On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:27:44 -0600, Erol K. Bayburt
<ErolB1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 00:55:32 +0000 (UTC), Neelakantan Krishnaswami
><neelk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>In article <1169739201.473113.218410@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
gleichman
>>wrote:
>>>
>>> Very judging from my short and unfruitful trip to the herogames
boards.
>>> It seems the balancing effect of points is taken on faith and few HERO
>>> players question its underlying concepts- even while they are arguing
>>> over things like what change is needed to balance the point cost of
>>> STR.
>>>
>>> Controlling combat values, attacks and defense, and most im****tantly
>>> niche is far more im****tant than points.
>>
>>This is completely true, and one of my standard modifications to a new
>>system is to throw out any point-buying schemes and then directly
>>specify character creation in terms of the stats that will actually
>>show up in play. (Eg, "Pick 5 skills at a rating of 10, 3 at 12, and 1
>>at 15, and set your five attributes from the array 5, 6, 6, 7 and 8.
>>Your skill at 15 cannot be the same as anyone else's, and you must
>>have a combat skill at 12 or higher.")
>>
>>However, I think that a lot of Hero system players would find this
>>kind of character creation system extremely unsatisfying, because I
>>think that Hero is one of those systems that attracts players who find
>>/making/ characters more fun than /playing/ them.
>>
>>If the main point of a game is making characters, then adding a point
>>system turns making characters into a game, precisely because the real
>>utility of an ability *doesn't* line up perfectly with the points. So
>>a player can go "bargain-hunting", and search for optimization
>>op****tunities, and so on.
>>
>>I do not personally find the character minigame a very interesting
>>sort of game, but de gustibus and all that. Maybe this tendency is
>>exaggerated on the Internet, because posting character designs to
>>message boards is probably an outlet for fans who are between groups.
>
>Mileage varies. I would find your kind of character creation system
>unsatisfying not because I enjoy the "character optimization game" (I
>don't) but because I *do* find the Hero point system useful. It isn't
>perfect, but it works much better, in my hands, than the sort of
>direct-character-creation you describe here.
On further thought, you have half a point. Character creation with
Hero or another point-based system is a "game" in a sense, for me and
for other gamers who think like me. But not a game with the goal of
producing the most powerful character for the points. Rather, the goal
is to produce the character that most closely resembles the original
character conception, while still remaining within the point budget.
That points aren't a perfect measure is an annoyance - a huge
annoyance in a highly optimizable/broken game like GURPS. But
coarsening the game system "resolution" the way you describe doing for
your campaigns is worse, from my point of view.
--
Erol K. Bayburt
ErolB1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
