From: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim)
Subject: Re: Point Allocation vs Random Generation
Organization: Rice University
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 22:47:14 GMT

In article <774@sandia.UUCP> dlewis@sandia.UUCP (Dave Lewis ) writes:
>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:
>>>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 was that I've seen a large number of characters where you could
look at the character sheet and see where the player had been creative.

>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 don't.

>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.
 Depends on whether or not you think a character needs a history to be
fleshed out. One of my characters has several paragraphs describing what
she looks like on her character sheet. Why? It's an important aspect of her
character. I don't see her history as being that important. Personally,
I'd rather see a well defined character with a fuzzy history, than a character
with a well worked out history but a fuzzy personality.

>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.
  I think that the character concept is what's important, not his history.
Generally, the character's history isn't important in most situations. If
someone's going to run a story featuring characters from the PC's past, then
all that's really necessary is for the GM to brief the player on what he's
come up with. We've had several characters meet old flames that were created
by the GM, without player prompting. Heck, one character even met a kid he
didn't know he'd fathered.


>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. :(
  On the other hand, it can be a lot of work for nothing. If the GM thinks that
it would be helpful to have a character have known someone, or have been from
someplace, then he can simply consult with the player. The two characters with
real histories in our current campaign are from Germany. They're living in
Scotland now. It's concievable that someone they knew in Germany might hunt
them down, but I doubt it. (The game's set in the early middle ages, so 
travel's pretty slow.)
  The one adventure I've been on where a character's background was important,
the GM came up with it. All the player had come up with was that he was son
of a Graf of some region in Germany. The player who ran the story worked up
the character's family and surroundings. He then showed it to the player
involved, got his OK, and ran the story. 


-- 
Mike Swaim            | Canada will become the next world power
swaim@owlnet.rice.edu | and they will work to ENSLAVE all the nations
Disclamer: I lie      | of your planet. -Ricardo
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