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Message no. 1
From: mbroadwa@*******.glenayre.com (Mike Broadwater)
Subject: RE: role playing (was metamagic)
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 07:47:01 -0500
>At 23:55 Uhr 13.05.96, TopCat wrote:
>>1) Magic does not equal roleplaying.
>1b) nor does a x-page long background story
But it helps knowing all about your character. But you're right, it isn't
role playing. It is a role playing aid.

>>3) Roleplaying is up to the player, not the character. Even the most
>>heinous dice-monster can be roleplayed extremely well.
>3b) While "dice monsters" can be "roleplayed extremely well",
they'd come
>through with bad roleplaying due to stats. Fow lower powered chars (in a
>stronger campaign) roleplaying is a question of survival...
Role playing is a matter of playing your character as if they were a real
person with emotions and thoughts. Numbers tell you what they can do. Any
character can be role played well. Anyone who cannot play any character
well, after knowing something about them, is either inexperienced, or a bad
role player. Dice monsters will be role played as well as the lowest low
powered character by a good role player.

Mike Broadwater
http://www.olemiss.edu/~neon
"You only need to things in this world. WD40 to make things go, and duct
tape to make them stop."
Message no. 2
From: TopCat <topcat@******.net>
Subject: RE: role playing (was metamagic)
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 15:27:07 -0500
>>>1) Magic does not equal roleplaying.
>>1b) nor does a x-page long background story
>But it helps knowing all about your character. But you're right, it isn't
>role playing. It is a role playing aid.

Exactly. Without any background a character _can't_ be roleplayed, there's
no role there. By writing it out, you have a set background which can be
put into greater detail as the player finds himself thinking more about his
character. You also get to hand something to the GM so he knows the
character too, as opposed to just the player knowing.

>Role playing is a matter of playing your character as if they were a real
>person with emotions and thoughts. Numbers tell you what they can do. Any
>character can be role played well. Anyone who cannot play any character
>well, after knowing something about them, is either inexperienced, or a bad
>role player. Dice monsters will be role played as well as the lowest low
>powered character by a good role player.

Well said.

-------------------------------------
"I was thinking of the immortal words
of Socrates, who said: I drank what?"
-- Real Genius
-------------------------------------
TopCat at the bottom...
Message no. 3
From: Ken <kwhorner@*******.edu>
Subject: RE: role playing (was metamagic)
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 22:36:06 -0700 (PDT)
On Tue, 14 May 1996, TopCat wrote:

> >But it helps knowing all about your character. But you're right, it isn't
> >role playing. It is a role playing aid.
>
> Exactly. Without any background a character _can't_ be roleplayed, there's
> no role there. By writing it out, you have a set background which can be
> put into greater detail as the player finds himself thinking more about his
> character. You also get to hand something to the GM so he knows the
> character too, as opposed to just the player knowing.
>
Though it isn't always to have a detailed background when you begin. I
had one character who had no background when he started, because the GM
wasn't big on role-playing as I later found out, and developed it as I
went along. I ended up with an ex-priest who was now an assassin and
that was one of the most fun characters I ever played.

Nutcracker
Message no. 4
From: Tom Pendergrast <pendergr@***.EDU>
Subject: RE: role playing (was metamagic)
Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 13:39:26 -0700 (PDT)
> > >But it helps knowing all about your character. But you're right, it isn't
> > >role playing. It is a role playing aid.
> >
> > Exactly. Without any background a character _can't_ be roleplayed...
<snip>

> Though it isn't always to have a detailed background when you begin. I
> had one character who had no background when he started, because the GM
> wasn't big on role-playing as I later found out, and developed it as I
> went along. I ended up with an ex-priest who was now an assassin and
> that was one of the most fun characters I ever played.

((My favorite SRII char didn't have much of a background wen I started.
I had a *short* history (mostly why he had his cyber, where he got his
skills), and where his family was... I developed him as I went along.
Over the course of the last two years, he has gotten more and more
developed... I keep thinking that there is no more I can do to develop
him, but every time I play him, something comes out. Having an extensive
background at the start isn't necessary... (but it helps sometimes.)))


---Tom---
Message no. 5
From: melchar@****.darkside.com (Melchar)
Subject: RE: role playing (was metamagic)
Date: Wed, 15 May 96 17:35:38 PDT
> > Exactly. Without any background a character _can't_ be roleplayed, there's
> > no role there. By writing it out, you have a set background which can be
> > put into greater detail as the player finds himself thinking more about his
> > character. You also get to hand something to the GM so he knows the
> > character too, as opposed to just the player knowing.

The one really neat thing my 1st SR ref did (other than intro me to
the game) was use percentile dice on a series of charts he drew up that
put in plot complications for the PCs.
...and he tied it to the resource pick.
If you took 'd', you got 1 roll; 'c' you got 2 rolls; 'b' was 3 rolls
and 'a' was 4 rolls
So I play and NOone in the group wants to play a decker, so I sigh,
say 'gimme the rules and let me read' and agree to do a decker, if I can
do it resources 'a', magic 'b' [shaman] -- and the ref grins evilly and
says 'sure' THEN tells me about the #$@@!! rolls
My PC ends up the grand-daughter of the capo for Seattle, mom tribal
{Makah}, dad elven {a now dec. prince from TirT} - 3 legal SINs and a
mundane job on Council Island
My _first_ reaction was a strangled scream (the ref said 'hey, the
money had to come from SOME place' --and damn if that didn't make sense)
-- THEN I began figuring out her character:
paranoid? You betcha! A constant lo-grade worry that she's
a target for everyone. Humorously tho, she helped keep a group together
by hiring some of them to bodyguard her
Message no. 6
From: Bert Van de Merckt <Bert.VandeMerckt@****.be>
Subject: Re: role playing (was metamagic)
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 01:26:17 +0200
Melchar wrote:
> The one really neat thing my 1st SR ref did (other than intro me to
> the game) was use percentile dice on a series of charts he drew up that
> put in plot complications for the PCs.
> ...and he tied it to the resource pick.
> If you took 'd', you got 1 roll; 'c' you got 2 rolls; 'b' was 3 rolls
> and 'a' was 4 rolls

Cool. Can you still post these charts?? I'd be very interested in trying them
for once.

[[---------------------------------------------------]]
Lister:"We want no muffins, no toast, no tea cakes,
no buns, baps, baggets or bagels bagels. No croissants,
no crumpets, no pancakes, no potato cakes, and no hot
cross buns. And definitely no smegging flapjacks!"
Toaster:"Ah! So you're a waffle man!"
-------
bert.vandemerckt@****.be * http://www.ping.be/~ping8611
http://www.ping.be/~ping8611/anneclark/anneclark.html
[[---------------------------------------------------]]
Message no. 7
From: melchar@****.darkside.com (Melchar)
Subject: Re: role playing (was metamagic)
Date: Fri, 17 May 96 11:49:49 PDT
Bert Van de Merckt <Bert.VandeMerckt@****.be> writes:

> Melchar wrote:
> > The one really neat thing my 1st SR ref did (other than intro me to
> > the game) was use percentile dice on a series of charts he drew up that
> > put in plot complications for the PCs.
> > ...and he tied it to the resource pick.
> > If you took 'd', you got 1 roll; 'c' you got 2 rolls; 'b' was 3 rolls
> > and 'a' was 4 rolls
>
> Cool. Can you still post these charts?? I'd be very interested in trying them
> for once.

Sadly, he fled to New Jersey and took his charts with him. :(
--However, at a guess, I think they went like:
'd' resources roll related to street-level complications, like gangs,
street contacts & weird things that happened around where you
live.
{for example, this was how I learned that where ever Skater Sidhe
lived, she had a big patio, because things kept showing up on it
....like raccoons {in Seattle}, Bandits {da BIG raccoons}, normal
cats, Talis cats, other 'runners, fugatives, etc. She keeps some
big pet-food feeders out there now; just for the visitors == and
her troll bodyguard keeps sneaking out there to eat the petfood}
the 'c' resource roll was something about one of your parents -- some
secret of their life that would influence your PCs life
the 'b' resource roll was then about the _other_ parent
& the 'a' roll always concerned 'high society' & some way that your
PC was somehow tied to it (whether you stole something from
someone; inherited wealth or were experimented on by someone
influential)

Further Reading

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