| From: | "Robert Pendergrast (Tom)" <3011_3@***.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: AD&D/SRII char creation/play |
| Date: | Fri, 25 Oct 1996 13:17:41 -0700 |
---
Now...
<snip, AD&D, simple>
> Granted, the game is silly, usually designed for munchkinised play, and is
> unrealistic in almost every sense of the word, but... It's still a fun
> diversion occasionally. Usually very little thinking needs to be involved.
I don't know what your experiences w/ AD&D are, but in EVERY game
system I play, AD&D included, two to three hours or more of time go into
creating our chars... my current AD&D char I worked on (off and on) for a
couple of days (maybe 5-6 hours total)... my current SRII char, well, we
set the campaign up over E-mail, as our group was spread out over 3000
miles at the time, making everything slow... but I spent 9 months getting
ideas, deciding on a type of char, getting the stats, writing a history,
motivations, stuff like that...
> Almost every gamer gets in teh mood now and then to just kill stuff.
> Shadowrun is *not* the game I'd choose for that. Too deadly, and too much
> thought goes into the characters.
Mind you, I like SRII as much as I do AD&D, but it has been my
experience (again, I can't speak for anyone else), that SRII is a game
more easily adapted to just-killing stuff... IMO, any campaign can do it...
> However, AD&D is quick and dirty. No thinking needs to be involved in teh
> char creation, so you can almost instantly create throw away charcters...:)
Not trying to slam on SRII, but you could say the same for it... stock
priorities for a cyber-char A-skills, B-Res, C-atts... 6 rating-6
skills 1 rating-4, wired-2, Smartlink, eyes, body-6 Str-6 qui-5, 1-1-1,
(raise them later)... you can turn out SRII char just as munchkinized,
just as quickly, and with jjust a little thought as AD&D... it goes the
other way too...
> Not to say that you can't have a creative and well thought out game of D&D.
> I've played in and ran games that were very much RolePlaying, as opposed to
> Roll Playing. It's possible. But you need a creative and intelligent game
> master, as well as intelligent and creative players... The same is true for
> any game.
Exactly.
> SR can be just as cheap and silly as D&D under the right circumstances. We
> had a player who created a rigger character for our game. He then used that
> charcater in a different SR game for just a coupel sessions. When he came
> back, he suddenly had 7 million nuyen, and 300 more karma than when he left.
> Sure, he had been in a lot of combat, but all that from just a couple
> games??? Please... It's taken me 3+ years to get Bull up to 325 Karma...
2 years of playing 3 times a week (during summer) and once a week
otherwise to get Max to 625 Karma... 3 years to get my paladin Gwydion to
20th level
> Guess that goes to show that any game can be crap, even SR, if run badly.
> With the right GM, I might even play Vampire... If most of the political
> silliness were thrown out, and I had a group of players that weren't
> Munchkins...
Exactly... strange characters with munchkins are boring... whereas with
non-munchies and experienced GM, they can be some of the coolest and most
fun char you'll ever play (hmm... my friends 1/4 human, 1/4 orc, 1/2 drow
char comes to mind)
> Hmmm, I'm ranting again... Sorry... I just hate to hear people slam stuff
> for bad reasons... You may have had bad experiences, granted... I agree
> that in general D&D is not a serious RPG, and that most players and GM's are
> Monty Haul Munchkins... But this isn't always the case.
I am disheartened by most of the groups I see, as many <not all> are
munchkinous (GOD I HATE THAT WORD)... and I agree, many AD&D campaigns
quickly lead to monty haul stuff... as (IMO), AD&D is a is a simple game
to learn the basics of...
---Tom---
