In Defense of the Weak
Karen Lyons, The Farmer's Daughter
We use the tools we have.
If I had the ability to sprout fire from my hands without burning myself, you bet I'd use it. Maybe even if it did burn me.
I would find excuses.
I would make excuses.
But I lack that ability, so if I want to start a fire, I need a tool. If I need that tool, I will go to the store. If I have no money to buy that tool, I will do a job first.
While doing that job, I'll meet people. They might be the type of people I would invite to a bonfire, they may not be. But they'll probably be a little interesting. Most people are.
So now, because I cannot start a fire with my hands, I have found work, met people, and acquired currency, more than enough.
I can now go to the store, buy the firestarter, and make fire.
I have achieved the same goal, but I have told a story along the way.
The weak are no less passionate about reaching their dreams, but the routes they take are far more interesting.
So you'd like to play a thief, a mage, a warrior?
But you're just a farmer's daughter...
- How would you learn?
- Who could teach you?
- How will you practice?
- What risky shortcut have you heard of?
- How will you know you've arrived?
- What would you do with that power?
Let the characters start weak, and grow, and become the character your players dream of at the table, not before they ever roll a dice.
An Example
My friend Bert really likes Conan the Barbarian, and he's never played an RPG before in his life.
We sit down to play some Cairn, and he says, "Can I be Conan the barbarian?"
Me: "What do you like about Conan? How would you describe him?"
Bert: "He's just this super buff guy that's great at climbing things and chopping off limbs. He's very bad ass."
Me: "Ok, so let's roll up your stats, and then swap your highest result into your Strength, so you'll be pretty tough. And you'll be like Conan, but not exactly the same, so what's another name you like for this type of character?"
Bert: "How about Talon, and give him dark black hair like a crow or something, some scars."
Me: "Cool, cool, and we don't start with crazy abilities, but what's something Talon dreams of being able to do?"
Bert: "I want to be able to wrestle dinosaurs and huge monsters."
Me: "Epic. How do you think Talon will get there? Could he learn that from someone? Is there some ritual or thing he needs to do?"
Bert: "What if he could wrestle anything if he's eaten the heart of a creature of its size or bigger?"
Me: "Awesome, but he probably hasn't done this for anything bigger than a deer yet. And so Talon is born, last question, do you want an axe or a sword?"
Bert: "Can I have a magical talking sword?:
Me: "No. But there's probably one somewhere on this map."
A final note: this seems to be exactly how Cairn's progression works, but I think I would intentionally front-load the questions during character creation to help flesh out the world while tying characters to it. If they don't have anything to say immediately, they can keep it in mind that this kind of growth is an option.
A second final note: You could also do this in any OSR system, or even trad games like 5e. Just beware the bloat with feature-rich games.