Subj : Re: Andrew Toth
To   : All
From : yl112@cornell.edu
Date : Mon Sep 04 2000 04:47 pm

From: yl112@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: Andrew Toth



On Mon, 4 Sep 2000, Scott Royall wrote:

> Me too. How are you?

I'm doing well, thank you.  And you?  :-)

Classes are *cool*--quantum computation is neat, algebra and topology are 
lots of fun, German is easy, and WWII in Europe is just interesting.

On the gaming front, the PBeM is doing well and has gotten out one-shot 
prologues, with move 1 to follow this week.  The tabletop campaign Joe 
and I are running will be on its 7th session and is going pretty well: 
co-GMing works extremely well with our division of labor.  He does 
rules/mechanics questions, I handle storyline/concept.  Well, we *both* 
do plot and roleplaying of NPCs, but I refuse to deal with rules--and the 
players are pretty good at freeforming/acting out things that don't need 
dice anyway.  OTOH I'm the historical quasi-expert, since the Yodotai are 
(in Legend of the Burning Sands) based somewhat on the Romans, and I know 
more about the Romans than pretty much anyone else in the gaming 
group...not that that's a whole lot, but it's good enough for guestimates 
and fun.

One nice thing about playing in a system that ties in to a ccg (and its 
hugely multifaceted storyline, most of which we discarded--it's an 
alternate history, I suppose) is that one of the players, Greg, makes ccg 
"cards" based on each game's session.  I won't post the URL since they 
probably wouldn't make sense to people unfamiliar with Legend of the Five 
Rings as either a ccg or rpg, but they're great humor (and I do award 
XP's for that, as I would for art or journals if anyone were doing them).

I'm also discovering that XP inflation is, in this circumstance, actually 
a good thing.  I award for roleplaying and in-character actions--anything 
that catches my eye or ear.  In my 3+ years at Cornell, including play in 
a couple campaigns that lasted a bit over a semester (and then fizzled), 
no one has *ever* gained a level.  No one.  Not even from rank 1 to rank 
2.  Normally I dislike emphasis on XP's, but Joe and I thought it'd be a 
good opportunity for people to actually try out higher-rank techniques 
and feel some sense of accomplishment for things they'd done (not just 
storyline awards).  The players are generally responsible and no 
munchkinism has shown up, thank heaven.

Anyway, I'm learning a lot from GMing a tabletop campaign.  Lots of fun!

YHL

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|Internet: scott@conchbbs.com
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