RE: Re: Movement rates

From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:43:14 +0000 (GMT)

Since the players are the ones doing the planning, yes, it does.

> The players know the system. I tell them the
> resistance to accomplish the task in question,

And therefore you need to know what that resistance is. Somehow.

> You're not telling me that players in your
>game actually
> say, "Ragnar gets up, and looks at his sundial. Does
> he have enough time to get to work?"

Nope. Ordinary everyday stuff can be taken as read. At least, usually. Until non-normal stuff interferes with it.

> I'd immediately ask what his character's
> goal was.

I've given an of what a goal might be twice already. Travel from Boldhome to Whitewall, nice well-known places a known number of miles apart, and back, in the time between full moon and dark moon, which are a known number of days apart. The resistance may be very low, ludicrously high, or "interesting" enough to roll for - but to find it out, we need that nice neat table of travel speeds. Which, it seems, will be available soon, or can be guesstimated by several different contradictory methods. Fine. But don't try to tell me I don't need it at all, because it just isn't true.

> The amount of money a character has
> could be a source of concern when planning, no? Does
> the player know how
> much he has? Yes, Weath 13. Against the fine sword's
> resistance of 5W.

And you got that 5W from somewhere. Not just out of the air. And the next time you want a fine sword, the resistance will be similar. Facts. Consistency. A table that says "but an axe would be cheaper", "not in your lifetime", or "why not have two?"

Sure, there are times when you can abstract everything to hand-waving and numbers out of the air, at least if you're never going to repeat that contest. But there are also times when you can't.



Jane Williams                 

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