Indeed. I think an applicable citation from the Grand Corpus of Often Mutually-Contradictory Proverbs here is, start as you mean to go on, though. If you're planning on running a BA type game, I'd start them in that setting, and in (in very general terms) the sort of "style" of game you're thinking of running. A possible exception to this is if you want to run the equivalent of a "con demo game" for your own group, just to get over the "we dunno if we'll be able to stomach this game tainted by association with RuneQuest" factor.
I've said it before, and I'll probably keep saying it until I'm gunned down in the street by somehow driven mad by the repetition, but I think the clan generator is an _excellent_ hook for starting off a Sartar-based game (or with some tweaks, any Orlanthi game, as per the Tarsh Exiles version). It's pretty quick -- you ought to be able to do it at the start of a session in which you do detailed chargen and/or begin a game in "quick start" mode, or over a couple of pints or some other "non-formal game session". It invests the players in their setting immediately -- "Why are our clan ancestors such pains in the backside about this?" "Because that's what _you_ decided to do, Back Then." "Oh yeah." It gives the narrator an "in" into possible hooks to give the game a push-start -- lessee, what's our highest "hate"... (This latter being an advantage of the "pints" approach, since it gives the N. a chance to digest the implications of the choices, pick a nice spot on the map, trawl through the available resources, etc.)
Cheers,
Alex.
Powered by hypermail