| From: | korishinzo@*****.com (Ice Heart) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The new SR4 map (removed spoilers) |
| Date: | Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:51:52 -0700 (PDT) |
> translate real world effects into game mechanics. SR abstracts _a
> lot_ (use of negotiation or etiquette, racism and combat), and it
> does a good job, given that the developers, basically, used a 1 in
> 6 chance to represent it (give or take for TNs above 7).
> On this basis, I guess, it was decided to switch the system a more
> WoDish style.
Don't get me wrong, I like SR. In 24 years of gaming, it remains my
favorite system to run and play. I've GMed every edition of SR to
date and made it work. House Rules are wonderful things. However,
not everything the game designers give us fits well. For example,
SURGE will probably never see the light of day in my games. Seems a
bit hokey. I have never and will never sic Harley S. Quinn on my
players. And I still clearly remember 1st edition scenarios like a
motorcycle helmet rendering a sabot round from an MGT ineffective.
:) The game designers have always delivered, overall, but the devil
is in the details sometimes.
> Sr tries to keep rules simple, to allow for gaming. I know an RPG
> that goes over board with realism (in a pure fantasy-setting),
> called Das Schwarze Auge (The Black Eye in the US, I think).
> Introducing such nice things as the "Waffenvergleichswert" (weapon
> comparison value), determining how easy it is for a guy with a
> dagger to hit someone with a two-handed-sword. Or
> the "Bruchfaktor" (breaking factor), determing how easy a weapon
> breaks. for a completely realistic game, you'd have to use both
> these values, slowing combat extremely down. And, seriously, I
> don't need that. SR handles reach quite elegant, and I don't need
> values to determine if a weapon jams or falls apart.
> If the player doesn't care for his stuff, it will break, sooner or
> later. Sometimes when it is convenient for the player, more often
> when it isn't.
I have found that the more plausible one's storytelling, the more the
player's are willing to forego the nitpicky rules like percentage
chance of breakage. By keeping the cause and effect relationships if
the game reasonable and believable, the GM earns the player's trust
that things will be fair. Maybe not pleasant all the time, but fair.
> That's what I's qualify as a "good" GM: Incorporating the actions
> of players into the storyline, and/or preventing certain critical
> events from happening (I don't mean the fireball, I mean the
> results of the fireball in above's example!).
Actually, I prefer to keep things even more flexible. I don't make
storylines often where one mistep (destroyed computer, torched NPC,
etc) makes everything come unhinged. The ease of accomplishing their
mission may get altered in unpleasant ways. But, there are
alternative methods available. On those occasions when a single NPC
holds the key, and a trigger happy PC wastes the NPC, well... failure
is a realistic part of life too.
> > I once ran a Werewolf game where the plot called for the
> > characters to tromp around northern Arizona seeking a lost
> > artifact. Second session, one of the PCs blew a cop away. The
> > entire group fled the country. Kind of screwed the whole Arizona
> > thing. The "storyline-over-realism" school of thought would have
> > me making the gun jam and cop oblivious... even though the cop
> > was looking at the PC, and the firearms roll did not botch.
> Not in my book. in this kind of situation, the character would have
> to lie low for a while, and try to et the artifact anyhow, they
just
> made it more difficult for themselves. Well, tough luck for them.
> And it even doesn't have to be murder: It is possible, though
> unlikely, to survive a bullet to the head (especially in the WoD,
> with all these supernaturals on the run, if you catch my drift.).
> For you, the story line "get-Artifact-out-of-Arizona" was fscked
> up. For me, it is an oprtunity: Other forces have the chance to get
> this artifact, and thus the players can try once more. That is
> Storyline over Realism. Realism shouldn't stop you to create >
> stories. It is just one more tool.
Yeesh, that sounds so final. :p The game ran for 9 months, every
week, 8 hour sessions on average. The artifact turned up in some
nasty bad guy's hands. The group had forgotten a lot of the early
mission... even buried most of the original pack. I was not invested
enough in the plot to see it as "fscked". I tell a story that
involves a world full of plots, not a single plot. Snip one
plotline, another is bound to come along. :)
> Realism makes things easy: The sammie knows how the TV will react
> to his extreme cybernetic strength, as does the player. But the
> players don't know that the TV contains crucial plot information.
> If the GM wants to salvage this, there are several options: Backup
> of the stored data someplace else, special safeguards that the data
> will stay intact, no matter what (the Black Box principle), the
> sammy get's distracted by some event or other, requiring the
> sammy's attention *NOW*.
Sounds like we are on the same page here.
> The plotline is saved, but not by entirely realistic means, without
> sending the Holy God of Realism to heck.
Except for this. Plotlines shouldn't need saving. They should be
dynamic, allowing for even failure. :)
> I personally abhorr the social interaction rules. That's why I am
> at the gaming table.
I much prefer the players actually try and roleplay the social
interaction.
> And maybe we do misunderstand each other:
> I have a rule: If the plot's good and fun, rules get out of the
> window.
> (Basically).
> Does that make for unrealistic games?
Depends on you and your players. I find that by making the world as
believable as possibe, cause-effect relationships as plausible as
possible, I get a game where the players always come back for more.
Your math seems to have varied. Beautiful thing about pen-and-pencil
RPGs over computer RPGs... our math can vary without any problems.
:p
======Korishinzo
--Rule: if the players are having fun, to hell with the plot. :)
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