[Rq-rules] Re: Master of all Trades

[Paul Cardwell]

--- Peter Maranci <pmaranci at gmail.com> wrote:

> Maybe the real issue is PC differentiation. That's
> not a problem for every
> group, of course. But in some campaigns, a PC
> without a strong and
> party-exclusive area of speciality (in a skill or
> ability that's needed by
> the group) can find themselves with nothing to do.
> 
> Normally good roleplaying can overcome that, or even
> just good GMing; unless
> the player is a total wallflower, the GM should be
> able to draw them into
> the action. I'd bet we've all seen or at least heard
> of games where that
> DIDN'T happen, though, and one or more players ended
> up without a speaking
> part.
> 
> This problem is exacerbated when a party starts out
> at a relatively low
> skill level. Since all the PCs go through pretty
> much the same things as
> they develop their skills, they're less likely to
> develop strong
> differentiation. Class-based games basically *force*
> differentiation,
> admittedly in a very artificial way.
> 
> Now that I think of it, when I've run or played in a
> game in which the
> characters were designed, rather than created using
> the RQIII character
> generation system, there's never been a problem with
> excessive skill
> redundancy. Of course, those characters were also
> usually more powerful than
> the standard starting RQIII character anyway.
> 
> I'm not sure what conclusion to draw here. The RQ
> system in this regard
> isn't broken. A good character design system, one
> that allows a pretty fine
> level of specialization, would help reduce the
> likelihood of problems - but
> ultimately it's up to the GM to make sure that
> everyone in the game gets a
> fair amount of focus and action.
> 
> I don't know that we should try to forestall every
> bad GMing choice with a
> new rule. That way lies madness. Unless, as in the
> case of a character
> design system, the rule is actually needed and
> enhances the system in other
> ways.
> 
I have found this problem only in beginner players,
and they outgrow it after playing awhile.  It seems
that as the character advances in skills and
abilities, there develops areas of specialty almost
automatically.

Of course, the Mythworld requirement of a trade and a
religion (either of which can be ignored, but at a
severe penalty of a lack of skills each gives a
character before play begins) has something to do with
this, but I noticed the same specialization when
playing RQ2 before Mythworld was ever developed.

Paul Cardwell

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