From: dlewis@sandia.UUCP (Dave Lewis )
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Point Allocation vs Random Generation
Date: 6 Nov 92 16:28:50 GMT
Organization: Sandia Natl Labs, Div. 9224

In article <Bx9K6M.5u8@rice.edu> swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim) writes:
>In article <773@sandia.UUCP> dlewis@sandia.UUCP (Dave Lewis ) writes:
>>Face facts: to a large part of the RPG world, character creation ends when
>>the character sheet is filled out. Most players at least say that they will
>>develope the character personality as play proceeds and some really do, but 
>>there's usually nothing created by this process that we can lay our hands on 
>>to make a judgement of the creative merits of the character.
>  I disagree. Personality traits in Ars Magica and quirks in GURPS are there
>primarily to provide a mechanism in the game to describe a character's 
>personality.
[example deleted]

Mike, I'm puzzeled by your statement above: you say you disagree, but then
go off on a tanget and say nothing that relates to my point.

My point is that a large number of players that I've encountered in 19 years
of RPGs don't write character histories or any other supplimental documents
that help flesh out a character and make her/him/it more than a two-dimensional
thing. Once the character sheet is filed out, they are done with character
generation. I contend that to do character generation right and certainly if
you wnat to talk about judging the creativity of a character you need a
character history.

I'll admit that game systems have been getting better at helping players
describe their characters. Disadvantages, quirks, traits and other game
mechanics have imporoved things a great deal, but I haven't seen any system
that completely removes the need for a history to produce a fully fleshed
out character.
 
>  In the Ars Magica campaign I'm in, people don't really develop their 
>characters personalities in play. They decide their characters' personalities
>more or less during creation, and use that as a guide for what virtues/flaws
>and personality traits to take. 

Right. This is the way it's supposed to work: Concept then Character (sheet).
History is usually the way I do a Concept though I usually just keep the
history ideas in my head until I've done the character sheet since generation
sometimes has to impact history. Once the character sheet is done, I write
the formal history.

> The character who's really good at intimidation
>has a good score because he likes to do it, not the other way 'round. There are
>mechanisms for describing character's personality in some systems. If you
>use them then you get a good idea how the character thinks in most situations.

While this is true, IMHO the game mechanics don't do an adequate job of
describing personality. Futhermore, histories are also useful in that they
generally contain detail that the GM can use to make adventures that connect
better with a character. In order for a history to be used in this way, it
must be generated before play and most of the people I've gamed with lately
just don't want to do this. :(
>
>-- 
>Mike Swaim            | Canada will become the next world power

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Lewis
It is inevitable that we shall eventually become indistinguishable from our 
machinery! OR Computers, Martial Arts, and RPGs are better than Sex, Drugs, 
and Rock n'Roll! Well ... Maybe not better than Sex!
uucp:      ...{ucbvax | gatech}!unmvax!sandia!dlewis
InterNet:  unmvax.unm.edu!sandia!dlewis   or   sandia!dlewis@unmvax.unm.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------