| From: | TopCat <topcat@**.CENCOM.NET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | A note on speed... |
| Date: | Sat, 30 Sep 1995 11:05:43 -0500 |
on a samurai is nothing short of blasphemous while a mage can have all the
quickened and locked initiative and reaction bonuses in the world and be
called a role-player for it.
Role-playing can happen despite speed *gasp*. Fast chars can often be
extremely good CHARACTERS and not just monsters. Just because you're slow
doesn't mean you're all of a sudden a roleplayer, either. Sure, with the
new systems a samurai can be TONS faster than anything else out there (I
speak of the move-by-wire system). But he has to sacrifice his life to get
it. Oh, and become dual-natured without any of the benefits. Did I mention
he'll need the influence and resources of a corporation to get that? Or the
fact that his body will be in constant seisure state?
Now a wiz can sit by and nab +3D6 to initiative and +3 reaction with a
thought and an advil. He doesn't go off like a beacon on any detectors (he
can "power down" so astral stuff doesn't see him). No roleplaying going on
there except "I'm a magician, isn't that cool?" Whereas if the samurai
sporting the multi-million nuyen cyberware suite even thinks of going
anywhere, he has to worry that someone's going to realize that he's got what
he has. Whether it be a gang of trolls who work for a body-shop or a
LoneStar officer with a scanner and a radio nearby. You have to roleplay
that... you can't just say "I'm a samurai, I make my cyberware disappear."
Very few mages that I know of would dare run around without their increased
reflexes locks. In fact, not a single one of the players in my group have
ever made a mage who didn't have that spell. If they didn't get it in
creation, they got it one session later with their karma and training from
team members. And here's the worst part... roleplayers they are not. One,
yes. He's good, but he still had the spell (which is kinda hard to fit to
the char because of his type, but he had it anyway...). But the rest are
little combat munchers. Our shaman doesn't have the spell *gasp* but gets
around it in other ways to be mentioned at a far later date...
Anyway, here's the gist of my rant... Speed doesn't mean bad roleplayer.
Slow doesn't mean good roleplayer. Mage doesn't mean good roleplayer.
Samurai doesn't mean bad roleplayer. Starting to see something there? In
fact, it's a rare day when I see true roleplaying out of mages. But I don't
consider "I cast this spell and this happens" roleplaying. Mages are
god-king munchkin rollplayer characters. The only thing that can change
that is the player (and it's not as easy as it looks). GM's at least can
influence cybered folk.
-- TopCat
Who thinks that mage = shaman and mage, so don't bother with that old reply...
