|
Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2017 18:04:18 GMT
I see this as being a potentially difficult thing for the players.
In this game, the players will want to know oodles of different skills - as varied as say 15th century French heraldry to 'ride: giant bee' to 'crew served giant laser'.
I'm thinking about how to do the character points for such a game.
One thing I've come up with is that all players should be limited to a starting skill of 60% (base plus any points into the skill may not exceed 60%) because of <spoiler>.
With that set, my next thought is 'how do we make it so that the players are not always frustrated by yet another new skill coming up that they have no chance at having picked out?
One way of counter balancing this I've come up with is to <spoiler> but the problem is that the players would need to <spoiler> so it would only really be available to <spoiler>.
Hence, I need something that will be available to more of a starting player thing.
I am fishing for ideas here. I realize it will be difficult because of the players limited knowledge of just WTF the game will be about.
Another thought I have had is to have a fairly generous package like 1000 points, + INT x 50 more points. A very good reason to take more INT I think.
But that still won't help the players once they begin to discover the nature of the game. I am hesitant to allow players to spend points during the game.
(Yes, I agree that hobbiest cards and such are in the deck - those will be a help and a little expansion of them may even help.)
If anyone else has any other ideas, I'd be glad to kick them around my melon.
|
|
|
Post by bentpaperclip on Jan 12, 2017 18:11:28 GMT
Sounds like we should all make temp characters, play the first half dozen games, figure out the <spoilers> then make our "real" characters with the knowledge we have gained.
|
|
|
Post by bentpaperclip on Jan 12, 2017 18:12:53 GMT
Spend a POZ to get +30 to a skill roll that you do not have. Spend this BEFORE you roll.
|
|
|
Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2017 18:16:09 GMT
Sounds like we should all make temp characters, play the first half dozen games, figure out the <spoilers> then make our "real" characters with the knowledge we have gained. The problem is that honestly, it wouldn't help aside from in the very short term. My advice would be to make characters that the players think could survive in a multitude of situations. A multitude. Fortunately, clever players will already know which base skills to take then (with such a plethora of points) I think figuring out which hobby skills to take - there in is the tricky part.
|
|
|
Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2017 18:24:40 GMT
Oh - some consistencies -
Everyone is human (to start with) and ordinary looking. Yes, if you want to be a Serbian Bouncer looking person, great but otherwise you'll be just normal looking.
And whatever gender I think the player is. Because it's easier for me. (Note, if you identify as a different gender than I think you are, I may ask for certain clothing and devices to be worn to help me keep the sex of the character straight. I am a simple creature. All men have mustaches, all women have boobs - if I can't easily tell what gender someone is. If Travis really wants to play a female character and is willing to wear a stuffed bra the whole time to do it, I applaud him for his convictions. If Jana wants to play a male character and wears a fake mustache the whole time to remind the simple Logan of this fact, super. If it's a particularly impressive mustache, I may even give some cards. If she twirls it while laughing evilly, etc - more cards. Yes, I know in the highly PC world of today this may be labeled 'sexist', 'old fashioned', or 'perverted' trying to get poor Travis to wear a stuffed bra but I am a simple creature and need such things from time to time.)
|
|
|
Post by bentpaperclip on Jan 12, 2017 18:27:34 GMT
I think Jana and I may already do those things...
|
|
|
Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2017 18:31:14 GMT
|
|
|
Post by bentpaperclip on Jan 12, 2017 18:33:37 GMT
All jokes aside, did you see my proposed solution above?
|
|
|
Post by logan9a on Jan 12, 2017 18:34:49 GMT
The spend poz, get bonus, roll and hope for the best? Yes, but I'm letting it roll around my brain for awhile rather than just blurting.
|
|
|
Post by bentpaperclip on Jan 12, 2017 18:43:06 GMT
Fair enough. Just checking.
|
|
matchstickman
Agent
Messiah: Will rise again
Creator of and most frequent player of the Heroic Cthulhu Drinking Game
Posts: 2,939
|
Post by matchstickman on Jan 13, 2017 10:28:36 GMT
Just as a ... counter point? the 7th Edition of Chtulhu lets you spend Luck to temporarily raise your skill, I never trade in a permanent resource for a temporary boost, it's not a worthwhile trade. I have no idea if I would trade Poz for a temporary boost.
OK, so there are skills that we have no way of guessing, and there are so many that creating a temp and then killing them to take the now-known skills to create a new character will not help in the long term... what exactly do you want this campaign to be about? Is it going to be fun (for you, for us, for everyone) if we have a continually rotating selection of characters or if we spend a lot of sessions just struggling to stay alive? Is that what this iteration of HC is meant to be about, not mystery solving but "extreme" survival?
|
|
|
Post by logan9a on Jan 13, 2017 11:55:45 GMT
A bit. Little from column a, little from column b.
|
|
|
Post by bentpaperclip on Jan 13, 2017 12:25:20 GMT
A bit. Little from column a, little from column b. I don't believe that actually addressed Richard's question. Or is that just a hand wave-y, "I'm making a game. No, you don't get to know what it's about, what you will be playing, who you will be playing, what the puprose is, what the theme is, what the genre is, etc."
|
|
|
Post by logan9a on Jan 13, 2017 15:19:27 GMT
After giving it some thought, I believe that I may have come up with a better answer to Richard's question. OK, so there are skills that we have no way of guessing, and there are so many that creating a temp and then killing them to take the now-known skills to create a new character will not help in the long term... what exactly do you want this campaign to be about? Is it going to be fun (for you, for us, for everyone) if we have a continually rotating selection of characters or if we spend a lot of sessions just struggling to stay alive? Is that what this iteration of HC is meant to be about, not mystery solving but "extreme" survival? The campaign will be a multi-dimension, multi-universe hopping one. I hope to create the most ambitious 'choose your own adventure' type campaign I've ever undertaken. I think 'extreme survival' might not be a bad way of putting it. At the same time, working on finding out 'what is going on' will be of interest to some PC's. All of the regulars at least. In addition to professionalism and love of one's character, it will also be useful to hold on to the same characters. In addition to story lines, various 'things' will be unlocked for characters as they grow and mature. The player that creates a 'space ranger' with zero G ops and a penchant for laser pistols may later have their 'day in the sun'. Or vacuum. The serologist may one day have their skills be the most critical the party possesses. I believe with the skill points (I'm liking 1000 + [learning x50]) the players receive for their start combined with the players knowledge partially of reality and mostly of Logan's twisted view of reality they will be able to figure out how to do things. Hopefully, they've assigned their character points correctly or it will be as tragic as watching a mentally disabled boy with hooked hands attempting to weave rope. Which is another skill that might come up. Weaving - not adolescent hand removal. Though 'sword' may be handy. My best advice is (as always with character creation) to make a well rounded character with some interesting hobbies that don't duplicate the rest of the parties interesting hobbies. Having one person who is a chopper pilot can turn out to be a godsend but four chopper pilots is often superfluous. So - in short (getting back to Richard's insightful question) I believe it is mostly 'extreme survival' with some 'what is going on and what (if anything) do I want to do about it' combined with exploration. Hence me trying to figure out maps and stuff. Does that better answer the question?
|
|
|
Post by logan9a on Jan 13, 2017 16:42:13 GMT
Spend a POZ to get +30 to a skill roll that you do not have. Spend this BEFORE you roll. After more reflection, since it seems that a great deal of the campaign will be along the theme of 'you're playing backward monkeys trying to build a nuclear reactor from coconuts' I'm thinking this may not be appropriate.
|
|