[Design] Character Generation: Detail vs Time Opportunity Cost

[Lev Lafayette]

I've included 'Time' in the subject because that's
what I meant to type...

Prepackaged kits can be nice (the AD&D 2nd edition
books were quite good for this) however there is an
unfortunate tendancy for game balance to be thrown out
the window, especially with some of the more obscure
prestige classes.

In general however I think the idea of basic templates
with optional extras is a good one. It allows for a
quick decision but with significant individuality.

Actually now that Carl's responding I'm thinking of
the standard Murdoch Uni academic programme. Half the
courses were required or programme elective and half
were general electives.


--- Carl Brown <catodon at whale-mail.com> wrote:

> Hi all.
> A high number of choices in a game can slow things
> down but there are ways to lessen the effect. In
> AD&D (haven't played 3rd ed.) there are a lot of
> choices the first thing I do is 'prune the tree'. I
> tell players the mantra is Race class kit. after
> they have chosen each of these they have a solid
> concept to guide other choices.
> For systems without this refined hierarchy of
> choices that will produce a solid concept I tell
> players "come up with a 1-3 word concept" and then
> let that guide the chioces. For instance T&T has
> only three types(classes) and 5 kindreds (species).
> An 'elf wizard' is not the kind of concept that
> guides choices but a 'scholar', 'forest hermit' or
> 'enchantress' are the kinds of concepts that really
> help.
> Of coarse all this can be ruined by that one player
> who has to 'thoughly research all thier options'. A
> promising beginers AD&D campaign a few years ago was
> destroyed by a player who wanted to read all of the
> first level wizard spells.
> 
> 
> Care2 make the world greener!
> 
> Over 10 million children die from preventable or
> treatable diseases 
> every year. Urge Congress to act today:
> http://go.care2.com/childact
> 
> http://www.Care2.com  Free e-mail. 100MB storage. 
> Helps charities.
>  
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Design mailing list
> Design at mimesisrpg.com
>
http://mimesisrpg.com/mailman/listinfo/design_mimesisrpg.com
> 



		
__________________________________ 
Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page! 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs