Re: [BNW] Glory Days Questions

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

>I just got "Glory Days" a few days ago, but I think the Translator power
>package is one of the most useful there is in that book.
>
>One reason for that, however, is that the first thing I do is make up new
>Tricks ... I do this for every package, actually.  I have one for the
>Translater package called "Babble" that allows the Translator to alter the
>language that another character speaks and thinks in (requires touch).  If
>the target, for example, cannot understand French and the Translater alters
>the target's language to French with this trick, the target can no longer
>understand her teammates, nor can she even understand herself.  The target
>cannot coordinate actions with her teammates, and she cannot perform any
>action that requires any kind of conscious thought (she can still do
>reflexive or automatic things like dodge blows, keep from running into 
>walls,
>etc.).  Obviously, this trick has tremendous combat implications, a 
>criticism
>given for the package before.
>

It wasn't a criticism I leveled, I don't think. But a Trick like you suggest 
seems to go outside the range of the power.  The Translator is no longer 
just learning something in his head, or passing said knowledge on to a 
comrade (as my Trick allows), but is scrambling another person's language 
centers.

Plus, if the Translator can get close enough to touch someone in combat, 
shouldn't he have better things to do...?  Either that, or it's hard to 
believe his contribution is going to be anywhere close to a key factor in 
bringing down, say, a Goliath or a Charger.

And again, I'm not saying that a Translator has to have combat capabilities 
ot be useful. I rated the Communicator, Genius, Charmer, and Changeling 
fairly high at my site, well above some combat types.  When I rated, I did 
so on general versatility and usefulness in a campaign. having a Translator 
who can speak languages when no one else can just limits the participation 
those other players can have (if language is important) or means the 
Translator package isn't very useful (if language isn't important).  There 
are exceptions, sure, but  it really comes down to, "We sit around and watch 
while Character X does something we can't participate in." Which isn't a 
unique complaint about just Translators - Hackers come to mind.  But their 
non-group activities don't take long.  A Translator's activities are going 
to take as long as the player takes for all the conversations he makes in a 
language no one else can contribute to.

>Information is power, and I think if a Guide is fairly loose in her
>interpretation of the way this package's powers are defined, the package
>becomes quite useful in combat and noncombat situations.
>

Sure.  But...BNW as a rule of thumb doesn't include a lot of looseness in 
power packages. See my comments above about how the Trick proposed tends to 
step outside the bounds of what is generally established for Tricks and how 
they expand upon powers - they don't change them.  Your mileage, of course 
may vary.  :)

>Also, if the character is a leader type, it allows her to command a very
>diverse group of deltas.  In a contemporary campaign, especially one in 
>which
>the players are playing Delta Primers, this would make the character very
>valuable on international missions.
>

IMO, no, because the other PCs having to channel all their conversations 
through one person is going to get real tedious, real quick.  Either you're 
going to just let the PCs talk to each other directly (in which case why 
need a Translator PC to serve that function?), or a session is going to 
grind to a near-halt while the Translator PC relays everything to everyone, 
meaning each PC line of dialogue gets repeated twice (once to the 
Translator, and then from the Translator to the rest of the group).

Watch any movie with such an "international" taskforce to see what I mean. 
Either everyone conveniently speaks English, or the movie simply assumes 
everyone can understand everyone else's language, allows that the audience 
knows that as well, and doesn't bother providing a translation mechanism.  
Or watch Star Trek, where Klingons, Romulans, and Fed types sit around a 
conference table and just talk, without subtitles or a translator sitting 
nearby repeating each conversation twice.

Drawing attention to the mechanism of translation is awkward at best, and 
can substantially slow down adventuring at worst.

>BTW, nice tricks you made up for the Translator package on your website,
>Steve.
>

I only made one Trick for the Translator, but thanks.  :)

>Guide Matt


---

Steve Crow

"Logic merely enables one to be wrong with authority."

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

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