From: Andrew Pearce [ajp@dcs.qmw.ac.uk] Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 2:15 PM To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - character balance / 2nd ED. christopher gribbon wrote: > Otherwise they're going to play the game once, fail to enjoy themselves, and then never play > it again and never buy any of the supplements. > Kind of "shooting-yourself-in-the-foot" roleplaying elitism there, no? > > What do people think? There seems to be an attitude on this list that "If you can't enjoy playing a character who's completely inferior to another character, go away. Only true roleplayers should play this game." Surely having a balanced character creation system doesn't stop you from playing a weak character if you want to? I find this attitude arrogant, frankly. Andrew (breaking silence to say this). *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Andrew Pearce [ajp@dcs.qmw.ac.uk] Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 1:19 PM To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Character quirks, not about game-balance, promise :) [long] Jens Alm wrote: > > Hi list! > > I've been a bit gruffly lately, releasing all my frustration over the > character creation system without commenting on it's good parts. Because > there are good parts. I like the origin-background-profession write-up, > especially the professions are well written (although, ahem, not balanced > :)). Having said that, I'll try to be a bit more productive than I use to. > > When I GM'd BP, I put together a list of background quirks for the > characters. A long list of interesting bits of fact about the character that > could possibly be used as a story hook later on. The players liked the idea > as it also gave the character some kind of connection to the world; most > players chose two or three of these backgrounds, although it was in no way > mandatory. > > I was pretty satisfied with the result, so I thought I'd share it with you > people and perhaps we can lengthen the list together. Here goes (I've > translated the quirks from Swedish, the English could probably use some > polishing): > > * You are acquainted with a Pyotr Elenyak, Vladimir Gorchoff's nephew. You > two arrived to Poseidon on the same ship and have known each other since > then, even though you are not close friends. > * Four years ago, you had an affair with a native woman, Elenor Kline. You > were separated when you had to leave the island due to a transfer. > * You've served on a deep sea platform and have a few deep sea prospector > acquaintancies connected to Atlas Materials. > * One of your friends is a dolphin called Justifier, a member of the > eco-terrorist organisation Blue Water Circle. > * You know a doctor in Haven by the name Rutger Cooper. He is known for two > things, his lack of curiosity and his lack of competence. He fixes people > up, mostly, to an excessive price, but without asking any questions. > * You use to frequent a Newport bar called Breakwater. You think of the > owner, Jésus, as a friend of yours. > * You have, a couple of times, been arrested for having participated in > violent anti-incorporate demonstrations. > * You've served in the GEO policeforce under GEO Marshal Fredick Steiner, > with whom you generally get along (to the list, I haven't read the > Archipelago, I don't know if all the Marshals are already described with > names, if so, substitute with one of those). > * You own a small shelter at the more or less uninhabtied island of Epoch, > uncomfortably close to the Sierra Nueva cluster. > * You made a living as a huckster at New Jamaica for a couple of years and > even though you sold the shop a long time a go, you still have some > connections on the island. > * On Earth, you were known as your hacker alias, Nemesis, but here on > Poseidon, you take it easy. For now. > * You were part of the working force when they built the NavSat satellite > net around Poseidon and you know there's something fishy about those > satellites. > * When you were out diving, several years ago, you had an experience that > changed your life. You saw an aborigine. > * You invested in a mining operation, 2000 klicks east of Haven, a few years > ago. Since then, you haven't heard of the prospectors and you've given up > any hope to get the money back. > * Five or ten years ago, you were a good hydroshot player, people still > recognize your face now and then. > * A close friend of yours, Michel Bousont, lost his legs when ecoterrorists > attacked his mining station. He thinks the ecoterrorists were a cover for > Gendiver. > * A good friend of yours, Michel Cuerva, graduated on one of Poseidon's > seagull-like avians. > * During your flight to Poseidon, your capsule lost power for almost an hour > and you lost your legs as a result of that. The ship was insured however and > you got new, organic legs. Your new legs are very strong and agile, but you > still have phantom pains and sometimes, your new legs act as if you had a > funny bone there somewhere. > * When you came to Poseidon, you were soon in much more debt than you could > possibly pay off. Luckily, the debtor disappeared with his sailing boat a > while ago and hasn't been seen since. > * You made a living as a used jumpcraft salesman at Crazy Ivan's Used > Jumpers in Newport, for a couple of years. You still have a tendency to try > to sell things to people by exaggerating to the good stuff and not > mentioning the bad stuff. > > These are the quirks I used, but the list could be much, much longer. Anyone > care to add? > > -- > Jens Alm > Student of Medicine, Lund University, Sweden > jens.alm@af.lu.se Some nice ideas. What would be good would be a BP-specific version of the Lifepath from Cyberpunk. Andrew *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: daniel [unp2@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de] Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 5:04 PM To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - character balance / 2nd ED. Hello, This discussion is getting somewhat silly. Good grief, you're talking about _roleplaying rules_ - and not the constitution or something. Do you really feel that this question is important enough to get agitated about? All right. You have just been saved from another pamphlet about character creation systems. I've thought about that for half an hour, and came to the conclusion that it's not important enough to waste any further time on. There's just one question: Who of the readers of this list has really experienced problems with the BP system (and I mean problems other than "it doesn't work like my favourite system...")? Who has really seen the Marshal as a PC? Who has been the native drop-out drug addict? I've played BP on several occasions, with about a dozend people - and I have never ever seen a character that got out of hand. Not one single character. Have you? Bye & Goodnight, Daniel -- Daniel Hahn (dhahn@gmx.de) http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~unp2 "Chaos always wins, because it is better organized" - T. Pratchett *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: dpink@chill.org Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 7:24 PM To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - character balance / 2nd ED. >There seems to be an attitude on this list that "If you can't enjoy >playing a character who's completely inferior to another character, go >away. Only true roleplayers should play this game." Surely having a >balanced character creation system doesn't stop you from playing a weak >character if you want to? > >I find this attitude arrogant, frankly. That's because it is. It's like the people who play Vampire who sniff at the people who play D&D. There's a reason for game balance - because a balanced character creation system allows you to begin just like anyone else and prove your excellence through roleplaying and careful thought. In other words the balanced system exists to force you to use your roleplaying ability to distinguish yourself ( a positive thing in my mind). People do abuse open character systems like BP because not everyone is a "mature" roleplayer, just like we have laws because not everyone is fair in their dealings with others. Balance doesn't limit your roleplaying potential, it only hinders minmaxers. And yes this is a silly argument, but since this is a list devoted to a silly subject (role playing itself), then why not have arguments about balance? What else can we argue about, the existence of a higher power? That's another list altogether. Five dollars to the first person to mail me a really good BP index (Canadian funds though)... This is goign to sound really out of it, but is there a 2nd ed. for BP? *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: DDD45@aol.com Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 10:35 PM To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - character balance / 2nd ED. The thing is though, people can't say that they don't want to be a character who is stronger then someone else. Its really up the GM what the character gets for the GM decides what happens to the character. David *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.