On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 8:41 AM, Ian Cooper
<ian_hammond_cooper_at_...> wrote:
>> 2009/2/20 Jeff Richard <richaje_at_...>
<snip>
> Significant & Legendary Abilities: You do not need to know numeric
> abilities for narrator characters. Just narrate what they do,
> consistent with their description, and come up with a suitable
> resistance for your story (using the pass/fail cycle as appropriate).
As a playtest narrator I found general benchmarks to be useful in narrating the contest results. For example, in my "significant & legendary" ability descriptions for narrator characters I would include color descriptions like "renowned throughout the satrapy (M2)". This reminded me to think of descriptions that didn't challenge the players willing suspension of disbelief when the pass fail cycle suggested an improbably low resistance.
Thus, I might describe a master swordsman as having had a few drinks before the characters attacked, or that he was caught in bed with his girlfriend, or some other equalizer. The exact nature of the equalizer would depend on whether I was shooting for suspense, comedy, etc. Because of this, my players never had cause to ask why the supposed master swordsman turned out to be such a dweeb.
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