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Message no. 1
From: Karl Low <kwil@*********.COM>
Subject: Intelligence Attribute (was: Re: Humanis Contacts)
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 15:43:04 -0700
From: David Thompson <david.s.thompson@****.EDU>


>At 11:39 AM 3/24/98 +0100, Gurth wrote:
>>> Returning to the question of SR racism. What is interesting is that
>>> there *is* a clear difference between the races. Trolls *are* too
>>> stupid to get real education, and is only suited for physical labor.
>>
>>> (At least if attributes has anything to say about it.).


>I don't buy this, and never have. Intelligence is used as perception, yes,
>but I think it is the interpretation of people who want to skirt sensitive
>issues that has caused them to strip intelligence of it's meaning. Face
>it, intelligence does not mean perception, it means intelligence.


This is something that's always bothered me.. and not just with SR, but with
any system that has "intelligence" as one of it's stats. Face it... most of
our characters are usually smarter than we are.. (That's if you're considering
3 as an average) but there's no way to role-play this since the best idea your
ultra-bright character can have is only as good as you (who's pretty bright,
but not spewing doctoral theses in your spare time bright) can have.

Likewise, if you're playing a character who's of lesser intelligence than you,
it can be pretty hard to "dummy-down".. ie.. maybe you get this cool idea to
drop a grenade into their pneumatic messaging tube (so you're playing
steam-punk.. so what? :) ) as a distraction.. but would your character with
his intelligence of 2?

I've always much preferred a system where your "awareness" is a stat. That's
something that can be controlled by the GM.. you just don't notice that
pneumatic tube.. likewise, you could have memory as a stat. It's easier for
the GM to remind you of something you don't remember, or say, "Roll a memory
test" to see if you remember that hey.. it's saturday, and they don't have
pressure in the pneumatic tubes today.

Intelligence is a lot harder to define.. maybe that intelligence 2 character
does come up with the idea..a flash of inspiration say.. but it's a definite
grey area, and grey areas can always hide problems.

-Karl
Message no. 2
From: Robert Watkins <robert.watkins@******.COM>
Subject: Re: Intelligence Attribute (was: Re: Humanis Contacts)
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 09:25:46 +1000
Karl Low writes:
>This is something that's always bothered me.. and not just with SR, but
with
>any system that has "intelligence" as one of it's stats. Face it... most of
>our characters are usually smarter than we are.. (That's if you're
considering
>3 as an average) but there's no way to role-play this since the best idea
your
>ultra-bright character can have is only as good as you (who's pretty
bright,
>but not spewing doctoral theses in your spare time bright) can have.


The time difference helps a lot. The player can take a minute or two to
decide the best tactic in combat or a negotiation, when the character is
meant to have only a few seconds. (Of course, this works both ways)

>Likewise, if you're playing a character who's of lesser intelligence than
you,
>it can be pretty hard to "dummy-down".. ie.. maybe you get this cool idea
to
>drop a grenade into their pneumatic messaging tube (so you're playing
>steam-punk.. so what? :) ) as a distraction.. but would your character with
>his intelligence of 2?


As a GM, if I feel a player is making a move too 'smart' for his character,
I'll ask the player to make a test. This will usually be an Int test, but
sometimes I'll substitute a skill related to the action.

--
.sig deleted to conserve electrons robert.watkins@******.com

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