Portland Barbie

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?

Re: Fantasy Hero Companion: Heavy Fighters The term issue is a good example of the negative aspects of trying to create an extremely detailed package, as was done in the OP. Many players would perceive the term "heavy fighter/warrior" differently, and assume it allowed them the type of warrior they wanted. In this example, I believe Killer Shrike has some good examples on his website, where you start off with a simple, generic template (say one that focuses on STR, CON, and STUN/BODY, with a small "standardized" skill list, which is added to by additional templates (like one focusing on lighter armor and heavy weapons, a second on lighter weapons and heavier armors, and a third on lighter weapons with reach and medium armors specializing in mounted combat). All three of these could qualify as a heavy fighter, but will vary widely in their stats, as each focuses on a completely different combat style. Yes, this may cause the player to spend as many points as a single detailed template may cost, but it does allow for more customization (and this concept could be included in a single template with multiple "select one of the following" options).

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat? In this situation, the GM failed to meet the burden of multiple races, imo. Yeah, he was focusing on the race/culture/etc. but that is no reason to limit the player's options. If player 1 wants to play an elf, and doesn't like the "culture" the elves have in the GM's setting, then he can, feasibly play a different type of elf, but by doing so, he is playing an elf who is shunning his own culture, and would suffer negative reactions from other elves, more so than members of a different race, imo. These negative reactions may even trickle over into members of other races . . . Yes, trying to play a civilized, cultured member of a savage, barbaric society is a stretch, but if the player is willing to go through the effort, then let him go for it, as long as the player understands the GM may need to reign the character in from time to time, just to save verisimilitude . . . Also, if player 2 wants to play an elf from LotR, and that concept doesn't mesh too well with the established elves of the campaign setting, then mayhap the GM might point out another race that does fall into the concept the player wants . . . Yes, I understand that there are those players out there who are unwilling to play anything beyond a single concept/culture/race/personality; I've had one in my games for the last ten years. And those players are hard to satisfy if their archetypical character doesn't fit into the GM's world. At this time it's on both the player and the GM to find a compromise . . . If the player is new, and is unwilling to budge, then the best thing for the group might just be to say good-bye to him, and let him find the group that supports his archetype. On the flipside, if the player has been part of the group for a long time, and the new campaign setting doesn't allow his archetype, he may view this as a slap to the face by the GM . . . But i digress, we're getting more into group dynamics and away from the OP . . .

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat? This.

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat? And oddly enough, you just validated my entire argument with this post, even after you "attacked" it (not really upset, everyone has their own opinion, was just pointing this out)

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?

Re: Fantasy Hero Companion: Heavy Fighters

Re: Detailed (mundane) armor I'm not sure if i could justify to myself a reason to have a different level of rPD than PD for armor, since rPD applies to Killing Damage, and that's the whole reason to wear armor in FH . . . but since I'm using the Hit Locations in my game, I did vary the level of protection provided to the various locations depending on the suit of armor. Now, since I'm running a simplified game (nothing really more than an extended dungeon crawl with a single town to sell loot) to introduce new players to both role-playing and HERO, it's not as complex as it could be . . .

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat? Exactly. There's no hard-set number of races/cultures/species that, once exceeded, suddenly makes the game unbearable, or whatever. My post you quoted was not stating anything about it becoming burdensome to the GM at a certain point, at least not as I'm assuming you took it. My reference to " . . . the burden of the GM" was in regards to making sure the number of races/cultures/species doesn't become too much for both him/her and the players. Once the game world becomes so inundated with variations of humanoids that it becomes difficult for the GM to maintain the "uniqueness" of each race, then it's become too much. Naturally this will vary depending on the individual GM, and to a lesser extent, the players since even if the GM can managably juggle 100 different races, without them blurring into "different looking humans with weird abilities", if the players don't really pay attention to the type of humanoid it is beyond the differentiation between "helpfiul npc" and "monster/source of loot" then there's not really a point for the GM to even put forth the effort. And looking through the posts in this thread, I think the answer to the OP can be easily summed up as "it depends on the feel of the campaign, and the play-style of your players, combined with how much effort you are willing to put forth to make the races seem unique, and not just a set of abilities and different veneer thrown onto humans."

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat? Just throwing my two cents into the ring . . . for those of you who don't like the idea of non-human races in your world, the op could be changed to "how many cultures/different societies become too much." As you've been apt to point out, a new race is nothing more than a huyman with a different veneer, which I disagree with when done right, so it comes down to this: How many different race/species/culture/society options becomes too much in a fantasy game setting? And like my original post, I'll posit that it becomes a burden of the GM, and that the answer is however many he can portray as a unique race/species/culture/society without it turning into the whole "you're sitting in the tavern and up walks a stranger . . . " commonality. It will vary from game to game, player to player, and GM to GM.

Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?