Re: Re: Mastery = basic competence

From: Benedict Adamson <badamson_at_...>
Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 10:00:36 +0100


Mikko Rintasaari wrote:
...
> Critical = Excellent success
> success = You manage, more or less on your normal level
> failure = Something went wrong, not up to your expectations
> Fumble = Something seriously wrong

...

No. By definition, you always manage at least YOUR normal level half the time (or about half the time if the distribution is skewed... a complexity we need not consider). Using your definition, everyone would have an ability of 10 for everything. The whole point of ability ratings is to compare different people. The rules system does that by having a definition of 'success' such that good people (who have high ratings) succeed more often. This only makes sense if 'success' means the same thing for all people, regardless of abilities. Using the rules system, good people try to produce spectacular works (what we would call 'masterpieces') by taking difficulty modifiers: big penalties correspond to more spectacular work.

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