On the rarity of PCs

[(un)reason]

I was going to bring this up, but also say that I've played in Vampire campaigns that had over 30 vampires living in a small town (you NEEDto have more than one vampire for EVERY clan possible, right? ). And there were also werewolves, mages and even a couple of other creatures of the night...

I think the "problem" was that the storyteller didn't realize that unlike a D&D game, where you travel a lot around the world and beyond - wich gives you the chance to meet the most exotic of races and cultures -, most white wolf campaigns take place inside the boundaries of a single town or state.

But that wasn't just a WW problem. We are always running the risk of cramming everything we have in the bookshelf into a confined space: betwen homebrew and plublished material and rotating gamemasters and new Monster Manuals, there are so many good ideas and plot hooks and interesting races and classes, how can you leave anyone out or put them in a kingdom far far away? What if you need it for next session?

Ahh yes, the old everyone's secretly a supernatural problem that turns up when you incorporate all the splats into the game. I've had fun parodying that. The same problem happens when you put every single monster in the supplements into FR and Ebberon, like most of the later 3.5 books assume. Saying that there is no Canon in the NWoD was one of the wisest decisions they made, especially given the proliferation of bloodlines and other prestige splats compared to the OWoD.

 

[FireLance]

That would be an interesting dynamic. Did the rest of the party treat her like a living treasure?

(In the campaign with the last elf, for example, what would have happened if Bob died and brought in an elf, and then Sue did the same? And then their characters died again, and they brought in new elves? And then everyone started playing elves because the DM was treating them as special?)

Cheap cop-out alert! These questions never came up because it was a solo campaign.

If I had to cater for the possibility of replacement PCs, however, I would probably have a small group of elven survivors living in secret somewhere, like the Lost Vale saurials in the 2e Forgotten Realms.

 

[Kzach]

I've always assumed that the PC's are the 0.0001% of the population that rises above the rest of the flock. It's the primary reason why I never really clicked with Forgotten Realms and one of the big reasons why I liked 4e almost right away.

In 4e, the distinction between minions, standards, elites, solos and PC's fits very well with my ideal of a world where most people are minions and even standards are above the norm for a race.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Cheap cop-out alert! These questions never came up because it was a solo campaign.

That's not a cheap cop-out; that's the best set of circumstances to use this sort of idea.

If I had to cater for the possibility of replacement PCs, however, I would probably have a small group of elven survivors living in secret somewhere, like the Lost Vale saurials in the 2e Forgotten Realms.

So, say, if the PCs where far from the Vale, adventuring on the other side or the world, would players still be able to make new elves every time one died? Or would you make "New elf PCs only within X mile range of the Vale"?


RC

 

[LostSoul]

Not if these are the initial PCs.....But as PCs die or are retired, and new PCs take their places, the "rare" warforged/devas/wizards/whatever apparently pop up out of the woodwork.



(In the campaign with the last elf, for example, what would have happened if Bob died and brought in an elf, and then Sue did the same? And then their characters died again, and they brought in new elves? And then everyone started playing elves because the DM was treating them as special?)

One should assume that everyone's on the same page. If a certain race is special in the game, I think the DM should ask the player to come up with something in order to maintain the consistency of the gameworld.

If the people at the game are not on the same page, that's a different issue.

 

[Raven Crowking]

One should assume that everyone's on the same page.

That assumption is liable to land one in trouble, sooner or later. Indeed, I would say that assuming everyone is on the same page is a recipe for disaster in an rpg.

I am not sure that it is even possible for everyone to be on the same page. At best, everyone is on a close enough page that the pages work well together.

Discuss and devise rules to put everyone on nearly the same page? Sure. Wait until events prove that assumption wrong? Ummm.....no.




RC