A Couple of character Creation Questions

From: Ryan <ryanakent_at_...>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:59:53 -0000


I posted this in the Heroquest RPG Group, but thaought that it might get more traction here.

Let me begin by giving a little background about myself and my group. I have been playing rpgs since the dnd basic set back in 6th grade and playing Runequest since buying the boxed set and Cults of Prax. I subsequently played 3rd edition Runequest in College set in a mythological/historical earth.

I have read and studied a lot about narrative style roleplaying, but have not played much of it. I am really enthused about the possibilities. The things I enjoy most about rpgs is the roleplaying rather than the tactical combat, although I love a good crit or fumble as much as the next guy.

My current group is mostly from a strong simulationist style of play. Their system of choice is currently DND4e. Some would call some of them munchkins. They do like to kick the tires of a system and see if they can break it. Unbalanced characters seem to bother some of them. Others of them just want to have fun and don't care too much about the system.

Okay. Enough background. Now for the questions about character creation. In looking through the character creation guidelines in Sartar Kingdom of Heroes (SKoH), I noticed a couple of general guidlines. First, the general guideline is using umbrella keywords that can be increased with hero points at character generation for 1 point and during play for 2 points. I get that.

Second, in addition to 3 runic association keywords and a cultural and occupational keyword, you get to select 9 additional abilities. I get that.

Third, you can then add 20 points to increase your abilities, adding no more than 10 points to any one ability. I get that.

What I don't quite understand is the use of your 9 ability selections to select "breakout" abilities from under the umbrella of your keywords. I thought that that would be handled by using one of your 20 points, not one of your 9 ability choices.

Also, should a player be allowed to add 10 points to keyword, select a breakout ability under that keyword, and then add 10 additional points to the breakout ability? Theoretically, a starting character could have a 18W starting value for such a maximized breakout ability, albeit at a sacrifice to his verstility.

Also, I noticed some of the sample characters used their 9 ability selections to choose additional keywords. I think this is a good thing for modeling cool characters, but could be subject to abuse by a munchkin. Any thoughts other than just talking to the munchkin if the other players have a problem with it?

Another thing I noticed with the sample characters was that their flaw values were set at the value of their highest 3 abilities, and if they had 2 or 3 abilities tied for the highest, then their flaws would likewise be tied at that level. I like it, but it seems different than the guidlines in the HQ2 book. Any explanation?

Sorry for the long post. I want to run this game for my group and I worry about my munchkins trying to break it during character creation, not out of malice, but just as an experiment. I really want to get a handle on the default guidlines so I can consider carefuly deviating from them.

Thanks.

Powered by hypermail