In the role-playing game of life, the typical INTJ can take advantage of a wide variety of important bonuses. Here are three of my favorites, related to manual-reading and manual-writing:

Bonus Example 1: I Read the Manual

Yep, and on this team, you’re probably the only one who did. Good going! Give yourself a hefty bonus on tasks requiring deep expertise and perception, general efficiency, and leadership tasks requiring the type of leadership adulation and reputation points which are awarded based on knowledge.

Take a role bonus in any team that rewards success in these tasks.

Take an additional career bonus in any field that rewards success in these tasks.

Bonus Example 2: I Rewrote the Manual

Damn. You took it one level deeper. Even though there was a manual already, you rewrote it to make things easier on yourself and those around you.

After all, who needs a 20 page Table of Contents? Your version can be skimmed quickly to find the key knowledge points that will matter when things get difficult. Take a general efficiency and broad-knowledge bonus.

Take an additional team & career longevity bonus, as your manual-keepership makes people want to keep you around longer.

Bonus Example 3: I Wrote My Own Manual

Whether you authored a completely new approach to an existing system, or authored a new system and happened to write a manual: This ain’t easy, INTJ or no. Take a bonus on tasks requiring Deep, Arcane, or Forbidden Knowledge. You’ll also have access to high regard from otherwise unimpressed players and NPCs.

The Inventor and Mad Scientist roles are well within your reach. If your character has some charisma, they may have access to the Cult Leader role…or maybe they just want to start their own new and powerful form of yoga.

With access to the I Wrote My Own Manual level of subjective responsiveness, take an additional bonus against career adversity and plain ol’ bad luck. You can figure your own way out of just about anything.

A Few Important Points

• You may get the first bonus for free, but the second and third bonuses listed here will require conscious effort for many, if not most, INTJs.
  • The second and third bonuses may be new ideas to you, in which case you have to fight against your introversion / grump factor in order to learn a new thing (extraversion—the concept is something outside of you)
  • Sometimes it’s a bit scary, because it means committing to learning one thing and getting your hands dirty while other opportunities pass you by.
  • Still, bonuses 2 and 3 can be huge multipliers for people like you.
• These bonuses work better if you’re well grounded in social relations in the first place—the people around you are often the ones who need someone else to have read the manual.
  • Fair warning: If you talk down to someone who hasn’t read the manual, you may find any bonuses evaporating before your eyes.
• If you write your own manual on paper, I find it’s a good idea to use pencil for the first few drafts, or get ready for a lot of complete rewrites. :-)

Filed in: Thinking /70/ | Careers /40/ | Relationships /78/