Re: Reputation in HERO WARS

From: reinierd_at_...
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 23:27:34 -0000

>I became enamored of the use to which reputation could be put in
> reinforcing that definition in my roleplaying youth. Many a
delightful
> scenario arose when the heroes' competence-as-perceived-by-
others... a
> thing apart from their lesser actual ability... drove them into
wild and
> cheerful misadventure which nearly proved overwhelming.

I agree, reputation is fun and reinforces a character's relationships with the community (positive or negative). I first saw reputation used as a game characteristic in Ars Magica. There, you had to earn a reputation through deeds; ie, if you killed a marauding bear that had been harassing a village, you might get "Local reputation: Bear Killer" at a starting rating (depending on how dangerous the bear was). As the character became better known and/or repeated his deeds, the reputation might grow from local to, say, national. It's a fun "reward" to get for player hereos, and also a fun dramatic element in the case of negative or undeserved reputations. Happens all the time in RL ...