Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site ulowell.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!wanginst!wang!ulowell!dobro From: dobro@ulowell.UUCP (Chet Dobro) Newsgroups: net.games.frp Subject: Re: Generic vs. Personal Scenarios Message-ID: <168@ulowell.UUCP> Date: Tue, 21-Jan-86 00:23:22 EST Article-I.D.: ulowell.168 Posted: Tue Jan 21 00:23:22 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jan-86 20:50:17 EST References: <688@ihlts.UUCP> <369@mcc-db2.UUCP> <741@watmath.UUCP> Organization: University of Lowell Lines: 93 > by: Jim Gardener one point at a time... > On the other hand, much of discussion about multiple characters > seems to imply that many RPGs run on a more "generic" basis. The > classic example is a published dungeon module: it describes a > scenario that any party could walk through. The players may > impress their personalities on the proceedings during the course > of play, but the initial set-up is impersonal. The world should not be taylored (by the GM) to fit the player(s). The players should take the world and make their mark in it. Give them (the players) something to weork with, but [except in specail cases] don't create a world to fit the players. That takes the fun away from them if they don't have to fight (figurativly speaking) to fit in. > > I infer that people who like to play multiple characters all play > in Generic campaigns. For example, they say things like, "What if > one of your players dies?" see the preceding umpteen postings. > In a personal campaign, player characters > have a really hard time dying. The GM has _plans_ for your character; > (s)he doesn't want to see the character die any more than you do. If > my power-behind-the-throne Fantasy Hero character died, for example, > everything that the GM has been building towards would go up in smoke. > I may be captured by enemies, discredited, wounded, kidnapped, > incapacitated, bewitched, transformed, and so on, but the Gods of > Fate are not going to let me off with something as easy as death. > If I jumped into an active volcano, I would be saved by a Duke of > Chaos to be his personal slave and the rest of our group would have > to mount a major quest to get me back, but I would not die. (I would > likely create a new character to be part of the questing group until > my original character was rescued.) To cross genres "How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life, wouldn't you say?" The point is, characters are going to die. That is part of the fun of frp. The gods can't always intervene (and *shouldn't*). You must cherish you character(s), tyring to preserve their life. It is not up to the GM to keep your character alive [the singular will be used for convience only], it is up to you. That is the challenge. > As a GM, I have enough trouble coming up with personalized adventures > for groups of only four player characters. Having people play more > than one character just makes it that much harder to give everyone > a fair shake. Furthermore, we can argue whether a particular player > is able to give equal treatment to multiple characters, but it is > impossible to conceive that both the player AND the GM will be able > to give multiple characters equal consideration. The GM will find > one character more interesting than the other and the discrepancy > will show. This is true, even when every player has only one character. > The GM will find some characters easier to use as starting points for > adventure and will have to work hard to keep the others involved. Same point. The DM shouldn't make his/her world fit the characters [again, except for specific cases]. The player have the obligation to make their own nitches; to taylor the world to them, not have it taylored. > So I suppose my question is, am I right? Are multiple character > campaigns Generic to a large extent? Are most campaigns Generic? By generic, I assume you mean un-specific to characters. All should start out *mostly* independent of characters, and grow as the character breathes life and adventure into it. > Which RPG systems tend towards Generic campaigns, and which encourage > Personal ones? Any system has the potential to go into detail... Insert here general muck-raking about how bad points of AD&D... The choice (Personal/Generic) is not dependant upon the game system, *NOR* upon the DM, it is strictly the right/priviledge/obligation of the PC. What style do people prefer? This net is called fantasy ROLE PLAYING. The point of which is to play a role. If the characters go along as "random fighter" and "misc. cleric" in "unremarkable world", then this is not what they are doing. DM's - creat a world that exists in its own right! PC's - take said world and make it YOURS! Well, now that that is through with, are there any other crisis I can solve **[ :-) ]** Humbly, Gryphon.