Post by Nate on Feb 21, 2012 1:51:23 GMT -8
So, I find myself awake in the middle of the night, angry at a great many things. Most of them irrelevant.
Let me start at the beginning. This is the only werewolf game that I've played. There are still a great many things about this game that confuse me. But for the time being, let's stick with renown and ranking.
A question that most new players ask themselves is, how does a character grow? Sure, you have in character goals. Of course, you make allies, often with powerful players or npcs. Bit without power of your own, you'll often get killed by the things that they find mildly challenging. So, again, how do you become more powerful? What was that word again? Oh, yeah, rank. And how do you get higher rank? You do stuff, then turn in cards to get weeks off, in theory. But the catch, that wonderful caveat, is that those weeks are modified by your current rank.
So a fostern bone-gnawer is expected to jump to Pangea and survive. Fine, it's only the ancient land, so wild that it makes the Australian outback seem like a petting zoo.
So a fostern philodox is expected to convince his pack to negotiate with a totem spirit rather than a show of strength? Fine, Mammoth's only killed how many packs and garou?
So a fostern philodox is expected to give council and mediate disputes between garou twice his rank? Fine, they've only been bickering and at each others throats for longer than the character could step sideways.
All that, and so much more, is expected of the character, so what's expected of the player? Why, to have fun, of course. But fun is subjective, everybody is hard wired differently. Show me two people who think the same way in any game, and I'll call bullshit.
We have people who are socially inept at this game, people who literally cannot make that connection. Guilty of that. We have people who simply want to forget their miserable lives for a few hours, and be someone better. Guilty of that as well. We have people who come to game to catch up with old friends. Only slightly guilty of that, as I only know a handful of real names. We have people who come to game to plan and plot and develop their character and goals. Definitely not guilty of that, as I know that I have a reactive personality rather than proactive. But I don't expect the storytellers to bend over backwards to keep me entertained, I can catch enough ripples from other story arcs to keep me in the game.
I know what I am. I know that I'm twisted and ugly. I know that I'm rotting from the inside out. I know that I'm on a shorter clock than most of you, between my bad heart and a self-destructive drive. And with all that angst out of the way, I truly appreciate the current s.t. staff, and all those that came before it, who gave their blood sweat and tears for this game. You say that our tears sustain you, but yours are just as sweet to us, the players. And a better troupe I have never had the pleasure of seeing.
The current ranking system seems to be fair and balanced enough, though the only change that I would like to see, is that the players who struggle get rewarded in some fashion, even if they cannot keep up with those who know the ins and outs of this social web.
Let me start at the beginning. This is the only werewolf game that I've played. There are still a great many things about this game that confuse me. But for the time being, let's stick with renown and ranking.
A question that most new players ask themselves is, how does a character grow? Sure, you have in character goals. Of course, you make allies, often with powerful players or npcs. Bit without power of your own, you'll often get killed by the things that they find mildly challenging. So, again, how do you become more powerful? What was that word again? Oh, yeah, rank. And how do you get higher rank? You do stuff, then turn in cards to get weeks off, in theory. But the catch, that wonderful caveat, is that those weeks are modified by your current rank.
So a fostern bone-gnawer is expected to jump to Pangea and survive. Fine, it's only the ancient land, so wild that it makes the Australian outback seem like a petting zoo.
So a fostern philodox is expected to convince his pack to negotiate with a totem spirit rather than a show of strength? Fine, Mammoth's only killed how many packs and garou?
So a fostern philodox is expected to give council and mediate disputes between garou twice his rank? Fine, they've only been bickering and at each others throats for longer than the character could step sideways.
All that, and so much more, is expected of the character, so what's expected of the player? Why, to have fun, of course. But fun is subjective, everybody is hard wired differently. Show me two people who think the same way in any game, and I'll call bullshit.
We have people who are socially inept at this game, people who literally cannot make that connection. Guilty of that. We have people who simply want to forget their miserable lives for a few hours, and be someone better. Guilty of that as well. We have people who come to game to catch up with old friends. Only slightly guilty of that, as I only know a handful of real names. We have people who come to game to plan and plot and develop their character and goals. Definitely not guilty of that, as I know that I have a reactive personality rather than proactive. But I don't expect the storytellers to bend over backwards to keep me entertained, I can catch enough ripples from other story arcs to keep me in the game.
I know what I am. I know that I'm twisted and ugly. I know that I'm rotting from the inside out. I know that I'm on a shorter clock than most of you, between my bad heart and a self-destructive drive. And with all that angst out of the way, I truly appreciate the current s.t. staff, and all those that came before it, who gave their blood sweat and tears for this game. You say that our tears sustain you, but yours are just as sweet to us, the players. And a better troupe I have never had the pleasure of seeing.
The current ranking system seems to be fair and balanced enough, though the only change that I would like to see, is that the players who struggle get rewarded in some fashion, even if they cannot keep up with those who know the ins and outs of this social web.
