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From: rick@uwmacc.UUCP (the absurdist)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Killing off characters
Message-ID: <393@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 14-Oct-84 23:56:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.393
Posted: Sun Oct 14 23:56:32 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Oct-84 06:10:49 EDT
References: <3905@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: rick@maccunix.UUCP (Rick Keir)
Distribution: na
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 55
Summary: 

In article <3905@decwrl.UUCP> schuetz@via.DEC (Chris Schuetz - VIA System Manager 381-2647) writes:
>There was a recent rebuttal about some DM's having too much concern to kill
>off a 7th level mage that took months to develop.
>
>MONTHS !?!   If you're really role-playing, you're talking about characters
>that take YEARS to develop.  My cleric has finally reached 8th level after
>4 years of playing.  

The catch here is the phrase, "really role-playing".  Under what system?
Nobody plays the game exactly by "the book" unless they're Gary Gygax,
and can simply say "This is what the rules mean no matter what they say."
(Watch him ref at GenCon sometime, if you get the chance).  A long time
ago, Glenn Blacow published an article in _Different_Worlds_ outlining
various styles of FRP gaming.  One such style is the power-gamer;  he/she
is in it for the gold, experience, goodies, levels, etc.  There are a lot
of power-gaming refs out there, too.  If everyone is having fun, great :
most sets of rules adapt easily to this style of play.  The multitude of
TSR rules sets for ** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR PREFIX ** D&D are 
especially suited for this, but almost any other game stretches in this
fashion also.  
	You sound like you are happy with characters that take a long time
to develop;  this is fine.  There are other kicks in FRP :  the inter-
actions with other characters, development of a personality in your
own characters, getting caught up in the DM's world & story, trying to
play small-unit tactics with medieval weapons & magic, etc.  The small-
unit tactics kick may be irrelevant to the person who is "into" his
character's life;  another person may play a multitude of relatively
non-personalized characters because their kick is from the wonders of
the game master's imagination.  
	The trouble comes in mixing players and/or characters who come from
different styles.  This generally results in (1) one player being unhappy
at all the unexpected nasty things happening to his/her character, and
(2) everybody else despising the newcomer because they "don't know how
to play."  Most people don't even recognize what the problem is.
So, when you get a new player, explain to him what "average" PCs have
happen to them:  how fast they go up levels, what goodies they have,
and so on.  Then either bend their PCs to fit, or clone off new PCs
at an appropriate level to fit in with your other players, or make
them start from scratch as you see fit.  
	For the record, my favorite character was a 60-year old man in
a Villains and Vigilante game, who could move objects weighing up
to several ounces with telekinesis, and could toss a mental 
disintegration ray that was about as powerful as the average handgun
in that game (but MENTAL rays use up power points).  Powerful he
was not;  I just enjoyed the campaign and the philosophy that my
PC evolved to deal with being a geriatric superhero.



-- 
"I'm good at what I do.  But what I do, isn't very nice."
                        -- Wolverine
Rick Keir -- MicroComputer Information Center, MACC
1210 West Dayton St/U Wisconsin Madison/Mad WI 53706
{allegra, ihnp4, seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!rick