[Design] Character Generation: Detail vs Opportunity Cost

[Kyle Schuant]

I'd note three things in connection with Ars Magica, and time taken to produce characters. 

Firstly, we only had one rulebook between the four of us, and only one of us - me - had read it recently, or at all. Character creation is always faster if all the players have the rulebook, and have read it. That applies even to good old Heroquest:)

Secondly, what slows character creation down in most systems, and in AM4 as well, is the wide variety of choices. It's what I call the Video Store Syndrome. You know how you can wander into a vid store, and there are THOUSANDS of movies to choose from. You can easily spend an hour or two wandering around and choosing nothing. Whereas if they had one shelf with twenty movies, you might curse the lack of choice, but you'd choose pretty quickly! 
    I think it's one reason for the success of systems like D&D, class-based systems. Players' choices are limited. Lets you get into play fairly quickly. 

Thirdly, what also slows character creation down in game systems is if knowledge of the setting is required to create a character. In Heroquest, you can't say, "I want a "Heortling Warrior, devotee to Humakt" if you don't know what a Heortling or Humakt is. (I assume everyone knows what a warrior is!) 
    So if your system is tied to a setting, then knowledge of that setting will be required before a character can be created. This is another thing which slowed down our character creation last night;) And this of course ties back in with the first point, of whether people have read the rulebook or not.

Combining only one rulebook with the Video Store Syndrome and lack of setting knowledge, and you get slow character generation!

So these are certainly things to consider in game design, yes. When designing a game, you must consider whether you want a group to be able to run off just one copy of your rulebook, or whether you want them all to buy it. The more detail you put in the rules (d4-d4 through to GURPS), and the more you tie your rules to a particular setting (GURPS through to Ars Magica), the more need there is for each person to have a copy of the rulebook, and to have read it before play. 
    Tightly tying your system to a particular setting leads you to develop strange and obscure rules. This means that you may have one system for skills, another for attributes, another for magic, and so on. This will confuse new players. The good side of the development of strange and obscure rules is that sometimes you develop quite unusual and interesting things, like the Ars Magica magical system. No-one would have developed such a magic system if they were aiming for some universal system. 
    It's also a consideration, do you want new players to be able to get straight into play, or should they have to have read the rulebook (Ars Magica, etc) or have a tutor to take them through its complexities (GURPS). 
    Detail of rules, and detail of setting, and rules strongly tied to a particular setting. Important things to consider in game design.

[Sidebar]    In my own game's design, I was aiming at achieving a few particular things. I wanted to create a game the rules of which could be explained to a new player in under ten minutes, and where a character could be created as quickly as that, too. I wanted non-roleplayers to be able to look at the character sheet and understand it immediately. 
    I wanted a system which would welcome the newbies, and which would work well over 1-12 game sessions; in my experience and those of many people I've spoken to, that's a typical length for a campaign. After a dozen sessions or so, either the group breaks up or they switch to some other game. Certainly there are many long-term campaigns and groups out there, but like the fantasy rpg market, I felt they were well-served by existing rules systems. [/Sidebar]

Of course, this is also why GMs provide pre-generated characters. But I didn't know we'd end up playing Ars Magica! I had pre-gens ready for GURPS Immortals, GURPS/d4-d4 Harn, and GURPS/d4-d4 Postapocalyptic, and GURPS/d4-d4 Stargate, too. Naturally, you guys chose the one setting and system I didn't have any pre-gens or other material prepared for!
    Pesky players!:)

Cheers,
Kyle
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