Re: (TFT) Cheap talents and forgetting

[James Eckman <fugu@wenet.net>]

> Subject: Re: (TFT) TFT Release -> Cheap talents

> Well, to me this works because Talents aren't skills. Most of the time I
> think  those people can easily be characterised as Scholar (13/3) or simply
> as having interesting esoteric knowledge because of their background, but
> that those dont really translate to TFT Talents. This only works if you
> allow that characters can 'know' anything they want, but only get a
> game-mechanic benefiit by paying for the Talent.

A good explanation and a good way to game this problem. Solves the GURPS
syndrome too, thousands of talents, signifying nothing ;)
 
> From: Michael Taylor <MichaelTaylor1@compuserve.com>
> 
> I dont really see why this would be mutually exclusive. I dont care how
> many points a player is willing to spend - if they can't role-play it
> convincingly, it's simply not going to happen.

100% agreement, you shouldn't pass up an excellent chance at play
acting. After all your trying to convince some sorry sod to come
adventuring with you, and we know what that's like! It's why I like ITL,
its simple enough not to get in the way of role-playing, yet structured
enough so players mostly know their capabilities. 

> Nope, but that's the beauty of TFT for *role-playing* purposes. If you want
> to say "I can play the flute, but I can't practice very often so I'm not
> very good...". BAM! You're a mediocre flute player. No dice involved.

Nothing wrong with this approach at all. No purchase, no game effect.

> From: "Dave Seagraves" <dseagraves@austin.rr.com>
> 
>    I'm not as absolute as you are here, Michael.  Some players like playing
> characters who have highly dissimilar personalities than their own, and in
> many of these cases they just /can't/ roleplay these convincingly.  

I only require an attempt, I always translate inarticulate requests
internally into flowery speech if the player isn't fully capable of such
feats of oration and his character is. There still should be an attempt
to roleplay important events.

Jim Eckman
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