I hit this one a little bit back but realized upon reading it that I'd missed an important point. While encouraging you to employ fads as a means of game plot or story, I missed a very important and salient use. You can use them to explain and empower quirky and oddball reasons. Such as why everyone doesn't use the most efficient, deadly, effective, or fastest means to do something. Examples, as always, follow.
Let's say my city A has a rivalry with your city B. Folks in city B are keen to wear their clothing cut in a particular way, one that is efficient against the cold and wet that comes with dwelling near a river. Our city A is farther in on the plain but equally suffers from the cold and drafts.
But we're rivals right?
Most of the people in city A are not going to wear their clothes cut in that manner, no matter how "better", since it stems from those bastards in City B, right? Even more, think about how down they would be on anyone parading around in that dress type. Would they be Cool? Neutral? scathing? Hostile? Could be any or all of them. To set it in the best perspective, think about football fans and how they are with each other, especially those in keen rivalry.
Let's do another one.
A very well known and envied actress has her home in your area. She loves the classics, performing many plays from them and pours scorn upon new material. She also hates the music from city A, thinks the color grey is a sign of stupidity and that wearing lace is an invitation for spirits to take over your body.
How many of these trends do think will start up, as folks who she influences or who are influenced by her name/legend hear about them? I'd say a lot, in varying degrees, just like it happens in real life.
Do the same for "xxx" hero the awesome and his likes and dislikes. You employ the same tools: adding quirks, likes and dislikes to get a better personal picture of your hero. Doing that you can enter in comments and actions from NPCs that emulate or are based on the hero's actions.
Still, who cares?
Well, consider the role playing possibilities, for one. Now, if that doesn't appeal, consider the story and plot ideas that are spawned with this approach. Say our beautify but stupid young actress decides to walk alone along the beach (bad neighborhood) and gets attacked by some rowdy unsavory types who she promptly lets her bodyguards stomp. You know she'd turn that story to her benefit, saying she walked through the baddest neighborhood in town and stomped the hell out of anyone who attacked her. Or, she'd say how she did it for sport to spoil some "rough types" day. I can easily see a rash of foolish people, primarily younger do the same thing just to "be like xxx". Weave that into your game. It spawns a social dimension and takes away that idea of a primal enemy that everyone who writes modules seems to think is necessary.
The way something is cut, its color, shape, they way its worn; make, manufacture, time frame and dozens upon dozens of other variables are easy to use as fads to provide reasonable and plausible background to your world, your plots and storyline.
Do your players a favor and use them.
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