<me>Hang on a mo Mike, you mean you'd look at the
character creation rules and say:
"Hey, there's this list method which means I get 10 abilities or this narrative method which means I can screw between 20 and 40 out easily"
without wondering if perhaps, just perhaps, your understanding was a bit skewed?</me>
and Jane replied:
<Jane>Personally, no, I would not wonder if my
understanding was a bit skewed. I'd assume my writing
abilities were being challenged.</Jane>
The difference is turning out interesting abilities. Any muppet can crack out 40 or 50 D&D or RuneQuest style skill and attribute names in 100 words. Your writing skill has been challenged if you can squeeze many more interesting abilities from a narrative than you can get from the list method.
I shall now go off on a complete tangent just to stop it appearing like I'm arguing for the sake of it...
The list method has got some advantages over the narrative method as it's easier to include an evocative name for an ability which might not sit comfortably in a narrative. For example, fitting abilities like
and:
would be difficult (not impossible lest someone feels obliged to show me) in the same narrative. In a narrative most people would go for something like "stong" and "intimidating" as abilities to describe their characters.
So what's the point? Well, if you've got players that jsut want to pile out a list of adjectives then get them to use the list method and see if that shakes anything more interesting out of the characters. 10 strong statements about the character can make them a lot more interesting than 100 words of squeezing the last possible words out.
As a player it's a lot more easier to play. Instead of just saying "I intimidate him" (which gets tedious after a while) you can say "who the hell do you think you're talking to?" and that's a great signal to the GM that there's a conflict brewing.
So the next time you think of writing "intellectually superior" have a crack at sticking "you wouldn't understand, would you?" instead.
One final point: Jane said that writing the narrative (or writing the list) wasn't roleplaying, it was a completely different game. This is a bit of a shame, 'cause it tends to be better if it's part of the same game. It's the first part of being your character. If the players are treating character creation as something apart from the main game, then don't spend a long time creating a character. Ask them what their three (or four) keywords are and start playing, filling in abilities as you go.
Again this is all probably completely different in PBeM as the communication medium is a bit different.
Cheers,
Ash
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