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Sorry, as I re-read my
mail, I realize I didn't make it clear I was agreeing with you. I agree
totally with what you're saying!!!! The other this that sucks about the
characters you describe is they won't work with you or with the posse, pulling a
"my character wouldn't do that" every 5 minutes. Basically they're done
with the character's story before they even belly up to the table. The
stuff I was saying is that it's much cooler to have a clean slate character
(Luke, Neo) and put them into a situation where they grow rather than the
Cursed-Werewolf-Nosforatu-Harrowed-Alchemist with a taste for blood.
Powers don't equal cool character.
"Cactus"
Chris
-----Original
Message-----
From: Matthew Hanson [mailto:deviantsevant@msn.com] Sent: Friday, July 13, 2001 12:36 PM To: Deadlands Subject: Re: [DL] Looking for random help Yes, but these examples are a far cry from " My ancestry made a deal
with Satan to devote a child every sixth generation to the cause of
darkness. I am that child. As such I have these kick-ass (Over) Powers but am
constantly tortured by dreams of some guy in red pajamas poking me in the ass
with a pitchfork. For now I'm okay but its only a matter of time before I go
ape-shit(tm) all over the whole rest of the posse and try to eat their brains."
What you have cited are (relatively) mundane yet still exciting defining events
in a character's life that do not, necessarily, lead to them being an
Uber-Powerful yet dark and doomed hero. There is a world of difference
between a "tortured" past and a "demonic" past.
I guess I might allow a Harrowed-Werewolf-Whateley-Clan-Metal-Mage into my
game if they could provide a back story more interesting than a Stephen King
novel (okay, I admit, not that hard) and prove they were doing it to strive
back to some normalcy thus creating a more enjoyable campaign for them and the
other players, and not to munchkin out, but I have this unfortunate
Pavlovian reaction to seeing more than one Arcane Background at a time on a
character sheet which causes me to start hurling random curses and throwing
breakable objects at any player trying to justify their unduly powerful
concept at me. This usually stands as the harder obstacle to
overcome.
Let me explain... no there is too much.
Let me sum up:
Experience has shown me that the more complex and fubared a character
concept is, the less likely it is to be enjoyable for the player, his/her posse,
and me. Also the more complex, the more likely it is complex for the purpose of
exploiting rules rather than role-playing. Also, Also, while the
"corruption" archetypes and Arcane Backgrounds are all interesting, a whole
posse of them is a royal pain to run.
The uniqueness of a character comes from how you play them, not the
combination of abilities you give them at creation.
xxoo
The Wanderer
"Oh, I'm verbose am I? Well so's yer mother!"
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