Re: Secondary skills

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_...>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 23:03:23 +0100


On Fri, Jun 20, 2003 at 09:09:56PM +0100, Benedict Adamson wrote:
> Suddenly taking a hard line after being 'easy' on them can be perceived
> as unfair. Consistently using a range of abilities, rather than Close
> Combat everytime, prevents this.
>
> You could try more subtly signalling to the players that their
> characters are unbalanced using a 'fish out of water' episode, in which
> it is *impossible* for them to use Close Combat, and they are hard
> pressed by people they would otherwise regard as incompetent. A
> Heortling moot (legal case) is always a good standby for this. It is
> usuallly not fatal, too.

If only in the sense of, "it wasn't the fall that killed him; 'twas the ground"... Any sort of social or political event can work here of course, it needn't be as formalised as a law suit.

I agree with most of the comments that have been made on the style of play appropriate to encourage more rounded characters. As to perceptions of fairness, particularly when "springing" this new realization on the players, yes obviously one has to show some restraint. (After all, even the most 'rounded' of characters could be goedelised sufficiently to put in _some_ situtation where they were pretty much helpless, and one might reasonably question this.) I'd suggest a simple rule of thumb: by what standard is the character apparently _seeking_ to be judged? If he's an initiate of a god, he should expect to be challenged in those virtues; if he's a freebooter, he should expect to have a range of survival skills beyond just a large CC, for when things get too hot; if he's operating in the context of a clan, and is starting to presume to be an Important Person, he'll need a range of relationships and political skills. Hopefully, in other words, ways can be found to challenge the characters that make the players think "hrm, good point, I need to beef up there", rather than "hey, not fair, dirty pool!"

Cheers,
Alex.

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