[DL] Re: deadlands-digest.20000301-1

[Andrew Cunningham <A.S.Cunningham@hw.ac.uk>]

Nick "perplexed" ;), said, 


> Why do so many people spell "whine" with a G in it?

	Because that's how you spell whinge. WHine is a 
different word ;)

John said,

>      As to the player poking his nose into the
> Marshal's sections . . . well, there's really not much
> that can prevent a player from doing that. As both a
> player and a Marshall, I have to keep the two sets of
> knowledge very separate. This occasionally leads to me
> twitching spasmodically as I realize part of what our
> Marshal is doing to us, but knowing that my character
> doesn't have a clue.

	Yup, I always try to read the Marshall sections, 
except for the critters and adventures. But just because I 
know how to get rid of prarie ticks, doesn't mean my 
character does. Some people can't keep it seperate, but if 
your player can, there's no real harm in it. 

Ed Greaves said,

> I suggest something similar in this type of a case.  Do not punish the 
> player because he personally is not skilled in that particular way.  Instead 
> reward those that are.

	It's not just that he has to RP it in this 
situation though... I'd expect some justification of why 
the Agent would possibly give up state secrets. It isn't 
just "oh, I say somethign really persuasive". There has to 
be a reason for it too... You manage to distract him, or 
worm into his confidence. Whether you succeed or not 
depends on the dice roll, but you have to decide how you go 
about it, and some approaches aren't going to work. If a PC 
said to me "I try to convince him" I'd say "How", not 
"roll"
	In an everyday situation... Persuading the farmer 
to sell you his horse, then I'd accept rolls with justa 
little RP. But to get state secret s out of an agent, 
without a cattle brand ;)? Nah, you need more than dice for 
that. Even as a player I've argued with other players in 
situations like this "I persuade the shaman to cure me of 
the evil curse" "Why? What possible reason could he have to 
do that?" "He must have one, look, I just rolled 30" Caused 
a half-hour blazing argument in one session...

--
Andrew Cunningham