Re: Player Character's challenging societies rules

From: Alexandre Lanciani <takenegi_at_...>
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 15:27:16 +0100


Il giorno 15-11-2001 14:45, Ian Cooper, ian_hammond_cooper_at_... ha scritto:
>> Any chance of putting this up in BIG BOLD LETTERS on the glorantha

> site (see below).
>
> Though some players may choose to portray traditionalists who are
> struggling to keep everything 'as is' in the face of the Hero Wars,
> and all players will certainly encounter people who are
> traditionalist. I suspect that the HW will be about the mistakes made
> by being experimental as well as the benefits.
>
> Sure the HW are about breaking the rules. But, breaking of the rules
> requires those rules to be known. IMO its more fun to show players
> what the rules are, then put them in a situation where they night be
> broken. The heroes should understand that they are making a choice
> that normal folk would not, and the heroes will have to learn that
> such changes have consequences, and live with the results of that
> decision.
>
> Ian Cooper

True, but I agree with Andrew as my campaigns have sometimes been plagued by Myths Lawyers (who beside knowing every word of the books by heart don't really understand what's written in them).

I think it's important to provide the norm but good characters aren't those that most fit the cliché. Rather good characters are the unique ones. Real people surprise us all the time, why should it be different for imaginary people? Agreed, you can be surprised by a person only if you expect something from him, and this is why it's important to have a good description of the norm such as the one provided by the books. But players have to transcend that, otherwise what's the role of the player in his character's creation?

The point IMO resides in the difference between what could and should happen. It's mandatory to respect the setting's integrity (but that's a job for Narrators, isn't it?) but if everything occurs as it is expected, that would be boring!

Elric was a weird Melnibonean, Bilbo a weird Hobbit, Skafloc from Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword" a weird Elf (in fact he was no Elf at all...) and so on. Players often take so much care to make their characters believable given their culture that they end up with boring characters.

-- 
Regards, Alexandre.
Progressive rock: a musical genre where the bass is the loudest instrument. 

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