Re: (TFT) Jobs table: 100,000 simulated soldiers and farmers

[Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>]

At 1:34 -0400 9/17/11, Sgt. Hulka wrote:
> If the rules can't sustain the campaign world described in published 
> sources, there's clearly a problem with the rules.

"realistic" game style. I highly approve.

At 1:34 -0400 9/17/11, PvK wrote:
> the problem doesn't necessarily matter, if it only becomes a problem 
> if you try to do something with it, that you would never actually 
> do. It's even less of a problem if you know that doing that would be 
> a problem, and if you can change it if and when you ever do try to 
> do the thing you'd never do with it.

"play is the thing" (cinematic?) game style, focused on the enjoyment 
of the players (from the Referee's point of view. I highly approve.


...woops. I'm trying to agree with two divergent opinions....

	Well, for "solitaire" play, the realism *has* to be there - 
otherwise it's no fun.

	For players taking over functioning of towns as they work up 
to duke or higher level (Jay?), the realism *has* to be there. 
Regarding the TFT table, salaries may be a bit high in general for 
most barons to sustain - not sure about this.

	I think in general, it's truly wonderful if *both* conditions 
(realism and exciting adventure) can be satisfied.
	I have to recognize the challenge inherent in this statement 
- in any realistic world, by far the majority of the people do *not* 
live exciting lives, so *something* has to set the adventurers apart 
from the run-of-the-mill citizens (or, maybe, the adventure has to be 
set at a time of upheaval that affects everyone). So with that 
background, I'm willing to tolerate a little variance between what is 
available to most folks and what is available to players.

	But, for something like the jobs table, it would be nice if 
it had been tweaked to be a bit more realistic. The money seems a bit 
good, the experience seems far too good, and the lifetimes (courtesy 
of Robert's really cool monte-carlo analysis) seem not only too good 
but too uniform. It's a good idea and like the concept pretty well, 
but I wish Forrest had tweaked it just a bit. I still use it 
routinely to put a little "scatter" into my starting parties for 
one-shot adventures. Everyone gets to work for 6 months, or, if they 
die, whatever is left of the 6 months (discourages maximum-risk 
professions). They can buy whatever they want with what they earn 
during that time. Usually, they can loan each other money or go in 
together on expensive items. That seems to work OK, and also helps 
them get ideas for back-stories for their characters. Used that way, 
I think the jobs table has a pretty useful function in my adventures.


--
						- Mark     210-379-4635
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