*** JUNK MAIL ***[Rq-rules] The Deeper meaning of APP

[David Ford]

>
>Message: 5
>Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 11:17:51 +0200 (SAST)
>From: postmaster at runequest.za.org
>Subject: [Rq-rules] The Deeper meaning of APP
>To: rq-rules at crashbox.com
>Message-ID:
>         <38661.196.8.104.27.1186046271.squirrel at wwm.runequest.za.org>
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>---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
>
>
>Not to start an APP vs CHA debate here (Its been done before) but whats
>general understanding of APP. I have an examle I would like to explore:
>
>A character is a human male and meets a NPC human female with an APP of
>18. This is the kind of thing that I am sure most players can easily
>relate to as it draws on true life experiences. (Am sure everyone has met
>someone of opposite gender who has a very high APP in real life).
>
>Anyway, here's the twist. Same scenario, but its an orc female. Now if it
>were an orc mae meeting an orc female, well it would be pretty much a
>similar understanding to the base example above. But cross species? Does
>the human male:
>
>A - Still percieve the orc as handsome?
>B - Percieve orcs in an inverse way to humans, i.e. the lower an orcs APP
>the more "human" they look and therefore the more agreeable on the eyes?
>C - Whip out sword and slay orc and gain 133 XP and 2 gp in treasure (Oh
>sorry, wrong system, :)
>
>The way I see it The higher the APP, no matter what species, the better
>teh subject can be appreciated as an excellent specimen. Much as one would
>appreciate a thoroughbread race winner horse (high APP) vs a swayback moth
>eaten nag (low APP).
>
>Thoughts?
>Tony
>

Its a judgement call for you the world designer/game referee 
depending on how you see orcs. No pun intended.

If you assume orcs are like normal animals (and I include humans 
here) then things like strength, symmetry, graceful lines, healthy 
skin, lots of healthy hair or feathers, are* universally beautiful so 
a human can appreciate that a young fit orc female could be more 
attractive than an older fat one eyed orc hag, even if he or she 
doesn't like orcs.

* caveat: we tend to find mammals and birds most attractive but even 
humans can appreciate a good looking fish or snake, etc.

However,

If you assume that orcs are unnatural, a perversion of nature, then 
your inverse rule could work, so symmetry, healthy skin, sparkling 
alert eyes would be ugly to orcs but more attractive to non-orcs.

It all depends on whether orcs are another type of creature, or if 
orcs are inherently an insult to the world of nature (like Tolkien orcs)

Dave