Re: [BNW] Origins (was What is wrong with BNW?)

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

> > people become deltas after a near death experince
>
>Actually, I think that this is what the Origin line is all about on the
>character sheet.
>-------------------
>Allan Seyberth


Well, to note my agreement with the original poster...who knows?  According 
to Matt, coming up with an origin isn't even a step (important or otherwise) 
in creating a character from scratch (page 60).  There is no list of Origin 
(or Code Name for that matter) in the breakdown of what the stuff on the 
character sheet means).

The example on page 58 ("It's a long story - see back") is not particularly 
helpful here (we never do see the back ;) ).  In fact, it suggests that the 
Origins line is not, in fact, very useful as there won't be enough room to 
include anything substantial!  One wonders why they bothered including it on 
a character sheet.

Certainly if you knew what general type of Origin Deltas have, then the 
Origin line would indeed be "all about it."  But no single general  
statement or even example on a sample character sheet really answers the 
origin question of does all origins have to be near-death experience-based.

As I noted earlier, a careful reading of _all_ the books tends to 
substantiate the near-death experience rationale for _all_ Delta power 
manifestations.

And of course, it's not very clear (as of yet) how a particular near-death 
experience relates to a particular manifestation of a specific Delta power?  
_If_ near-death experiences are the only way to gain Delta powers, what kind 
of experience would give you a Gadgeteer power manifestation?  Or a 
Bargainer?  I could see why a player trying to come up with a Bargainer 
might be stumped on the whole "origins" thing.  (Although the Bargainer and 
Gadgeteer books may explain this in more detail - this just substantiates my 
earlier assertion that PC Gadgeteers and Bargainers in the basic rulebook 
are unplayable, though.)

In this particular narrow example, I would agree that Matt _should_ have 
been more specific, since the Origin is an important part of character 
creation.

But...on the other other hand, as I also noted earlier, so what?  If 
somebody really wants to have their character gains his powers from being 
bitten by a radioactive spider (in a non near-death kind of way), so what?  
Is this really going to destroy someone's campaign if they allow this?  Or 
if Matt contradicts this down the road?

---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

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

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