Re: [DL] Fudging

[Greg Vose <kitsune@xmission.com>]

Go away if you are one of John's players...










John--

I don't know what your level of skill is at running an RPG and I don't
purport to be the greatest ever to take that role.  However, I do have to
say that you shouldn't be getting down on yourself.  As you've said, you're
new to DL marshalling.  I have you beat there as I have never run a DL
campaign. I have, however, run campaigns in many other systems over the
past 20 years.  So in general terms, here is what _I_ would do.  You are
welcome to throw out anything you want to.

First, I would sit down with the individual in question, outside of game
time, and ask questions.  "Are you happy with this situation? Do you want
to continue playing this character?  What is it that you are most pleased
with and what are you least pleased with? What can I do to help?"

Once you have asked these questions you will probably have a better idea of
what she wants.  If the issue is with effectiveness compared to the other
players then you have a sticky situation.  You need to bring her
effectiveness in line with the other players without completely unbalancing
the game.  I like several of the suggestions so far.  To me the best one
was a relic.  I'm not certain that harrowing her for the sake of giving her
abilities unless she really WANTS to play a harrowed character is the right
way to go.  A whip relic (hey, she likes those, right?  She's the only one
with skill in whip, right?) might be a good possibility.  Mull these over
in your mind, match them up against the questions you have asked her.

Second, you will have to institute these changes without upsetting your
apple cart. This should involve roleplaying rather than blazing guns (well
rather than solely blazing guns).  Whatever abilities, relic, etc that you
arrange for her to receive should come about in the course of play.  The
others shouldn't know (and I believe you mentioned that they know nothing
of this at the moment).

Ways you can pump up her effectiveness are as follows:

1) Harrow her.  Make absolutely certain she is okay with playing a Harrowed
character and that she really knows what would be involved.  It's one thing
to start out with a Harrowed character or to become Harrowed in the normal
manner but to foist Harrowing off on someone when they don't know what it
really entails...well that would be just evil.

2) Relic as has been discussed. I like the idea of a whip of some sort
because it is unlikely one of the other three would pick that item up.  You
could give it the ability to move on its own in a limited manner, you could
give it additional damage, you could give it a choke or grab attack, you
could make it a cat o' nine tails rather than a bullwhip and give it some
wild ability based on that. Other possibilities exist as well.  Special
six-shooters have been done to death but they are quick and easy.  A gold
pocketwatch that adds 2 dice to her quickdraw rolls only on the first roll
of a battle would be another possibility, you'll have to determine what
works for her here.  Ideally a relic should complement and reinforce
whatever she is already very good at or cover a deficiency that has cropped
up far too many times.  It sounds like everyone else acts well before she
does.  Perhaps something that helps with that so she can at least do
something before the rest have all killed off the nasty?  What about a
six-gun that raises her top action card by two steps? That means she can
never go slower than 4 for her first action and if she drew an ace or king
she could go faster than anything except a red joker.  This only applies to
the first action of each quickness roll and shouldn't be too overpowering.

3) Special abilities have been discussed.  You have to be careful here that
you aren't setting a precedent for later on that steps on the toes of some
other type of character.  If the ability is truly unique I think she'd be a
lot happier with it, especially if it is within her concept.

I suppose the main thing I am suggesting here is to work with her.  You
don't need to give her everything about what is going on but you need to
find something she'll be happy with.

At 10:05 PM 3/13/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>On Thu, Mar 13, 2003 at 04:35:10PM -0500, Matthew DeForrest wrote:
>> At 06:54 PM 3/13/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>> 
>> >> The second question has to do with the player in question.  Why is she
>> >> bored with being the only non-powered character?  What are the other
>> >> characters?  Is there an unbalance between her characters and the
others?
>> >
>> >There is - she tends to be overwhelmed, and doesn't really get to do a lot
>> >in combat - in the end, i'm a newbie marshall, and am still feeling me way
>> >and I don't want to lose a player cos she's bored this early into my
career
>> >:-(   Perhaps i just need to make her life more exciting in another way.
>> >
>> >> I hope this helps.  Take care.
>> 
>> OK, John, I have another question -- what's her character concept?
>
>She started off just wanting to be a standard cowgirl, much like the one
>in the players guide - whips and guns seemed to appeal... can't imagine
>why...
>
>but as i said, she's not getting to do a lot right now... perhaps i'm just
>not running it right... :-/
>
>
>cheers,
>
>John
>
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