>From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
>
>
>But your String Bean ability can only get as high as
>13+10, right? Whereas something off a keyword would be
>capped at 17+10. And if your character concept
>involves being the best Bean-stringer in the tribe,
>tough, you can't play that, keyword or not.
Well, there's two things going on here. If nobody in the tribe has a keyword in which string bean exists as an ability, then by putting it a +10, you're going to be the best of the "starting characters" at this, in fact.
If you're saying that you think that "starting characters" are too low powered, I'm right there with you. I rarely use those particular limits lately, as I want players to have more powerful characters. Instead I have similar, though higher, limits.
>(String Bean? I'm fascinated now. Is this vegetable
>preparation, or necklace making?)
Means like a thin green bean here in the US, and refering to a person with it means a tall thin person. I needed an ability quick.
>True: it also makes it higher. There would appear to
>be a corrolation.
Not to me. The height of an ability, to me, mainly has to do with what TN you roll against. Anything else you assign to it is, to me, pretty arbitrary. To be clear, I assign it all sorts of meaning. But don't require any of that to be all that consistent.
>Very true. But why not start with the player saying,
>explicitly "I want him being tall to be a major factor
>in the plot and in how other people see him" and then
>as a completely separate action, agreeing with the GM
>on a number to represent how tall he is? Which might
>be 12.....
Because it seems easier not to have to have that negotiation. Call me lazy as a narrator.
> > But those have to be determined on a per-character
> > basis. I want a hard limit that works for everybody.
>
>Why? What's the attraction?
Simpler. I have nothing against complexity. But the alternative doesn't do anything for me. It's just more complex.
> > So that people don't think your "we" applies to
> > everybody on the list.
>
>(blank look) How on earth could it? Telepathic ability
>to read the minds of everyone on the list... that
>would be impressive, but not likely.
Then to whom did it refer? Was it the royal "We?" That is, it read like you were saying, "The system doesn't work as it is because we players want to emphasize the other abilities." I was giving a counter-example to that, simply saying that no, "We" don't. Was it just the Swords group, then? Do you have telepathy with them? You've played in two games with me as well...
You'll have to forgive me if I misunderstood you.
Mike
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