From: magnus@bark-fddi.ii.uib.no (Magnus Alvestad)
Subject: Re: net.rpg
Reply-To: magnus@ii.uib.no
Organization: UVBS -> SFK/T-DSA / SOPS - HOS / RNoN
	<1992Nov9.032158.9364@alf.uib.no> <40853@sdcc12.ucsd.edu>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 18:14:56 GMT

>>>>> On 10 Nov 92 23:00:07 GMT, bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike) said:

	Bryce> though.)  	The main question is: to bell curve or
	Bryce> not to bell curve?  (Or to Shadowrun...urk)

Personally, I don't care. I mean, bell or not, it's the rest of the
rules that decide what the stats / skills mean anyway. A bell curve
just means more resolution at the top and bottom of the range. Maybe
that is unneccesary? (Interesting that this really started me thinking
about the bell system. I never did that before.)

	Bryce> 	Hmn.  Switching dice would be an interesting cinematic
	Bryce> tool, but not very useful for those who don't want
	Bryce> cinematic play.  In an ideal system, players and GMs

Ok, I figured it would save time. We'll discuss it when we get to
combat. Character Generation / Character Data / Skills (?) is the
order of the day. Take your shots, gentlemen.

	Bryce> 	(yes, I hate the, "We've got a table for it!" syndrome)

So do I. I hate writing tables, too. :-)

>Well, I feel that it constricts the imagination of the GM. I think the
>roleplaying profits on letting the GM come up with effect, successes,
>failures etc. This is part of the fun!

	Bryce> 	Not sure what you mean.  No dice rolling at all?  Or
	Bryce> is it, "roll the dice, but I'm the final arbiter of
	Bryce> truth" kind of gaming?  Ehn.  Personally, as Loren said

No, "roll the dice, ah - critical success - let me see, seems you
really put that charge at the critical spot - the entire bridge is
blown to smidgeons". 

	Bryce> (right?), it would be nice for diceless rules to be

I like the small wooden cubes.

	Bryce> ("Uh, yah, lesse...what's the weather like today...roll
	Bryce> 3d10...WHOA!  You're hit by a major blizzard!  In the
	Bryce> middle of summertime!  COOL!"  whimper) 	In the net.rpg

No, "I'll roll the dice - let's see .. low is bad, high is good ..
only two - than means.. Players, it's raining today!"

	Bryce> occupations).  If you're designing a multi-genre game
	Bryce> system, you might want to think again, or at least
	Bryce> leave options open for non-class-generated characters.

I thought about a career-system. Which would be somewhat class-similar
in those genres where there are single-path educations, very
class-dissimilar in f.ex present genres.

	Bryce> creating templates/ whatever would be nice, as well as
	Bryce> the basic point-allocated/ randomly generated
	Bryce> character.  

That's what I'm fighting for. A system where yoy make a choice in
those matters that really matter to you. Different people play in
different ways, imagine a system that lets those people play together. 

	Bryce> (To be truthful, I can't imagine randomly
	Bryce> generating a GURPS character...you'd need dozens of
	Bryce> tables to handle it well unless you just want to do a
	Bryce> Roll 3d6 and Pray system...)

:-) I've more imagined a spreadsheet-like sheet where you roll (or
select), then follow the formulas and conditionals. Haven't thought
this out yet, though.

	Bryce> (Dice rolling programs on computers drive me crazy.
	Bryce> Hate 'em.)  	Using a computer for limited
	Bryce> bookkeeping and note-taking seems okay to me, but it
	Bryce> also seems as if it could get in the way of the game
	Bryce> itself if used too much...

My feeling exactly. I have access to a few portable computers, but I
would never get one near the gaming table! 


	Bryce> want to deal with...  	Somehow I question the need
	Bryce> for a Complex And Realistic Weather Prediction RPG
	Bryce> Device.  Perhaps good rules for the effects of weather,
	Bryce> but not reams of tables...I doubt they'd be very
	Bryce> realistic anyway...

No, not without that computer.. :-) Weather is of course also very
genre-dependent and should be described there if at all.

	Bryce> end-all-be-all system and I'm interested in seeing how
	Bryce> other games are run.  (Not all of them are perfect, I'm
	Bryce> afraid, but new mechanics are always welcome.)

I don't think the net.rpg will be perfect either (if it will even
exist at all), but I think we will get a lot of new ideas and a lot of
adaptability. And we'll have a lot of fun and think things through.

-Magnus