[Legends of Lanasia] Character Creation
dindenver:
Callan,
Thanks again for checking this out, I appreciate it.
Well, that is really what Goal is for. I guess in the game text, I will use that to describe it better. But that is the idea, Goal means what about the setting does your character want to change?
Does that make sense?
Did you have an alternative approach?
Callan S.:
For some reason 'goal' just doesn't ping me? To me the semantics of it seem to validly include starting the character off in play absolutely nowhere near the world troubles, even if his goal is something to do with them. Alot of goals are met not by standing in the middle of them - yet standing in the middle of them makes for interesting play. Maybe the PC will get to those troubles eventually - but after how many hours of gameplaying through nothing much exciting in regards to his goal?
My alternate approach is like I wrote - the player describes their character starting play physically in the midst of those world troubles, in some way invented by the player.
I mean, your setting has it's world troubles - do you want the characters to engage that world trouble? I'll grant what I'm describing is a bit like porn, it skips foreplay and gets straight to it. But on the other hand it does get right to it.
How do you imagine play going? Have you tried writing up a quick mock up of how you'd imagine a session starting and going?
Ron Edwards:
Hi,
Your use of a character goal statement is very similar to the approach taken by Hero Wars, later HeroQuest. That feature was kind of a make-or-break for a given game, at least in terms of thematic punch that other parts of its text encouraged. If a group bought into the character goals as (i) compelling and (ii) potentially problematic, then they really helped play flow and develop. If, on the other hand, they thought of character goals more-or-less like they thought of character hats, then play fragmented, at least in terms of thematic punch, and shifted very drastically to a setting-based travelogue or color-fest.
I think it's time to move away from personal reactions in this thread. "I like it," It pings me," et cetera, is not really going to help you much. I'm hoping that we can take it to a more comparative level as I tried to do in this thread.
More generally, though, I think it's time for you to playtest it and get an idea of how you phrase your procedures to other people, in practice. At this point, we can speculate all we want about what will or won't work, and for whom, but the fact is that you are going to have to shift into a practical and judgmental mode toward the game itself.
Best, Ron
dindenver:
Ron,
There is some truth to that.
As an aside, Callan, your comments have sparked me to add a step before step one that includes the GM working with the players to select a trouble from the setting that they all want to play with.
And yes, I am working towards getting a playtest draft and getting it in front of players. Frankly, I have to make a few more threads before it can be playtested.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page