Re: Augment timing

From: simon_hibbs2 <simon.hibbs_at_...>
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:29:35 -0000

> This goes to the question of whether RPG sessions are
> more like literature (allowing for use of internal monologue)
> or like drama (in which, as Simon prefers, all contests
> reflect actions observable by others.) I might blog about
> this in future. Simon, do you mind if I cite your comment
> in the post as a jumping-off point?

Sure, I'm flattered. It's true that I do prefer the theatrical approach, mainly as a reaction to the high degree of internal complexity I often see in the characters in my games and the relative paucity and weakness of inter-character relationships. Players build their characters in isolation and spend hours thinking about them and developing them on their own or with some Narrator assistance between sessions. This produces a built-in bias towards internal monologue which, as a Narrator, I want to coax out into the open where it becomes something other characters can relate to and interact with.

> Whether you do one or the other is a matter of personal
> preference that doesn't change how the system works.
> Although in practice I guess there's an argument for going
> with what the players find easiest to execute.

Being a roleplaying game, of course we should be prepared to compromise. Bullying the players would be unreasonable and counter-productive. It's a preference, not a rule.

One problem with the Augment section in the rules is that all but one of the examples is an external augment from another player. The one example of a player self-augmenting is by far the weakest example, in fact it's deliberately weak because it's attempting to show that even an augment that doesn't meet the rulebook criteria can be allowed on grounds of popularity.

That's a valuable point to make, but it means we don't have any really credible examples of a self-augment (unless I've messed one elsewhere in the book). A lot of campaigns seem to have a tradition of cheap, essentially meaningless self-augments and the proliferation of abilities in previous editions encouraged this. I'd like to get as far away from that position as possible.

Simon Hibbs

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