Re: [BNW] BNW background

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

>From: Jonathan Weiss <pyrateking@hotmail.com>
>
> > What is wrong with you "GMs"?  TOO many story possibilities thrown in?
>Not
> > enough hard numbers for your taste?  Why don't y'all go play Rifts, or
> > Rollmaster, or another game that's all about the predetermined rather 
>than
> > the imagination's wide-painting brush?  Actually, without the barely
> > disguised scorn, I'd suggest giving Shadowrun or GURPS your attention,
> > seeing as they're All about giving STs the answers...
>
>How about, "The possability I have chosen has been contradicted by the next
>installment of the very vague meta-plot, what was the point of buying this
>book? I can't use it unless we start from scratch anyway." It's not about
>numbers, it's about what the background is supposed to be like. When you
>have games with "secret" conspiracies, like Vampire for instance, when the
>next suppliment comes out and says "this conspiracty is vast" you can say
>"Ah, you've obviously found the tip of the iceburg then..." and if it says
>"this conspiracy is tiny" you can say "Ah, you been caught up in your own
>paranoia, things are not as they appear". When your mean't to have an

An interesting point, and one you can use for BNW vis a vis the "origins" of 
Delta powers and Alpha gradations that the other gentleman (not Malcolm here 
or elsewhere) seemed concerned about.  Which, again, is why I don't 
understand the whole "MUST...KNOW...ORIGINS...OF DELTA...POWERS TO 
RUN...MY...ADVENTURES" reasoning (do in best William Shatner tones ;) ) that 
folks (again not Malcolm) were applying.

>organization patrolling the streets kicking Defiance arse it's more obvious
>to the PC's what the score is, and a hell of a lot harder to make old
>decisions fit in with new published material.
>

Now we come to what Malcolm does think.  And here, my opinion as a Guide is 
that...there will be as many Delta Primers as I feel are necessary, to 
nstitute the ambience of paranoia and prosecution necessary as presented in 
the background material and overall tone of the game.

Do I need an exact number to figure this out?  No.  For one thing, I don't 
have to _describe_ the whole world, or the whole U.S.  I not only only have 
to deal with just Crescent City, but I just have to deal with what the PCs 
encounter.

If I choose DP as my main opposition, there will be as much opposition as 
necessary to make for a balanced encounter or series of encounters.

In short (too late ;) ), I don't _need_ these kind of numbers that folks 
seem to be demanding to run an adventure or a campaign.  If Matt tosses in a 
sentence or a paragraph later that says there should be less or more DPs, 
and the result would be a more or less challenging adventure for my PCs, 
I'll ignore it.  I'm not going to let 10 "official" worlds screw up my 
campaign.  Any RPG designer who tells you that His or Her Word From on High 
_must_ be used, even if it will screw up your own campaign...well, he's 
nuts.

And if this hypothetical sentence or paragraph doesn't impact my own 
adventures (which is the way PCs interface with "my" world of BNW)...who 
cares _what_ the numbers are?

Ask Matt (Forbeck - that BNW author guy for those unfamiliar with his 
association with the game) if you like - I'll bet you get the same answer.  
In fact, it's the same answer you'd get in any meta-plot RPG campaign.

>     Malcolm.


---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/

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