(TFT) Re: ... $ over comes EXP and Why buy ST?

[Peter von Kleinsmid <pvk@oz.net>]

At 09:56 PM 11/10/04 -0800, Rick Smith wrote:
> I would be very interested in people's thoughts on:
>
>
> How to make $ less powerful in tech campaigns.

One thing is to consider the real world. Few of the wealthy are adventurer 
types, and few non-adventurers think like RPG players. A few might 
(recently here in the Seattle area, a lawyer seems to have kitted himself 
out to murder an opponent with a pistol, kevlar, disguise, and a dagger 
(shades of Melee?)). However typically (or stereotypically) the rich hire a 
bunch of guards, rather than munchkinning out with uber equipment, leaving 
plenty of room for clever adventurer kooks to try to tip the scales with 
clever tactics, equipment, skills, etc., and come up with things that could 
fool typical organizations or rich people. In other words, players and the 
GM need to roleplay conventional non-gamer approaches to security and tactics.

The most effective equipment and solutions can often be more a matter of 
who you and what you know, and how you use what you have, rather than how 
much cash you have.

Another thing to remember is that civilized high-tech types may be less 
likely to fight to the death than hobgoblins and the like. Once someone has 
the "drop" on someone else, it's "freeze! hands up!", more often than 
immediate execution. That turns the arena to wits, ruses, escape 
techniques, and possibly a hand-to-hand combat. Modern action heroes (with 
a few comical exceptions) don't often win by just having the best gear, and 
they often get captured several times before finally prevailing.

Also, when weapons are one-shot-per-kill, having the best gear frequently 
isn't nearly as important as alertness, stealth, wits, tactics, shooting 
skill, draw time, etc.

Modern situations are full of non-combat situations which can challenge 
players in ways which don't involve equipment quality. EXP should mainly 
equal smarts, and smarts beat $, or at least operates in a different domain.

> And why would people buy ST in tech campaigns.

I have seen modern-tech players buy ST to be able to swing around fun big 
guns. You can devalue it in a high-tech game, too. In StarLeader: Assault, 
IIRC, your ST equivalent attribute had a meaningful contribution to your 
ability to move quickly (as HT does in GURPS).

Also, many high-tech societies are full of areas and situations where 
high-tech weapons are highly controlled, so low-tech fighting abilities can 
be very useful. Also see escape attempts and the ability to fight in those 
situations where the bad guys took your gun.

PvK
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"