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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brother MacLaren" data-source="post: 5469786" data-attributes="member: 15999">What degree of awesomeness is open to the PCs and not to NPCs?  If the PCs are inherently exceptional, I like that to be at least in part because of some things that people in the world can acknowledge.  Like if all PCs have better stats, max HP at first level, and some aspect of "luck points" or whatever, and NPCs do not have this, my suspension of disbelief only works to a point.  If the PC advantages are really glaring, I'm happier if there is some in-world explanation like "They are the Chosen of Fate," or "They are god-blooded," or "They were blessed and cursed by the Fair Folk."  Cursed, I include, as I consider it quite ridiculous when people assume that NPCs encounter monsters anywhere near as often as the Wandering Monster tables would suggest for settled lands. In "The PCs are awesome because they are the main characters," the PCs have superior luck and ability to succeed because they are the ones at the center of the story.  It isn't explained in-world because "main character" isn't something the people in the world can understand.  Consider Stargate SG-1.  I'm in Season Six, and I think there are 20 teams?  Nineteen of which are utterly useless compared to SG-1.  Nineteen of which have never thwarted a single Gou'ald plot, nineteen of which suffer much higher casualties.  SG-1 was simply the first, not the elite to which they promote the best of everybody available, but they are SO much better that it strains credulity.  The in-world assumption would be that other military officers might be as able as Jack or (nearly) as smart as Sam, right?  But nobody in this world ever comments on how far above everyone else SG-1 is, because it's just a storytelling trope.  It's a fun show, just has a trope that I don't want in an RPG.  By contrast, consider the comic book series The Avengers.  They are supposed to be Earth's Mightiest Heroes, assembled to deal with various threats.  Why are the main characters so capable?  They wouldn't have made it onto the team if they weren't.  They are exceptional in ways that people within the world can understand.  Or consider Riddick in Pitch Black.  He's also extraordinary, but this is known and acknowledged in-world.  The story in this case is about somebody who is exceptional in his world. So: I like the PCs to be mostly like everybody else (or with small enough advantages that it isn't glaring), or, if they have some serious inherent advantages, an in-world acknowledgment and explanation of that.  Now, if the PCs are just exceptional by virtue of being higher level, that's different than inherent advantages, as the implication is that any human in the world has the potential for that sort of accomplishment, it's just that most don't risk life and limb to develop it.</blockquote>

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