From:	Kevin Langevin kevinl@******.com
Subject:	Reasonable limit on Edges and Flaws
Date:	Tue, 3 Aug 1999 11:03:00 -0400

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Arcady [mailto:arcady@***.net]
> Subject: RE: Reasonable limit on Edges and Flaws
>
> Last week he handed me the -21 version. I handed him a
> character sheet and
> told him to revise it. But got nothing until today... I think
> he was hoping
> I'd have second thoughts...
>
> I have no such plans but do want to know if the limits
> I've set are what's
> normal for most people. Even if I did decide I was not
> setting it right I
> wouldn't change that ruling on him now... too much headache...
>

In my game (I'm a player, not the GM), we were required to balance out the
edges and flaws, or have more flaw points than edges. We were also required
to put together a detailed character background, with an explanation of all
flaws and edges included. If the background didn't adequately explain why
the edges or flaws were present, he disallowed them. This did allow for
characters to take a lot of flaws (I think I had 12 points, and around 8
points of edges), but my character background was extremely detailed. It
started out as a timeline, and I kept fleshing it out until I had a
character history from birth to about six months before the game started,
and it was around 40 pages. (I know...excessive, but once I started
writing, I couldn't stop.) As a result, my character is extremely three
dimensional, and he's so much easier to play, because I understand him so
much better than most people understand their characters.

As a side note, one of the other players (who does a lot of sci-fi fan
fiction) attended a writer's convention a couple months back and took a copy
of my background. She showed it to some publisher (who supposedly publishes
SR novels), who read it on the spot, and told her that she wanted to talk to
me about fleshing it out into a novel. Who knows? Maybe I'll be writing an
SR novel someday.

My point is, though, that if a player can come up with a character concept
for whom a lot of flaws or edges make sense, then I think the GM should be
flexible. A good GM should be able to handle most characters who've been
min-maxed. There are some flaws which will push any character over a 6
point limit. What if a player wants a character with serious flashbacks and
a police record? Do you disallow one or the other? Do you allow the player
to take the flaws, but only take 6 points for them? Those are two serious
flaws, and it seems a shame to have a character with a good concept take
those flaws, have to deal with the consequences, but not get the benefits
from the points that they each provide.

I don't know...a player who's taking two allergies, two phobias, bad karma,
and a police record should be slapped, but someone who's taking a police
record, bad temper, and impulsive makes sense. The character has a temper,
gets into fights all the time, and has gotten busted for it. Over 6 points?
You bet. Unreasonable? I don't think so.

Anyway, just my $.020000000 (math spu 3)

-Kev