Okay, you can comment here now, because Facebook's interface makes me hate life and also because it's not like I can't keep track of two separate sets of comments
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I would like to hope that people will sell other people out of the desire to make a shared world that is both fun and enjoyable.
I am, of course, an eternal optimist.
The Gamemasters have been depowered significantly, their abilities (those we have finished designing) have become much more toolkit and much less absurdly unreachable. They are certainly still special, of course, but now they are special by the purview of having come through the Ultimate Warp Zone, rather than real ultimate powahz.
I think it's interesting that you mentioned the Syndrome line, because it's one I've never believed in my life. Some of my favorite characters in my roleplaying career (god, 'career', it sounds like such a legitimate way to play pretend) have been those sorts of people who are /not/ awesome inherently.
I think, and this is just me personally, that what makes a character special and memorable is not who they are, what their power is, or what gave them their power. I think that what makes a character special and memorable and fun is the character, and the challenge of finding a way to sell them to the rest of the world is one of the most rewarding things I've ever found about group RP.
I mean, it's one thing to be, say, Superman; Superman is awesome by inherent design. He has to be, he's SUPERMAN. He punches things, he blows through walls with his breath, blah blah blah. It's not a challenge to make Superman amazing.
But Jimmy Olsen? You look me in the eye and tell me that a Jimmy Olsen played properly - a bumbling, stuttering dude who somehow manages to help Superman more often than he hinders him, a sidekick who is *truly* cool and memorable *because* of his flaws - isn't going to be the one you talk about ten years down the road.
Chances are you've seen a billion Superman players.
I agree with you in the abstract sense that what makes a character interesting is his/her personality and not his/her super powers. (That's what made Lady A fun for me, even if she was a Mary Sue a lot of the time. The way some things were totally normal to her and other things were weird and bizzare because of her upbringing. Not her powers per se but how they colored her interactions. Anyway.)
I'm not talking about best practices though. I'm not talking about special, memorable, fun. I'm talking about "what the average player will sell." If you need to hit them with a big whammy of some kind, during a TP.
Of course the other option is that dudes will always sell best their favorite guy from the game they like the best.
Other than that, for big metaplots, that's why Gamemasters often were used.
(also you can totally edit comments if you have a paid account I just did it)
I am, of course, an eternal optimist.
The Gamemasters have been depowered significantly, their abilities (those we have finished designing) have become much more toolkit and much less absurdly unreachable. They are certainly still special, of course, but now they are special by the purview of having come through the Ultimate Warp Zone, rather than real ultimate powahz.
I think it's interesting that you mentioned the Syndrome line, because it's one I've never believed in my life. Some of my favorite characters in my roleplaying career (god, 'career', it sounds like such a legitimate way to play pretend) have been those sorts of people who are /not/ awesome inherently.
I think, and this is just me personally, that what makes a character special and memorable is not who they are, what their power is, or what gave them their power. I think that what makes a character special and memorable and fun is the character, and the challenge of finding a way to sell them to the rest of the world is one of the most rewarding things I've ever found about group RP.
I mean, it's one thing to be, say, Superman; Superman is awesome by inherent design. He has to be, he's SUPERMAN. He punches things, he blows through walls with his breath, blah blah blah. It's not a challenge to make Superman amazing.
But Jimmy Olsen? You look me in the eye and tell me that a Jimmy Olsen played properly - a bumbling, stuttering dude who somehow manages to help Superman more often than he hinders him, a sidekick who is *truly* cool and memorable *because* of his flaws - isn't going to be the one you talk about ten years down the road.
Chances are you've seen a billion Superman players.
But you'll always remember the five good Olsens.
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Ultimately, my point is:
livejournal needs editable comments, and
It's the player, not the character, who is special. All players are equally special, or at least as special as they are willing to be.
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I'm not talking about best practices though. I'm not talking about special, memorable, fun. I'm talking about "what the average player will sell." If you need to hit them with a big whammy of some kind, during a TP.
Of course the other option is that dudes will always sell best their favorite guy from the game they like the best.
Other than that, for big metaplots, that's why Gamemasters often were used.
(also you can totally edit comments if you have a paid account I just did it)
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