RE: 17 vs 13 Starting Abilities

From: Bruce Ferrie <bruceferrie_at_...>
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 00:29:33 +0100

On Saturday, April 10, 2004 11:29 PM, Mike Holmes wrote:

>

> I won't say that this is a wrong thing to do, but I do think it has a
> specific effect. I think that what people are doing here is hearkening back
> to other RPGs, where "niche protection" was a big deal. Niche Protection is
> assuring that the character is interesting because they have specific
> abilities that make them indispensible (or at least unique within the
> group). So, even if you have two fighters, you can have the one that's
> strong, and the one that's fast. That sort of thing.

Partly. Mainly, it's an attempt to bring the things that make your hero interesting and unique and not "just like all the other healers/farmers/warriors/scholars" to a little more prominence. That is, the things that the player adds in the 100-word description. These are the things that make you "you", as it were. They're the things that go a long way to filling in the colour and atmosphere around all your keyword abilities.

> Now, it'll still be important, even if you flip things around. And I think
> that doing so merely changes the focus of play slightly. And, sure, this
> might actually be better for some groups. But I can attest that the focus of
> play that the normal rules provide is quite excellent as is, and that I
> think that people should try it that way, too.

I have tried it that way. I've been playing Hero Wars since before Hero Wars hit the shops. I only started doing the 17 thing last summer. :)

> I don't want to go back to exploring "loose" individuals
> in play anymore - I want characters that are all about realistic core
> identiies, not about who's strongest, or best looking.

If people *do* want to play that way, which doesn't interest me much either, changing the numbers around a little like this won't change it one way or another. Even if the "pickup" abilities start at 17, it's not magically erasing all those relationships, personality traits, etc.

Besides, who's to say that the abilities added in the narrative description *aren't* about the community, culture, etc. My characters tend to expand on the themes in their keywords in their additional abilities. My last one added 4 or 5 relationships in/around the local clan which helped define the character's place in the ongoing scheme of things. As you say, that's much more interesting than spending the whole narrative just adding kewl powerz...

Regards,

Bruce