Re: Epic NPCs and their stats

From: samclau_at_8JI0s8GsxrH2IHFC1hhHP75Z9fOlAcQWOqIQ6lQ9hbKT81z4Ob26SCSgq3axasYoT3NB
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:20:36 -0300


Mark:
>> If it has stats, you ask it to give you a job, too.
>
> But do you really need stats for that? I'd hate for 'I make JarEel
> think I'm the best thing since sliced moonbread' to be a roll rather
> than a piece of roleplaying.

Would you really? What are skills like Boast there for then?

You capture the McGuffin but you have lost the troop of soldiers she sent with you to help. Her opinion of you is in the balance. You aren't trying to defeat the Big Epic Figure, you are trying to persuade her you did good.

IMO these things are far more interesting than the capturing of the McGuffin itself.

> More to the point, I really don't get how having stats really advances
> anything. A book of descriptions of key figures, that I might like to
> see, with plot hooks for how you could end up opposing them, working
> for them, saving them or being saved, etc. Ideas, yes. But numbers? No
> one has yet really explained to me how that helps and does anything
> more than confine creativity and create grounds for more destructive
> bickering.

I'm not going to argue with these points because I do see the potential pitfalls in pinnning these things down (I don't see why folk would want to bicker over such things but I recognize that they may well do so).

However, I have to say that I find potential plot hooks a lot less interesting than a character's stats, and not because I want a bag of numbers to throw at PCs. I find plot hooks "confine creativity" (to tell the truth, I find most of them of little use) whereas abilities and their ratings give me the tools I need while making few or no assumptions about how my game works.

These epic figures aren't going to have all their abilities at seventeen masteries or whatever, either. They'd have some more normal abilities and these are the ones I'd find interesting. As someone pointed out, their relative values at least can be of use.

Sam.



Aqui na Oi Internet você ganha ou ganha. Além de acesso grátis com qualidade, ganha contas ilimitadas de email com 1 giga cada uma. Ganha espaço ilimitado para hospedar sua página pessoal. Ganha flog, suporte grátis e muito mais. Baixe grátis o Discador em http://www.oi.com.br/discador e comece a ganhar.

Agora, se o seu negócio é voar na internet sem pagar uma fortuna, assine Oi Internet banda larga e ganhe modem grátis. Clique em http://www.oi.com.br/bandalarga e aproveite essa moleza!            

Powered by hypermail