Re: [BNW] Weak Powers

["D. Stacy" <dstacy@3wave.com>]

    However, you forget that Matt has based this game on reality. These
characters are like real GI's except they have some sort of special power. A
bullet can still kill most of these guys and such. If you want to play a hyper
cinema version of the game, where every always has the all the basic skills,
then yes the Translator is pretty much useless. If you want to play it in the
more realistic context that the game is intended (Yes, it is intended to be more
realistic than fantastic) then the Translator becomes an invaluable tool
necessary to survive in enemy territory.

>
>
> Again, I'm not disputing the usefulness of being able to speak foreign
> languages. I'm not even disputing the benefit of _every_ PC in a group
> speaking the language of the foreign country they're in (why I put forth a
> Share Translation Trick).
>
> But this ain't real-life - it's a RPG adventure setting run through a
> semi-theatrical/semi-"cowboys & indians" mechanism.  How interesting would
> playing Cowboys & Indians be at the age of 5-10 if you insisted one of your
> players do nothing but sit there and translate, "Bang you're dead" for
> everyone from Sioux to English and vice versa?  :)
>
> Different languages in a movie can be handled through subtitles, or a
> narrator, or simultaneous translation (see Witness and any movie with
> Marlene Maitlin for an example).  In a RPG, it's best ignored.  You
> shouldn't have to have a PC there whose primary purpose is to facilitate a
> game mechanism that should remain transparent.