From: dlewis@sandia.UUCP (Dave Lewis )
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Point Allocation vs Random Generation
Date: 9 Nov 92 13:58:29 GMT
Organization: Sandia Natl Labs, Div. 9224

In article <BxDBAq.DsG@rice.edu> swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim) writes:
>In article <774@sandia.UUCP> dlewis@sandia.UUCP (Dave Lewis ) writes:

[ Everything Deleted ]

Let's start again since, I think, we agree a lot more than we disagree.

1. Concept is key. Character concept guides the hand of the creator and
drives the development of personality.

2. The more you know about a character, the more real he/she seems. The more
real a character seems, the easier it is to play the character in a way
that conveys the personality of that character.

3. While character generation in most game systems is a creative process,
there isn't much creativity involved in filling out a character sheet.
Some, but not much.

4. Character sheets don't adequately describe character personality.

5. Suplimental documents are necessary to effeciently describe the
personality of a character.

I'm pretty sure we agree on #1, which is the biggy, hopefully we agree on #2 
as well, and perhaps we agree on some of the others.

BTW, I'm not saying that you need a character history or other supplimental
documents to PLAY a character. You need them if you want to show the character
to someone else in a way the will demonstrate the personality and creativity
involved in creating the character.

I don't always write a history for every character and, even when I do,
I don't always show it to the GM or other players. I do it because it
it helps me fully develop the personality of the character.

I did an experiment in my HERO campaign a while back. I gave out points for
character histories. Three points for trying and up to ten for a very good
job. Every player submitted a history and I gave out two 3s, and two 9's.
The players that got 3s basically reiterated what was on their character
sheets in more words but no more detail. The players that got 9s obviously
got into the process and created backgrounds with lots of extra detail.
As I ran the sessions, I planned and executed adventures that touched on the
history of each character. The adventures that flowed from the more extensive
histories where easier to devise, held together better, and were more fun
for everyone. A big surprise! NOT!

So while I believe that histories are important (BTW, I keep picking on
histories because that what I find usefull, but other sorts of written stuff
might work just as well), I know that they aren't for everyone. IMHO a
good player will always be helped by having a history and a poor player
may or may not be helped, but I don't think it ever hurts.
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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!
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