G33X Nexus Entertainment > Precursors

Player Creation

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fehknt:
Why let players know thier exact scores?  It isn't needed for anything but maximizing character abilities.  Just let them put thier priorities, and let the player know that they will be assigned any of a possible range of numbers, but they don't need to know exactly what numbers they got, until they start hitting maximums, at which point they've put far too much into a character to just re-make it to get better starting stats.

Morgul:
I have mixed feelings about showing the stats to players. It's nice to know where your character stands in terms of others, but it also allows for a good deal of problems with powergaming. Hrmm... I'm gunna have to think about that one.

Now, there's another thing that's pretty important that's been glossed over. What will we put in these priority slots? How general are we going to be? What's the system for creating a character with certain skills, and personality traits. Heck, do we care (from a game persepctive) about the personality traits? What things are going to be based on how the player plays the character, and what's going to be a part of the character's stats?

I think I need to put more thought into answering my own questions... :-p

Duffy:
Just as a player, from my personal viewpoint, I would feel very uncomfortable making a character who is going to have completeley random stats that I can't see. (aside from the priorities) Concept just bothers me.

On the note of what the actual stats should be...well most commonly stats in RPGs reflect the physical aspects of the character,  personality is often left up to the player, since that is the realm of roleplaying. Sadly in most MMORPGs the actual "roleplaying" group is a minority.

Showing the stats won't be a problem if you can eliminate the ability to simply make a powerful character, for those familiar with DnD we used to have a rule that only 2 stats could be above 14, and 2 stats had to be under 10. This eliminated the problem of every player having the "perfect" stats for there characters.

Ultimately it depends on what stats player's get to choose from and what they effect,  and if the system is designed to stop exploits.

fehknt:
Even with those rules, people will just re-do their character creation until they have 2x18, 2x13, 2x9 (assuming 6 stats as in D&D).  I really think the only method that will work if we allow the players to see their exact numbers would be to use a point-based system, where every character gets X points to spend among their stats.  

What would you think about hiding the stats until at least 10 minutes of play-time have elapsed?  or 30?  that'd make it dauntingly hard to try to "beat the system" because it's random, but if you really don't get stats you like, then you'll know before you spend more than a half-hour playing that character.

and, the way I was proposing didn't have completely random stats, you'd just assign a set of ranges, the way you like it.  then you get a random number falling in that range.  If you want to be pretty sure what your stats are, choose the "even" setting, and the ranges are tight and close together -- you have a good idea exactly what your stats are, but don't have much in the way of a _possibly_ high stat, and if you're willing to chance it, choose "extreme" and get the possibility of having a really good stat, but also have to accept that it might not work out that way and you may get a really lously stat, and a only moderately high stat.

Besides, starting stats are only _really_ important in the early stages of the game, in a game where over time you can change your stats.

Morgul:
Ok, here's my thought. We use the priority system, and keep it all fixed point values.... However, we give the player an option to select an 'Edge' (something he's good at, or some sort of bonus), whose cost has to be paid for by selecting 'Flaws' (Something he'd bad at, or something that hinders him).

Here's an example. I want to make a character that is a natural hacker. I select an edge that allows my character to have a sixth sense about computer security (it takes him less time to do a hack than normal). However, since that's pretty powerful, I have to balance it with flaws, let's say, I have to take two... one's a bad reputation, and the other is a poor constitution (doesn't have the endurance of a normal person, or w/e the stat is for that). I've got my hacker, but he's not going to be good at running from the police that were staking out his apartment because of his bad rep as a hacker.

Basically, the concepts here are stolen from Shadow Run, however I've modified them a bit. I like using a priority system, and maybe varying some of the stats randomly (a small amount). For example, I don't want putting wealth in Slot A *always* mean you have 230 million credits (or whatever)... I'd rather it meant you have between 200 Million and 240 million. If people want to keep re-creating characters all damn day till they get 240 mil, I personally don't care. Also, here's something to note: IF they make a character... they have to play it for a set time limit until it can be deleted... and I think there should be a max number of characters you can have.... that should cut down on it. (especially if there's no way to know your exact stats until after you've created the character.)

What do you think?

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