing players by saying, "You can only have a conflict of this type using attributes of this type"?
My conclusion is, it doesn't matter. Ripping this part of the system out will, however, leave a gaping space. I'm not going to rush to fill it. Sooner or later something will turn up which is much better. But it may be difficult to work on other parts of the system now that this fairly central subsystem is cast back into the realm of the undecided.
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