Animal keywords (Was something about worldscale...)

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 10:09:26 -0700


Well, this whole thing blew up & over while I was away from my desk, and didn't get a chance to comment (which may have been for the best...)

While *only* a armchair player (it's not my fault! there's no-one in 60 miles of me!), I have had *some* thoughts on the rules...

For what its worth:

I'm in the camp that "run is run" - an average horse uses exactly the same
"Run" abilty as the average man. If you give it a number, then a Human's
"Run" can be compared to it. And so can all other "Run"-type abilities:
"Sprint", "Run like the wind", "Cartoon Circular Legs like RoadRunner", and
so can other movement abilities: "Fly", "Swim", "Swing through the treetops on jungle vines" when used in a contest of "who can get there first" or similar.

I think the numbers in AR are generally too low (no disrespect to Trotsky or Greg, but I do).

A proposed fix for AR:

Take the list of abilities for animals in AR as starting points for Keywords.
so, frex, you could say: "Follower: Lion 2w".

*If* you feel the need, assign modifiers (or even absolute values) to the various abilities within the keyword:
Claw and bite +10
Large -5
Mane & Hide ^2
...
Or the Narrator can assign penalty mods during play instead of/in addition to these mods as she sees fit: "I think that a lion can't bite very well, so I'll give it a -15" (I never said the narrator has to be *right* in her assessments - *you* argue with her!)

Now you can describe a Lion Pride as:
Big Black Maned Male: Lion 17w (Lazy +10, Hunt -20) 5 Lionesses: Lion 12w (Hunt +10)
3 cubs: Lion 6

Does this mean more thinking on the narrators part? Only if she wants to make an issue of it! She might say: Ah, this is just a regular ol' lion, all abilities are XwX, I don't give a fig for worrying about possible mods to abilities", or she might say: "This is a particularly Large and Terrifying Lion, I'll give them +X mods, but his Run is -Y."

After all, AR doesn't have *all* possible abilities for its animals - There is nothing for a Lion's ability to sense prey, so "by the rules" you either automatically can't (The "No self respecting Lion..." rule), or nearly-automatically can ("Well, it must have Sense prey 6") hide from a lion! But by using "Lion" as a keyword, the chance to hide from a lion is
"included" in its "Lione-ness".

Using this method, a "Lion" doesn't have any ability ratings assigned to it, so you (the narrator) get to make it up. Want a terrifying lion that the entire player heroband will have trouble taking down? give it a mastery and a half advantage over the party's best Combat ability. Want one that a single hunter can overcome with some effort? Give it an ability rating 5-10

points above his best Combat ability. Want to know the "Absolute Value" of a
Lion? There *you* have to make it up. (I'd probably go for ~15w or so, but
that's just me, and only right now...).

Roderick

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