Re: Augmenting and Play Styles

From: Christopher Weeks <yahoo_at_...>
Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 07:27:42 -0500


 > Trotsky writes:
 > >Mike writes:

> >So, how does not changing the augmenting rules fit into all of this? By not
> >having limits on augmenting, you make that rule part of a larger overall
> >agenda that says to the players, "Hey, we're not going to restict you from
> >trying to win, because the game is not about winning." As soon as you put a
> >limit on augments, you tell players that they should be probing such limits,
> >looking for how to win.

> I disagree. There's always going to be a limit to probe. Even if you
> typically allow ten augments per ability, there are still some you're
> not going to accept, or we might as well just say that you can always
> augment any given skill with every other skill on your character sheet.
> All you're changing with the house rule is where those limits are
> perceived to be. The first group, by piling on everything they can think
> of, is already probing the limits - in that respect, changing the rule
> doesn't affect them. The second group didn't want to probe the limits
> anyway, so they're not changing either.

I'm not going to argue with you about what you enjoy. But it seems like you think of the players as some kind of enemy that needs to be kept in check. I used to play like that too. In Mike's way of playing, the "limit" that the player is probing looks like this: "how cool can I make the scene by representing my character's actions through the selected augments." There are times when, in his game, I'm concerned about using a particular ability for an augment, specifically because there's not much chance of him saying no. There's no safety net and I owe it to the other players (including Mike) to do it right. That is simply not the same kind of limit as trying to squeeze as many points of augment into ten (or whatever) abilities. It isn't mechanical at all. It's just social and creative. And when I thought adversarially about my players, I wouldn't have believed it, but I now vastly prefer that play style. But maybe you wouldn't.

Chris

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