[Rq-rules] *** JUNK MAIL ***Re: Background Experience

[Peter Brink]

Simon Phipp skrev:
> Alan Richards:
>> 1. I am a big fan of starting background experience at age 10 not 15. And
>> likewise not inflating cultural skills. (Query: In canon RQIII I think that
>> only Weapon Skills have a cultural base all others are common to all members
>> of a species?) I usually insist that the 5 Years between 10 and 15 are spent
>> in a randomly rolled background and the 'standard' 2d6* years may be spent
>> in a background (or backgrounds) of the player's choice.
> 
> Which makes sense as having adults begin at 15 or 16 is a modern idea. Children 
 > were apprenticed out in the Middle Ages at an early age and taught a
 > profession. In the past, when life expectancy was very low, people
 > mated in their very early teens when puberty started, which is when they
 > effectively became adults.
> 
> 

In my next game I will mix the game systems of Stormbringer 5, RQ II and 
III (in effect it will be like the new DBRP). I've decided to use a 
system where the characters start their adult life as 10 year olds and 
begin play as 20-22 year old. The player may choose up to three 
different career paths for their characters. For example a character may 
have started her adult life as a beggar, later she became a thief and 
finally she joined a band of brigands (mercenaries). Each profession 
offers 8 skills and the player may divide 350 percentiles among the 
skills offered by the profession(s) chosen.

It's a simple and neat system that offers the player a reasonable amount 
of flexibility yet it forces him to keep himself within the bounds of 
the profession(s) chosen.

/Peter Brink