Re: (TFT) TFT Healing

[ErolB1@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/10/2006 10:42:08 AM Central Daylight Time, 
LifeIsFun@aol.com writes:


> Every GM is different, that goes without saying.  But, I find that the  
> better GM's (and i'm not in this list, i'm way too lenient) tend to be able 
> to  
> match battles and write missions that intentionally scale according to a  
> predicted health level of the party.  It is as if they know that the first  
> battle 
> will attempt to get the heroes to show off, and maybe use up a bit too  much 
> of 
> their "special occasion" items.  And the second battle is usually a  grind 
> that eats up healing stores.  And after that the good GM's tend to be  able 
> to 
> predict that the party will be hurt and they scale the opponents with  
> placement 
> or tactics even if they had not already expected the group to be in  pain.

It's not just that every GM is different, it's that different groups and 
different GMs look to get different things out of a game. Often radically 
different things. For example, scaling difficulties to the power of the party is seen 
as really BAD gamemastering by many groups and GM - and not good GMing at all. 


There was once a usenet newsgroup, rec.games.frp.advocacy, where a lot of 
really great discussion took place. There were even some fairly heated debates, 
but what kept the group on an even keel was the consensus that different groups 
had different goals for their gaming, as exemplified by (but not limited to) 
the Threefold. 

Then a bunch of posters came along who did not accept this, who preached the 
One True and Right Way to GM, and the group died. 

There are groups where "railroading GM" is an insult, and groups where the GM 
isn't doing his job if he doesn't conduct the group along the tracks he's 
laid down. There are groups where constantly being forced to fight when damaged 
makes the adventure a grim chore - the anti-fun - and groups where having to 
fight when wounded is the very core of the fun. There are groups where the GM is 
cheating if he fudges the rolls, and groups where the GM is a screw-up if he 
doesn't fudge rolls to make for a better game. There are groups where the 
point is to play elite ultracompetent types who don't ever have to sweat the small 
stuff, and groups where not having to sweat the small stuff makes the game 
boring and pointless.   

Different GMs and players play for different reasons and find different 
things fun. And they play in different styles in order to support their different 
goals wrt what they want out of a game. 

Erol K Bayburt
Evil Genius for a Better Tomorrow
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"