Role-playing

[Khanone at aol.com]

In a message dated 14/05/97  07:21:49, Marian (gryphon at iaehv.nl) writes:

<< I'll leave it to those qualified to talk about practicality and
feasability
 so I just snipped everything and ask you a counter question instead:
 What exactly do you mean with roleplaying in your game?
 It looks to me like you're working on a way to get rid of the straight-
 forward kill something for experience and equipment type of games and
 reward use of other skills directly rather than indirectly. This seems
 like a good goal to work to but well, is this what you mean with
 roleplaying?
  >>

Well, partially - it's allowing players to create, and act, within the games
confines - not letting the focus on combat detract from those who wish to do
otherwise.  A character can choose a profession, maybe sticking with it,
maybe not.  While I don't intend to allow user-level programming of the
environment, I see no reason why an Immortal, or other player designated as a
designer/programmer, cannot create new races on the spot (that is, within
perhaps 20 minutes), or design a new (previously unthought-of) profession.  I
actually prefer to allow a mix, if possible - allowing those who wish to
fight, do so. And those who don't, not do so.  But yet, still achieve some
fame through their actions.  Becoming a cities most famous merchant,
bodyguard, mercenary or somesuch should be enough of a goal for those who are
more obsessed with "winning" (being better than the rest"), but at the same
time, it should ensure to some extent, that acting out a defined role, is a
real possibility.

It raises some interesting questions, though:

How would a "death" through going financially bankrupt affect a character?
How could one promote a secret organisation, such as professional thieves are
supposed to operate?
Could any "profession" be reasonably emulated within a game world, even if
the actual supporting mechanics may not exist?  (I.e. royalty?)
What role (if any) would a family play in a players life?
What view would a pen-and-paper roleplayer have of a world when "given"
stats, and told to work with them?
What view would a die-hard levelling machine take when presented with phrases
such as "You think you are stronger than most other Humans" ?

Most of the above were touched upon briefly in the list, but some would be
very hard to allow for.  A network of thieves, for example, is likely to need
a lot of supervision from the powers-that-be, until it becomes
self-supporting when enough players get involved enough to make it
believable.

While I'm not keen on the idea of class, I intend to use it to set a "trend"
that the characters took in the early part of their lives.  However, players
are able to take up almost any profession for the rest of their natural lives
- a mage may have small beginner magical abilities, but for some reason
decides to opt for the path of a weaponsmaster.  Maybe they can gain some
small additional magical training through the rest of their life, but the
emphasis from the moment of joining, onwards, would be on combat and the
tactical use of weapons in a fight.

So, the long answer to your questin, Marian, is "Yes".  Adding as much
roleplaying as I can to a goal-orientated game.  In fact, trying to enforce
it (at the least) when interaction occurrs between players.

Orlando.