[Design] Character Generation: Detail vs Opportunity Cost

[Carl Brown]

KS: Well, I dunno. Each of the editions has a different introduction, from the 1st to the 5th the introduction becomes more defensive about the mages' being so powerful compared to everyone else. It seems like the authours got abused by a lot of point-buy system fans. "But we should all be EQUAL." Communism in roleplaying game design? Is it really necessary? 

While agreeing with Kyle's comments on tools (don't play mage unless you want to be a wizard etc). the equality of players characters is important. I remember playing a skater in shadow run but not for long. The players need to be able to make equal contributions to the story or they'll get dissallusioned and their creative imput will be cramped. this is not to say individual characters as stand alone enities need to be equal but they should have other resources the player can use in the story such as allies, contacts, wealth etc... 
Not this is a general comment on game design not Ars Magica


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