From: axg708@anu.edu.au (Ashraf)
Newsgroups: aus.games.roleplay
Subject: Ideas (well sort of)
Date: 13 Nov 1992 00:09:14 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
NNTP-Posting-Host: 130.56.5.23

Ok people. Here goes.

1) I have had this ongoing argument with other people in regards to
   undead critters, especially the not so nasty ones eg zombies and
   skeletons. These entities have a very limited intelligence (note 
   I am not saying stupid) and usually work for a being that can control
   them eg a Vampire or Lich BUT their main driving force is what?
   Can they detect life in as much a way a Paladin can detect evil?
   If so, do they wish to destroy the life source. Remeber, skeletons
   and zombies do not (always) have eyes, or a significantly working
   nervous system, or at times a brain as we know it. So are they magical
   created creatures and if so could a dispell magic affect them? If it
   is a curse rather than magic, would a remove curse affect them and 
   how?

2) Why should demi-humans stop advancing in a level just because they
   reach a magical threshold? (Because no one will play humans?). I 
   had the privilege to play under a DM with some great ideas in this
   regard.
    Firstly, most of the cities that were worth visiting in his
   world were Human cities. This was because of the human ability to
   flock in quite large numbers.
    Secondly humans in his world had a low opinion of humans in other 
   cities, sort of like city rivilary. At times this turned to hatred
   (the Desert Folk hated the Horsemen) and this would often lead to war.
   BUT, even these guys would get together to fight demi-humans. Distrust
   is a kind word. (He played this to the hilt and it worked both ways).
    Thirdly, he theorised that since demi-humans tend to think in terms
   of centuries as opposed to decades, they (at times) could easily be
   distracted compared to humans who tend to try and cram as much into
   their life as possible. Therefore only human character got the 10%
   experience bonus (if their stats allowed them to). Sure it doesn't
   sound like much, but at later levels the human members of the party
   did start to advance quicker than their demi-human friends. It did NOT
   affect "game balance" in any way, and allowed players to continue 
   playing their favourite characters beyond the limit set. Note that these
   limits should only be perceived to be norms and not limits. Hence 
   player characters exceeding these social norms are special. Isn't
   that what player characters are anyway???

3) Character death. This is a big one. At times, this happens and as a
   DM the player tends to take it personally. How do people handle this?
   I sometimes kill off a favourite NPC just to remind the party of the
   danger invovled and this gets them to start to think. However I have
   complained of and been complained to about the situation being too
   hard to handle etc etc etc. The DM has everything in front of him, the
   play does not. If they are in deep shit, I sometimes (not always) make
   an intellegence roll for a party character. Now since the mages 
   character probably has an IQ of 170 and the player (and this is being
   nice) about 110, I give them what some people have called 'freebies'.
   I am not saying I do this ALL the time, what would be the point. Hell
   sometimes, these guys come up with a better solution to the problem than 
   the one I thought of and I let it ride. Is this wrong? Am I spoon
   feeding?


Well there are a few questions/ideas. Please feel free to comment.


				Ashraf
Newsgroups: aus.games.roleplay