Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Actual discussion with player before a game.
Player: I want to be an ex-Zhodoni Commando living underground in the Imperium.
Me: Hard pass.
How to let players generate the characters they want without letting them min/max?
- Thread starter Konrad
- Start date
Player: I want to be an ex-Zhodoni Commando living underground in the Imperium.
Me: Hard pass.
I want to play the character the dice give me. Mind you, if i have a choice, I'd like to roll 3 to 5 full characters, pick one, and give the rest to the ref as NPCs (contacts, allies, rivals, enemies, whatever works).
But i hate 'deciding ahead'. I realize I'm in the minority, but, I think of the character as building the story, and I (either as the player, or as the ref) is just helping to narrate and flesh out their story.
Sorry, I know this whole response is off topic, just.. I dislike point buy, as it removes the character's (as opposed to the player's) ability to tell the story.
But i hate 'deciding ahead'. I realize I'm in the minority, but, I think of the character as building the story, and I (either as the player, or as the ref) is just helping to narrate and flesh out their story.
Sorry, I know this whole response is off topic, just.. I dislike point buy, as it removes the character's (as opposed to the player's) ability to tell the story.
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Cosmic Mongoose
I had a D&D player who wanted a Xena style chakram with all the abilities she demonstrated, he thought I'd agree even though I hadn't watched the show. I watched enough of the show to say "HELL NO!"
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Telekinesis.
Or, Bixby's Bounding Boomerang.
Or, Bixby's Bounding Boomerang.
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Cosmic Mongoose
Every time he tried as a PC to create a new spell he was annoyed that I would add 2 to 3 levels to the spell (usually making him too low level to do the research). HOWEVER when as a DM he added a spell it was reasonable for the level. He seemed unable to judge when it would be his PCs as to how reasonable it was.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Figuring out most spells tends to be guesswork, as to their power levels and components.
It's reverse engineering from the effect that's desired.
It's reverse engineering from the effect that's desired.
agentwigggles
Cosmic Mongoose
This wouldnt make them above average. If you have 42 stat points, you have 7 in all stats. This lets you still have hills and valleys in stats, but prevents you just only have low stats.
Player groups usually work best when everyone has a role. Often that's a job role ("the pilot", "the engineer", "the scientist") but it might be a personal one ("the big guy", "the alien", "the idiot"). Anything you can use to help the roleplay.
It's actually fairly hard to roll up a truly incompetent Mongoose Traveller character. A one term wonder that fails all rolls and ends up as a Drifter will still have six to eleven level zero skills (and a choice of barbarian, wanderer or scavenger flavour for six of those). And they can do as many terms drifting as they want until injury and age catch up with them. Maybe with a shot at the Draft somewhere?
It's actually fairly hard to roll up a truly incompetent Mongoose Traveller character. A one term wonder that fails all rolls and ends up as a Drifter will still have six to eleven level zero skills (and a choice of barbarian, wanderer or scavenger flavour for six of those). And they can do as many terms drifting as they want until injury and age catch up with them. Maybe with a shot at the Draft somewhere?
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
That could be survival bias.
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boggo2300
Cosmic Mongoose
Plus the Connections and Group Package skills. That's probably 4 more skills at 1.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Fabricator! I make the coffee!
I had a wizard with Wisdom 4 in D&D (2nd Edition). I played him as impulsive and over ambitious. I never calculated where his fireball would extend to, I just eyeballed it. When he got a ring of infinite wishes the DM was falling about. Everyone else was counselling carefully weasel worded wishes, but I just said the first thing that came into my head (knowing full well that the DM wouldn't have given me infinite wishes had he expected me to use them carefully).
We had a hoot and didn't die.
To play a moron required both referee and player to work as a team and trust each other or it can destroy the campaign. Other players also need to know that despite the chaos they are in safe hands (and as always the player of the moron needs to know when they should let the other characters take the spotlight).
We had a hoot and didn't die.
To play a moron required both referee and player to work as a team and trust each other or it can destroy the campaign. Other players also need to know that despite the chaos they are in safe hands (and as always the player of the moron needs to know when they should let the other characters take the spotlight).
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
The CT rules actually suggest that if a player generates a set of characteristics they don't like they should apply for the scout service.
"Obviously, it is possible for a player to generate a character with seemingly unsatisfactory values; nevertheless, each player should use his character as generated. The experience procedures and acquired skills table offer a genuine opportunity to enhance values, given only time and luck. Should a player consider his character to be so poor as to be beyond help, he should consider joining the accident-prone Scout Corps, with a subconscious view to suicide."
They changed the language slightly for the revised edition:
"Obviously, it is possible for a player to generate a character with seemingly unsatisfactory values; nevertheless, each player should use the character as it is created. The experience procedures and acquired skills table offer a genuine opportunity to enhance values, given only time and luck. Should a player truly consider the character so poor as to be beyond help, the low survival rate of the Scout Service may make it the best career choice."
I can not be the only one with the anecdotal evidence of the player that does just that but ends up with a seven term scout with a really great skill set...
"Obviously, it is possible for a player to generate a character with seemingly unsatisfactory values; nevertheless, each player should use his character as generated. The experience procedures and acquired skills table offer a genuine opportunity to enhance values, given only time and luck. Should a player consider his character to be so poor as to be beyond help, he should consider joining the accident-prone Scout Corps, with a subconscious view to suicide."
They changed the language slightly for the revised edition:
"Obviously, it is possible for a player to generate a character with seemingly unsatisfactory values; nevertheless, each player should use the character as it is created. The experience procedures and acquired skills table offer a genuine opportunity to enhance values, given only time and luck. Should a player truly consider the character so poor as to be beyond help, the low survival rate of the Scout Service may make it the best career choice."
I can not be the only one with the anecdotal evidence of the player that does just that but ends up with a seven term scout with a really great skill set...
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Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
In that sense, you either die conveniently, or live to see yourself the hero.
Win, win.
Win, win.
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