From: cffitzge@IASTATE.EDU (Charles F Fitzgerald)
Subject: Re: game system
Reply-To: cffitzge@IASTATE.EDU (Charles F Fitzgerald)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 04:58:44 GMT

I don't want to repost all that has been written, but I would
like to respond to the line of discussion dealing with character
generation in the game system outlined by Jeffrey Boser.

It seems to me that the game system as outlined, advancement is
done through a system whereby the player pays a teacher for his
training.  The availability of the teacher helps to add realism
and limit the advancement potential of a character to a GameMaster
decided level.

The arguement against this seems to be that this is a cumbersome
mechanic in the character generation phase.  Players will merely
bypass the system by rerolling until the desired result is 
achieved.

I must say that I stand resolutely in the middle of this arguement.
Although the mechanic is cumbersome, it does add realism, which
many GameMasters and players enjoy.  I think it is a question of
individual taste.

However, I would like to give a couple the thoughts that ran through
my head while reading this discussion.

First, someone, in seeming support of the proposed game system, 
mentioned that a "With a good master, the players should work with 
him/her...."  Unfortunately, it has been my experience that many
players do not work with their GameMaster.  Likewise, a _good_
GameMaster is a treasure that is rarely found, in my experience.
I know of one, and needless to say, I am not he.  It is my opinion,
therefore, that a game system should be made with the troublesome
players, the lousy GM's, and the lowest belief in intelligent life
on earth as is humanly possible.  The good GM's and players will
good regardless of the system; the bad GM's and players will run
amok in a poorly designed system.

Second, there seems to be a lot written by both sides on character
generation, and the creation of a character from an existing idea
of what that character should be when he or she is done.  The general
consensus seemed to be that the game system allow a player to create
the type of character he or she had in mind when he or she began.
This is nice from an experienced gamer's point of view, and it is 
something that I like to have when I go to roll up a character myself.
The problem with this is that it is often very confusing to a new
role-player.  It is often better to have a completely random system or
a system with a very rigid character generation system when dealing
with new players.  This idea gets into the concept discussed in the
previous paragraph.

I make no suggestions at this time how to deal with these problems.
I am working on my own solutions, but I would like to test them further
before giving any advice.  I must admit that I had a character generation
system which I felt was fairly straight-forward and easy; I tried to run
it with a group of intelligent, though very inexperienced, players and
lost them before the game began.  It is not an easy task we face.

--
Charles F. Fitzgerald | '....Life's but a walking shadow,
Iowa State University | a poor player, that struts, and frets
cffitzge@iastate.edu  | his hour upon the stage,
                      | and then is heard from no more....'
                      | _MacBeth_, by W. Shakespeare.