Re: (TFT) Yet another old curmudgeon who plays with old things...

["Neil Gilmore" <raito@raito.com>]

Neil,
    Hi.  I'm going to take a breif detour here and then talk about some
Ideas I got while reading your post.  Welcome to the Geriatric Gamers Guild.
  Where the IQ runs high and the past never dies.

Why should the past die, just because there's not a million bucks worth of
marginally useful supplemental material published? By now, I know the TFT
system well enough that I can concentrate on running the role-play aspects
without thinking too much about it, and most of my playing circle likes that
sort of thing, spiced up with some killing.

     I remeber in the late 80's learning to read a newsgroup for a while
before posting to it.  This way I could pick up the flavor of what they were
realy talking about.  I had made the mistake of responding to some minor
comment as though it were the main thrust of the news-group.  I see equal
respect in your e-mail.  As though you knew what you were going to talk
about before you wrote it.

Well, I did read about 3/4 of the archives first. Also, I'd prefer to think
that one of the positive aspects of electronic communication is the rebirth
of correspondence. It's actually fairly often that I'll reply to something,
then delete the reply without posting it.

     A little more on e-mail for three sentences.  I heard that e-mail was
originally designed to allow university professors to send papers to each
other, and to keep up with current research.  Most e-mail now is everything
but.  Many public news-groups fire from the hip, and have no archives.  The
e-mail you have posted is about a campaign that has playtesting and clear
thought.

That's a pretty good synopsis. I think that the first real email used UUCP
as its transport. As for newsgroup archives, there's always dejanews.

As for the campaign, I try to let the party decide what direction to take.
If they decide to take the hints and go off somewhere that's detailed, fine.
If not, make it up as I go along, trying to keep notes (if they want to kill
the llamas, I let them kill the llamas).

>     Well, I do use a 13 metal monetary system, and pretty
>extensive rules for gems and jewelry.  Gems have a base
>price and size, and flaws with size and severity.

The different metals are in use in different places, though I never bothered
with different exchange rates for the same metals. It's pretty useful to
know that 200 coins are a kilo: a coin is 5 grams. That's part of the reason
gems and jewlery are pretty common. They weigh less (and jewelry has
craftsmanship value). Also, it gives good immediate reson for Recognize
Value, Assess Value, and Business Sense.

    First of all my campaign was four hundred and something years old too,
but I don't remember the exact number.  The chemists and alchemists are more
common in my campaign too, but I just realized from reading about yours that
I could try making their economics the dominant economic force.

In my campaign, the Thorsz is the dominant force, and seems to be able to
keep things in balance. I'll reply more on that in another post.

    I break social status down by coinage.  Anyone but a knight or higher is
killed for using gold.  There is a reward for bringing them in alive.  They
are used in the gambling arenas.  That is the foible of my youthful
campaign.

I tried to figure out what the effect of having magic around every day would
be, and went from there. I figured that pretty much any wizard could get a
job about like a doctor would today. I also figured that most people would
just rather lead mundane lives, rather than chance being an adventurer, but
that it wouldn't rule out their having skills, and using them to make a
living.

    Thanks for the post and the campaign outline.  Its almost like the book
"how I did it" by Dr Frankenstein.  Its giving me ideas . . .  Oh, I caught
great visuals from the setting description.

You're welcome. I'll probably post a bit more when I delve into that box
that holds it all.

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com

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