Re: (TFT) TFT Release

[Pasha and or Rick Smith <pnrsmith@istar.ca>]

	I've seen or heard of about 12 or 15 TFT campaigns 
since Metagaming's demise where the GM's found one way
or another to give the players more 'memory' to buy more
talents.  I suggested that rather than all of these complicated
systems, the easiest fix would be to lower the cost of most of
the talents (by about 1/2 of their original cost).

	I have added many new talents for 2 basic reasons.
First to allow new adventure hooks.  (Talents such as 
Ship's Captain and Admiral.)  

	The second reason is based on a line I read in one
of the Fafird and the Grey Mouser stories by Fritz Lieber.  In
it he wrote that Fafird and the Grey Mouser on many occasions
lost or broke their swords but always they replaced them with
similar blades and renamed the blades Greywand and and 
Cat's Claw.

	When I read this, I mentally tried to translate it to
TFT.  (I had always assumed the 'named' blades were magically
enchanted and fine.)  But this did not translate!  Holy cow, 
they are such awesome swordsmen not because of their 
equipment, but because of their skills!

	However, how could such super skilled fighters be
created in TFT?  The answer was they couldn't.  Any 40 or
45 attribute figure could get all the sword talents and fencing
etc. and then no further differentiation of great fighters was
possible.  (Tougher fighters could always be given bigger
weapons, but this did not match what happened in those
classic stories.)  Also by this time, I was trying to put less
emphasis on enchantments, and was trying to find more ways
to differentiate competent adventurers.

	Everyone seems to like new talents, and several
dozen have been suggested.  (How many are you up to now
Michael?)  If any significant number of new talents are added
this will place even more pressure on the character's demand
for memory.

	I feel that the value for talents is much less per
memory point than what wizards get for their memory.
Contrast what a competent fighter gets for 2 memory:
Sword (no -4 DX penalty using a sword), or Mimic 
(can make animal noises and talk without an accent),
to what a competent wizard gets for 2 memory:  Lightning,
or Summon 4 hex Dragon.

	Finally there are some character classes (like the 
standard Thief / Assassin of fantasy) which take up a huge
amount of memory.  How they are supposed to have all those
talents and then disguised themselves as even a half decent 
fighter I have no idea?

	Basically the higher the level of the campaign
the stronger the desire to get more memory.  Beginning
heros are supposed to have a limited number of talents, 
and the steep costs feel ok.  But the longer the campaign
goes on, the more you wish that your hero could pick up
SOMETHING new.

	In summary, the single most common change
to the TFT rules I've seen, is various ways to give 
experienced figures more memory.  Thus my suggestion
that if there was a single change to TFT, it is that the
memory cost of most talents is reduced.

	Rick

>
>Your right, I was kind of confused. You see, in I still have your lists
>that have lots of the regular talents at 'discount' prices (I even listed
>them in the Talents list as 'alternative' prices). 
>
>I actually allow 1/4 point talents of an a very insignificant kind. Like
>cultures and relgions, etc. Is that what your talking about - talents that
>are less valuable than a whole point? Like splitting up Theif into
>Lockpicking and Pickpocket? 
>
>Michael 
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