Positive and Negative Descriptors

From publisher blurb: Modern narrative games have introduced the idea of descriptive phrases that players can refer to in narrating their actions and which can have a mechanical benefit during the game. That’s an easy idea in principal but how would you apply it to Torg Eternity? This is my attempt at implementing the idea in TORG. Fate refers to these as aspects, Marvel Heroic Role-playing called them assets and complications. Now, while I hate changing industry terminology just for the sake of it, I am going to refer to these phrases as descriptors, either positive or negative. For those of you not familiar with the idea from other games, a descriptor is simply a phrase or short sentence describing something and that, when used, gives the player some mechanical benefit. That descriptor can be positive, such as ‘well-lit’ or negative such as ‘beaten-up’, or could be either, depending on how a player or the GM applies it, such as describing someone as ‘menacing’. Descriptors are easy to apply, require no changes to how you currently run the game and little to no book-keeping (they just need to be written down somewhere during the game so that everyone is clear; I use sticky-notes). They will work equally well with table-top or online games and give the players just that little bit more agency during the game (and also stretches their narrative skills).