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(TFT) It's all in the storytelling



Remind me never to play in either your or DMG's campaigns.   The concept of a RPG DM/GM/FM is to act as a storyteller not a killer or "Monty Haul".  I'm surprised either of you have players.  But then again hopefully you have grown out of that middle school/junior high mentality in the many years since then.  I know I can scare the hell out of my players more with a sound than with an physical encounter.  Scary sounds behind a door turn more players away than a dozen gobbo's.  Randy and Rick know how to do this well in their Pbem games (Rick's is over but Randy's is still running in Sanctuary).
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Seagraves
To: Dave Seagraves;tft@brainiac.com
Sent: 1/14/2001 4:46:18 AM
Subject: Re: (TFT) the challenge of computers, and idea

David writes . . .
 
>     People who like killing other players will get instant
>gratification.  They will get nifty looking horns and spikes
>growing out of them.  The more PCs they kill the more demonic
>looking they will become . . .
 
   Great idea!  Players trying to play their characters realistically would
be able to easily identify the buttheads.
   Idea: Have the game track who attacks who first.  If two characters fight
and one dies, the winner is now hunted and harassed by NPC law enforcement
types unless (a) it was a case of self-defense (i.e. the winner didn't
attack first), or (b) the victim tells the game somehow that it was a duel,
fair fight, or similar, and the winner shouldn't be punished.  (Of course
the game should have an "arena" that characters could enter where there are
no consequences.)  If the culprit is killed or caught, the NPC guardsmen (or
whatever) did their job, and the player loses his character.
   Idea: Make people pay real money for every character they create, perhaps
somewhere between 5 and 20 dollars, but the first one or few are free.
Combine this with the above idea and players might use some other outlet for
their sadistic tendencies.
   Idea: Each (registered) player can only have a limited number of
characters, perhaps even just one, or perhaps only one per class.
Characters which are killed/captured by the guardsmen are lost forever --
the player can /never/ play the game (or that class) again unless he buys a
new copy of the game with a new registration code.
   Idea: Players who have never lost a character to the guardsmen can have
their characters themselves act as guardsmen and help the NPCs hunt down the
offending characters!  If desired, guardsman PCs can look at wanted
characters and then decide how to handle taking them in (or down).
 
   Sorry to be off topic, but I'm a veteran Diablo player and this was right
up my street.  Diablo has had its share of "player killing" (an obvious
misnomer), but I actually don't mind other player's characters attacking my
characters since it occurs within the context of the game.  It's the blatant
/cheating/ which I find irritating (and for which I verbally attack the
/players/ for).  Any idiot can use Autokill.
 
  Here's another rewritten /Interplay/ spell:
 
IQ 13 SPELLS
INCREASE FERTILITY (T): This spell /guarantees/ fertilization
   for any one animal or hex of plant life.  Recently polli-
   nated crops will double their normal yield, and a woman
   impregnated within the past day and then affected by this
   spell /will/ become pregnant.  Many gods have this effect
   on them at all times.  Cost: 5 ST.  [Greg Sharp/IP6]
 
 
>(TFT) Never played in my campaign again
 
   We've always used the "Flash of Lightning" method, except without the
actual lightning.  A character who is temporarily not being played by
his/her player is assumed to be in the back of the party, not making any
significant contribution, and is essentially treated as if he isn't there;
including the fact that the party cannot benefit from any of his talents,
spells, or equipment.  When the player returns he can either (a) declare
that his character was with the party during all the game time the player
missed ("Yzor, wake up!"), or (b) say that he broke off from the group and
went off to adventure, travel, and perform other long-term tasks on his own.
 
Pfc. Dave Seagraves   101st Airborne Division
Texas Military Historical Society (WWII reenactors)
Sniper squad forming to defeat the krauts -- join us!
1 (512) 835-7527   http://members.aol.com/txmhs
 
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