> A unfledged youth DOESNT understand his culture all that well.
>From my personal experience, several years in the tooth, it's rather all
too well. If you rebel against parts of establishment it helps to know
about it...
And enough adults haven't improved much on their understanding of the culture since their adolescence, either.
> Indeed s/he is shielded from a lot of it untill they become a adult through
> ritual, told the adult secrets etc etc etc. It's a very good mechinism for a
> GM to introduce new players to the game world. Childhood is pretty simple
> for most players to get a handle on.
It doesn't really excite playing that out, unless you do it in as much detail and colorful depth as Ken Rolston's Patroma brats in Pavis. I for one prefer to explore a culture rather than reiterate the mistakes of growing up.
> It takes little effort for the GM to
> describe childhoods on a Orlanthi stead, for example aint to far from Tom
> Sawyer or Huck Fin or a gazillion other novels.
Right: you can describe the childhood. There's little incentive to play it out for most players.
> How many Fantasy novels start out with the main Hero as a child?
Let me rephrase this: how many adolescent Fantasy novels start out with the main Hero as a child?
> By playing through the Trials of
> Adulthood in traditional gloranthan/rq style the players can be introduced
> gradualy into the culture and their responcibilitys.
Tried it. Was tiresome. My gaming people responded better to rounded out characters with a bit of nudging here and there.
> I again state that I would not expect every person playing HW/RQ/wotever to
> start as a kiddie and work up. But I dont think its any harder to play..at
> least for a few sessions.
These things always end up as quasi-mandatory in new players' (and especially new referees') minds if presented with the core rules.
> In the same way if you're playing a Vam*ire game
> playing the character as a mortal and through the embrace makes for a more
> defined character.
Both child characters (with a certain character profile in mind) and mortals before their embrace ("do I get to choose my tradition?") in V often seem pretty pointless because too much of the outcome is pre-ordained.
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