[TML] Character Improvement [was Levelling]

[Richard Aiken]

On Feb 19, 2008 3:42 AM, Jerry W Barrington <jerry.barrington at gmail.com> wrote:
> > And he (the character) is trying, he really, really is.  But nobody
> > told him it's unmannerly to hawk a loogie and start sharpening his
> > favorite knife over in the corner . . .
>
> O.o
>
> There are people who need to be told this?  Seriously, I've known plenty of
> people who were crude, but not a one had to be told things like that.

Hey!  He *went* over to the corner . . . :-P

But that's the point.  He isn't just "small-c" crude.  He's Crude.

> > So the most Complicated person is
> > going to be only 20% better than an average starting PC who takes no
> > Complications at all.
>
> 20% is actually quite a bit.

It's about the difference between someone who takes a couple of so-so
GURPS disads when starting out and someone else who takes the campaign
maximum.

And - of course - that "better" should have been in quotes.  Since
there will be certain situations in which he won't be better than an
average character.

> I'm looking at it like this:
>
>    X run over cat, gets a point.
>    10 minutes later, X shoots at Y, using point to make it more likely.
>    Dead cat has no logical connection to shot person.

True.  But the dice roll involved is a random event.  Luck (what this
thread started out discussing) is the ability to change randomness in
your favor.  Plot Points are - essentially - stored Luck.  There's no
need for a connection between the event that generates Luck and the
one where it is used.  It may never be used directly at all.  It may
instead be converted into Advancement Points.

> To this game system, it's all about a story, no matter how absurd the
> connection between the events.

That isn't quite it.  It's really much simpler.  There's no connection
at all between the two events, so there's nothing to be absurd about.

> It's Narrativist, I'm Simulationist.  Not a
> good connection.  You said it yourself: "It's about cooperative
> storytelling."  But your stories are more likely to be Independence Day,
> events make story, not make sense.  My stories are more historical
> docu-drama.

<shrug>  If you say so.  To each his own.

You know, at first, I didn't like Plot Points either.  They seemed to
give the players too much control over the story.  But then I realized
that this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.  So I learned to let
go.

-- 
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein