| From: | korishinzo@*****.com (Ice Heart) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Game Mechanics and Flavor Text (was Money and ID) |
| Date: | Wed, 4 Dec 2002 12:18:06 -0800 (PST) |
> lvl 2? Or would he
> buy "Renraku SpeedEnhancer 2060" (ok that's a
> ruibbish name)? It comes
> back to whether the stats are merely GAME mechanics
> or whether the
> characters are aware of them. I don't see people
> walking round referring
> to stats in the way this indicates - a skill level
> of 8 is world
> class/genius (the rulebook tells me so) - would your
> character say "He's
> got pistols:8" or would it be "He's world-class with
> a pistol"
This is a small part of a greater problem in almost
every game I've ever run, in any genre. I have heard
Shadowrun novels blasted by arm-chair critics because
the characters in the books "violate the rules". I
heard those same criticisms of numerous D&D/AD&D
novels 5 (6, 7, 10) years ago. And about White Wolf
WoD novels. I have discovered that you can have a lot
of fun with those books by trying to re-express the
flavor text in terms of game mechanics. And by
looking at the whole picture presented by the author.
I'm going to borrow R.A. Salvator's pet drow elf for
the FR setting as an example. I have lost track of
the number of times I have heard someone say, "Wow, he
must have like a 22 DEX!" Sure, that is one
possibility. Or maybe that amazing
dodge/counter-attack could be looked at differently.
Maybe his opponent rolled a 2 or a 3 on his attack
roll that round, while the drow rolled a 17. The
attacker missed, the drow didn't. How many times have
we heard this in a game session: "the guy misses
you...you hit him, doing..."? Bob Salvatore would
have sold exactly no books with your typical TT game
descriptions. Maybe the authors of books aren't so
much ignoring the rules as they are making them
transparent. A combat exchange is a blur of attack
and defense, whether it is one guy shooting and
another dancing around trying not to get ventillated,
or two people with rapiers tapping back and forth
until one slips a thrust inside. When is the last
time we (as players and GMs) put a little storytelling
effort into our games. "You hit", "He misses", "She
crashes", "the IC is destroyed", "the Devil Rat falls
over dead"...come on! Boring. Go back to 2XS and the
inimitable Dirk Montgomery. Watch him stagger away
from a gun fights where "the slug hit his duster like
a basball bat in the hands of an angry troll, knocking
him into dumpster", and "fortunately the trusty
composite plates kept his lungs from sprouting holes,
but he could already feel the bruise forming". He
"pops up to return fire blindly before dashing to new
cover". Etc, etc, etc. (paraphrased, not actual text
in book) One could, with a little imagination, hear
the GM saying, "He hits, staging up to Deadly, roll
Body". And the player replying, "Let's see, long coat
and FFBA for 6 armor, thats a Predator right?, so
3's...add some combat pool...>>rattle rattle
roll<<...sweet! that should take it back to a medium,
and with that Trauma Damper, I take 2 phys, 1 stun."
BORING!!!!!!!!!! Fragging speadsheet programs can do
most of that! The novel is gripping precisely because
the author made the game machanics go away. Every
prospective GM ought to read some SR flavor text, and
try to see the mechanics fit, so they can work the
same transparency into their games.
This is true in every aspect of the game. Cyberware?
Drek yes! One of my best NPCs was a crippled rigger
named Amanda. She had a Hephaestus Mark IV vehicle
interface from ChromoSapien Inc (aka VCR II). Later,
when she got a modified MBW system to bypass the
spinal damage that refused bio-regen therapy, it was
not a Move By Wire 1. It was an experimental Reodex
Systems CAISM (computer aided induced seizure-based
movement). On the exceedingly rare occasions I've
been able to make a PC, I try to keep track of the
brand, history, and explanation of each piece of
cyberware or bioware installed. All chrome is NOT
created equal. I like to buy flawless cyberware and
intoduce quirks for which there are no point kickbacks
or bonuses. Nothing ridiculous or GAME MECHANIC
effecting, but fun roleplaying flavor.
The same is true for any stat in the game, from
attibute to skill points. Just for fun, next time you
make a PC or an NPC, write a one paragraph description
of their stats before assigning any numbers. Include
a description of their reaction, and describe the
effects of the approximate Essence/Bio INdex you are
planning on. For example:
Susan is of average height for a troll, but a lot of
time at the gym has layered her muscle on hard. She
kept up the isometrics to keep the muscle hard, but
her flexibility still suffers some. Her fitness makes
her healthy. All that training took a certain amount
of discipline, and it shows in her stubborn attitude.
She's a bit focused, and tends to ignore things not
directly related to the task at hand. This causes her
to miss things, especially little details like subtle
cues in someone's body language. If they have
something to say, they should just say it. Ever since
the accident that started her physical fitness kick,
she feels a little less metahuman, a little more
machine. Not her fault, and not to say she's
cold-hearted, but she's bit detached. Multiple
kilograms of aluminum fused to your skeleton and
microprocessor for half your brain will do that. She
gets by, but, unless you know her well, your going to
get your feelings hurt appealing to her soft side.
It's been gone since that City Master bounced it off a
wall.
B: 9 (10) C: 2 R: 3
Q: 3 I: 3 E: about 2
S: 11 W: 5
Now you have a start to her history, some idea of
skills (athletics and knowledge of body building,
physical therapy) If you went ahead and wrote her
hisotry before you assigned any other stats or gear,
you'd be able to do those with equal ease.
Almost every player I've ever hated has gone looking
for game bonuses in the flavor text. "Well, now, if
it says she is so disciplined, why isn't that a 7
Willpower?", "Only a 2 for Charisma, what is she
ugly?", and "The description didn't say she was so
dumb and slow." Or to put it another way:
"Oo oo oo, it says Drizzt did a spinny blocking
counter thingy...that must be a 22 Dex!"
Maybe that elf with "keen eyes that take in
everything, to be calculated carefully before any
decision is made" actually has a 6 Intelligence, and
his 3 Willpower is his "tendency to think before
acting, questioning even his own decisions". Perhaps
the "rippling muscles on the dwarf's sturdy frame" are
representative of a 6 Strength, and her 3 Quickness
might just be that all that muscle makes her "just
that little bit less flexible than she'd like".
Either one might very much enjoy the Xcaliber Trushot
1.4 Linksystem (smartlink 2) and a fine pair of
Optimar Spec9's with all the gadgets (cybereyes and
mods). And I'll bet they both prefer the Remington
Devastator .50 (Ares Predator) to the Colt .45
Persuader (Ares Predator). It's got those sharper
lines and just "feels" more balanced in the hand. And
no Reverend Munchkin of the First Church of Drizzt
Dexterity, none of them have any different stats.
Just different flavor text. Stats are abstract
concepts to streamline game mechanics. Your
character, on the other hand, just called Suzie
Strongfist ugly and slow, might I suggest a twirly
dodgy runny thingy ASAP? No, I don't mean you
suddenly have a 19 Quickness and Troll Barrier 12. I
mean that perhaps you should add some Combat Pool to
your Unarmed Combat roll and then think aout
retreating if you are still in one piece.
======Korishinzo
--apologies to all who found that post overly verbose
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