(no subject)

[alexmegami]

Two very stupid forum arguments I'm involved in right now:

"You should keep your PCs the same in XP, even if it means artificially boosting people who aren't coming to play/aren't playing as well as others!"
"No, that's retarded."

"The nWoD Ventrue should get to buy up Resources without justification!"
"Why?"
"Because the book says they often come into money after their Embrace!"
"No, that's retarded."


...pleasedon'thitmeJason*ducks*

Comments

[ebonfyre.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to join the "No, that's retarded." side of this arguement... mainly because it's pretty damned retarded. :P

[alexmegami]

It is!

[trenog.livejournal.com]

I think that you need to at least post the appropriate links so that we can see the stupidity first hand

[alexmegami]

But if I do that, you'll be sucked into it with me, and no one wants that...

[changeinwatrloo.livejournal.com]

"Hey Bill, where'd you get that sack of money?"
"A lawn chair powered by the Blood of Cain gave it to me."

[alexmegami]

*snerk*

[bradbeattie.livejournal.com]

I think it's a viable option to keep player's XP the same, but give them consumable things that benefit their characters in reward for positive contributions. One time bonus tokens, essentially.

[(Anonymous)]

It's a commonly useful thing in some games: in a procedural drama, for example, characters should feel roughly on par with each other. I mean, there's no "winning" at some games to be better than the others, and in some games it detracts from the notion that you're not out there to earn XP, you're out there to play.

[alexmegami]

In something like a procedural drama, though, you're unlikely to be the master in someone else's domain - you'll have Medicine 5, whereas he'll have Investigation 5, and your boss will have Academics 5. Everything else is pretty much gravy.

And unless you have one player that NEVER shows up and NEVER does anything, the XP difference is going to be, maybe, 15 points max (nWoD). That's the difference between, at most, 0 and 3 in a Merit, or two skill points, or (if you're a supernatural) maximum two points in a Discipline. It's not even all that noticeable.

If you have a gap that is noticeable - let's say 30XP - that's someone who has missed out on 10 games, or someone who has only gotten their base XP versus the rest of the players at (let's say on average) 3XP for fifteen games before that happens.

If a player is only putting minimum effort into the game for that long, there is obviously something wrong either with the player or the game.

In a Perfect World

[jagwhier.livejournal.com]

That's a good way of doing it. Making sure that there are additional rewards for excelling, just not in the form of XP. I know there can be some players out there that value XP far too much, and will feel left out if they fall behind even a little.

Luckily, I'm usually blessed with players that put far more value into the story and how their characters fit into it and less into XP.

Also, systems like nWoD are far better suited to different XP levels, since there's no leveling up, which in certain systems *shakes fist at most d20 systems* can cause serious balance issues.


-Jason

[alexmegami]

I suppose it really depends on the system - that would work fine in D&D, but in White Wolf games, not so much.

No Reason...

[jagwhier.livejournal.com]

*twirls a spiked baseball bat*


-Jason

Re: No Reason...

[alexmegami]

Aiee!

[extramild.livejournal.com]

I feel so lost...

[alexmegami]

Roleplaying stuff. (XP is experience points, and are what you use to "level up" your character; PCs are "player characters", and the Ventrue are a type of vampire. Uh, other than that, it would take a while to explain XD)

[user-lain.livejournal.com]

For the first argument, I think that giving the player-who-can't-always-makes-game-but-really-wants-to a chance to RP stuff outside of regular game time and giving them XP for *that* would be fair.

As for "playing as well as others", I suppose it depends on the situation - some people try really hard to play their character but for some reason can't get into them, but the character itself is integral to the plot. I guess I'm generally pretty nice when it comes to intent.

For the second, yeah, that's just retarded. I'd raise the potential Resource cap for Ventrue *maybe*, but not free dots.

[alexmegami]

Yes, that would be fine, to me.

Eh, I'm a big fan of making up the plot as you go along, so no one character has the entire story hinging on them. And even if they're not really that "into" their character, they can still come up with OOC predictions about where the storyline is going, and still put their character into dangerous/heroic situations, so they're missing out on 1 XP per game, max (the IC lesson).

Honestly, I wouldn't even raise the Resources cap. It's not like Ventrue can spit blood and have it form into diamonds...

[(Anonymous)]

I know I've said it before, but I'm sure it applies here too:

Arguing on the Internet is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded. =D

[alexmegami]

Everyone says that. :P