From: makinc@hhcs.gov.au (Carl Makin)
Newsgroups: aus.games.roleplay
Subject: Re: Mechanics to Support Characterisation?
Date: 27 Aug 92 13:55:01 +1000
Organization: Aust. Dept. Health, Housing and Community Services

In article <1992Aug26.004436.13199@newshost.anu.edu.au>, markg@vulcan.anu.edu.au (Mark Grundy) writes:

>         In  article  <1992Aug24.122552.310@hhcs.gov.au>,  makinc@hhcs.gov.au
>     (Carl Makin) writes:
 
>     > AD&D alignments were mainly used  as a crutch for players who  weren't
>       sure  exactly  how   to  play   their  characters.     The   Pendragon

>     experienced players who want their  character to sit closely within  the
>     genre.  For such players, the  mechanics are not used to constrain,  but
>     to focus and suggest additional possibilities for play.

Well, yes.  Alignment and character class are quite a useful
guide however my point was that it's the inexperienced players,
and GMs, that use such a crutch.  The more experienced players
will find or develop a model for their character anyway.

Actually saying inexperienced and experienced is a little
misleading.  It's more like imaginitive players as opposed to
non-imaginitive players.
 
>     > [...]  how many  players get  that far  into their  characters?   Most
>       [...]
>       even interested, in playing characters with personalities different to
>       their own.  In those circumstances a crutch like alignment can help.
 
>         That is a very sad observation,  since one of the great benefits  of
>     conventions is  to broaden  your experience  of the  hobby.   About  the

If the players enter as a team and play only as a team then there
is little outside input to their actions.  It's where teams are
more or less randomly composed that you get a "cross pollination"
of ideas and styles.

>     simplest and least demanding thing  you can ask of  a player is to  play
>     him or herself.  It is also one  of the most limiting things you can  do
>     in a roleplaying  game, since it  bars the players  from involvement  in
>     many more challenging  stories.  

I'm not saying that we ask them to do that.  I'm saying that,
given no clear personality traits in the character, the player
will play as themselves.  This can be offset by specifying
character traits, either as part of the games system, or as
add-ons by the game designers. 

>                                      If you  feel that  tournament play  is
>     confined to this simple form of wish-fulfillment escapism, then I invite
>     you to look around more.  

No, I feel it's up to the players themselves as to how they play
the game.  If you have a team of players that only want to play
gun happy kill crazies then that sensitive new age scenario :-)
will be lost on them.  

>                                                   But, if you confine  your
>     experience to AD&D for the rest of  your life, you may never get to  see
>     them.

Um, I'm mainly a GURPS and Traveller player.  I was part of "30th
Century Vargr", the group that designed and ran a number of the
Traveller Free Forms.  Other members of the group were Garth Nix,
Leo Dingley, Alistair Langsford, Gordon Kirby and Michael
Kendaras.  I also helped design and run "Kome" and "The Roost",
two earlier Traveller free forms with Peter Quentin.
 
>     > When designing a character  you have to have a  good idea of what  you
>       want the character to be *before* you start.  Usually you end up  with

>         I don't agree.  Sometimes, you can approach character design with  a
>     conception that, like Athena, emerges fully clothed from your head.   At

This is different for each individual.  Let's agree to disagree
Ok! :-)

>     > Who says you have to exactly what  the dice roll says anyway?  If  you

>         But new mechanics don't improve play anywhere nearly as much as  new
>     play experiences  do.   

Yes.  It's the players and the referee that make the game.  

Carl.
-- 
Carl Makin, MVS/ESA Systems Programmer, VAX/VMS Dabbler. 
Dept. Health, Housing and Community Services, Canberra, Australia.
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