Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 4823909" data-attributes="member: 54707">Since I was basically concentrating on the sort of Western based (in D&D and many other fantasy games) developmental background as a sort of philosophical origination point for the idea of why heirlooms, legacies, and inheritances should be a natural in-game component of fantasy games, I overlooked that. But I've got that book as well, and in addition many real world Oriental cultures do indeed make very strong use of things like heirlooms, legacies, and hereditary inheritances. Japan for instance. (Japan is also to me in many ways the single most Western-like Oriental culture in existence, though it is very, very different from most Western cultures in other ways as well.)As far as gaming with Oriental characters I can definitely see how heirlooms, legacies, inheritances, and especially family background would and could affect things like honor and social standing. (I have a party of <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/254759-worlds-apart.html#post4765708" target="_blank">Oriental Characters</a> but many of them are, though not all, non-attachment type of individuals. Except for guys like Wu Lee and Sraddnayar) It would effect social standing in Western cultures as well, though honor would, I suspect, tend to be more a matter of personal achievement and behavior. It could be so in the East as well, depending on culture, though I think the East, at least up until very, very recently tends to be more social and class (and caste) conscious than most current Western cultures. Of course in games terms the West could be said to be very Oriental-like in certain past eras as regards class, honor, standing, social position, and so forth.If I'm reading you right Haak, then I have no problem with characters changing over time. I'm all for it. That is why I said a really good way to employ heirlooms, legacies, and inheritances is "poco a poco," little by little, and bit by bit. Heirlooms reveal themselves over time as something not expected, or more than expected. Legacies are slowly revealed. Inheritances have costs and sometimes require great labor either to claim or to retain. To me I see things like this as part of a larger background which is always in motion anyways. That is I'm of the opinion that the world ought to be changing right along with the characters. (Think of any individual you know in real life, do they ever remain static and unchanging? Does the world remain static and unchanging? Then, why should a character?) And we've had some fanatic games involving heirlooms, legacies, and inheritances. But to tell you the truth I can't recall that we've ever used them in a specifically straight-forwards way. That is to say we have almost always let them develop slowly over time, usually with some mystery, and often connected to other in-game events. Like connected to a campaign, a political movement, a war, an adventure where some secret is revealed, and so forth and so on. (I don't just let inheritances be handed out to characters and say, "there, well, now that that is over would you like to convert your inheritance into gold or invest it in real estate? No, usually they become fully aware of the details of it after their father dies or when they have to undertake some labor to claim it.) So characters might start out with a background, which they think they know all the details of, but later discover that there are aspects of their own family history that they were unaware of until they encounter the heirlooms, legacies, inheritances, and events surrounding what they did not previously know about themselves and their family. I don't see it as cheating in any way at all, but as changing, as discovering new things, as a process of aging and maturing. This happens all of the time in real life. No reason it shouldn't in game.I have my own theories as regards this matter. For one thing, and this is not my entire theory by any means, I think most people want to be "something other" than themselves when role playing which is perfectly understandable. However being extremely wealthy or from a family with a covert or secret background or which is involved in a family Quest, or that stands to inherit a Castle if they can tame the surrounding countryside, that is also very different form most folks nowadays. If one stops to think about it a second. But I'll let others talk about that if they wish.Right now we've got a tremendous mutha of a storm rolling in. We're gonna get a big visit from the thunder goblin and lightning giant as I used to tell my girls to scare them. I'd best bug out for awhile.Anyways, I hope I answered your questions. Assuming I understood you correctly. Later.</blockquote>

Verification