Re: Epic NPCs and their stats

From: samclau_at_RfH9dt2k-eNv7eiHbfJFbdDbzbPm28eCHRrshm9eBbfCg57mHNfoM-SBkxxmZ8C4M-SE
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:22:56 -0300


Mark:
>> Would you really?
> Yes, otherwise why would I say it?

It was a rhetorical question :)

>> 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)
>
> You may find them of little use (I confess, I am not so infintely
> imaginative not to find inspiration in others' ideas), but I can't
> see how they confine creativity. A stat is there in canon, and either
> one must accept it or make a choice to ignore canon. Story hooks, on
> the other hand, are just suggestions and mines for possible ideas.
> It's like saying a book on your shelf confines your creativity -- or
> am I missing something?

Neither am I infinitely imaginative - I find plot hooks of little use mostly because so few of them tend to be applicable to the game in hand (many are going to be mutually exclusive); I happen to find an evocative ability (you know, the sort Stu might invent) more useful and just easier to digest, easier to refer back to. I used your phrase "confine creativity" (sloppily) to compare with stats in canon - I personally can't see why anyone would ever have a problem ignoring numbers in a book (why the "choice to ignore canon" would in this instance be difficult). I do think they serve as a very useful guide though, in particular their relative values.

> But I still wonder why you need some Official Canonical Orthodoxy to
> decide that Harrek has Partial to Practical Jokes 17 or JarEel has
> Sing Vanchite Bargee Songs 1W -- and still, why numbers advance
> things more than descriptions.

Okay...
I personally couldn't give two hoots if it is Official Canonical Orthodoxy or an unofficial suggestion published somewhere somehow. It does, however, help to have someone else lay some of it out, and that can be any of the descriptions you favour, the ability names and the numbers. One then riffs off that as one chooses.

Numbers can advance things because they are, generally speaking, a highly successful form of communication (I don't mean to be facetious, but numbers are a form of communication, code, whatever). Maybe it's personal preference - I'm a scientist, you're a historian. I admire a historian's ability to digest what can often seem to be deliberately difficult texts. I find it easier to digest, and return to for reference, lists with numbers, graphs etcetera.

Does that explain it?

Sam.



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