Posted by Jimm.Iblis  12/28/2018 3:11 pm | #21 |
I'm not a fan of any mechanic difference based on human ethnicity, and players usually want to play against "type" anyway. At the same time, I know players enjoy choices. For awhile I was offering variant human genera (which we now understand is true to our ancient past), but then nobody wanted to be homo sapien.
What I wound up doing recently was adapting Thulsa's (Morten Braten's) "cultural background" system he uses for Xoth (@xoth.net), converting it to OSR/AS&SH. We'll see how it plays out in my upcoming Zothique campaign.
"Role-playing isn't storytelling. If the dungeon master is directing it, it's not a game." ~ Gary Gygax
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Posted by Jimm.Iblis 12/28/2018 3:24 pm | #22 |
Caveman wrote:
I kind of agree, should not huntsman and Cryomancer be better for an snow dwelling person?
No. One can easily imagine an African hunstman. Also, I know from living in icy Minnesota with it's immense East African population, genetics plays very little into climate adaptation. They get cold, they layer up, just like the Scandinavian descended folk. Living then in Israel for awhile I was surprised to see everyone hates the midday heat pretty much equally, natives and expats. It takes a very long time for climate to affect isolate populations evolution-wise.
"Role-playing isn't storytelling. If the dungeon master is directing it, it's not a game." ~ Gary Gygax
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Posted by Caveman 12/29/2018 8:28 am | #23 |
I can imagine an African hunter, cattleman (herdsman), farmer, but I cannot imagine an Inuit farmer or herdsman, hence Huntsman?
While in the Amazon jungle I notice no Cryomancer, but there was a lot of Fire Witch Doctors...
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Posted by Blackadder23 12/29/2018 11:15 am | #24 |
Even if, for the sake of argument, some classes are more common among certain races, that wouldn't necessarily make them mechanically better in a way that mattered to adventurers. This is particularly true since adventurers in general are superior to the common run of humanity because (given that we're talking about Old School D&D and not something gorge-elevating like 3e, with its 5th level farmers and 8th level blacksmiths) they have the ability to gain levels.
Michael Sipe 1979-2018
Rest in peace, brother.
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Posted by mabon5127 12/29/2018 12:12 pm | #25 |
Even if, for the sake of argument, some classes are more common among certain races, that wouldn't necessarily make them mechanically better in a way that mattered to adventurers. This is particularly true since adventurers in general are superior to the common run of humanity because (given that we're talking about Old School D&D and not something gorge-elevating like 3e, with its 5th level farmers and 8th level blacksmiths) they have the ability to gain levels.
Yup. Though I believe the common folk of Hyperborea tend to be hardier because of the environment and the ruthlessness of civilization, plus monsters and weird alien entities and such.
“How can I wear the harness of toil
And sweat at the daily round,
While in my soul forever
The drums of Pictdom sound?”
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Posted by rhialto 12/30/2018 6:17 am | #26 |
What I wound up doing recently was adapting Thulsa's (Morten Braten's) "cultural background" system he uses for Xoth (@xoth.net), converting it to OSR/AS&SH. We'll see how it plays out in my upcoming Zothique campaign.
So how did you convert these to AS&SH? I have these resources, too, and occasionally eye them for my AS&SH Atlantis game.
"It is all very well to point out that the man lacks facility; as he asserts, sheer force can overpower sophistication."
Jack Vance, Rhialto the Marvellous
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Posted by Caveman 12/31/2018 6:16 am | #27 |
Even if, for the sake of argument, some classes are more common among certain races, that wouldn't necessarily make them mechanically better in a way that mattered to adventurers. This is particularly true since adventurers in general are superior to the common run of humanity because (given that we're talking about Old School D&D and not something gorge-elevating like 3e, with its 5th level farmers and 8th level blacksmiths) they have the ability to gain levels.
I agree.
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Posted by rhialto 12/31/2018 7:05 am | #28 |
Even if, for the sake of argument, some classes are more common among certain races, that wouldn't necessarily make them mechanically better in a way that mattered to adventurers. This is particularly true since adventurers in general are superior to the common run of humanity because (given that we're talking about Old School D&D and not something gorge-elevating like 3e, with its 5th level farmers and 8th level blacksmiths) they have the ability to gain levels.
I agree.
Not to mention that by eschewing any kind of mechanical advantage you've maximized the variability of combinations of class and race, since all are equal mechanically. Want an Ixian Barbarian or Amazonian Magician? Done. With any sort of mechanical advantage those sorts of combinations would be less likely to be played, since players may consider every advantage they can get, rather than an interesting role to play.
"It is all very well to point out that the man lacks facility; as he asserts, sheer force can overpower sophistication."
Jack Vance, Rhialto the Marvellous
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Posted by Iron Ranger 12/31/2018 9:53 am | #29 |
Even if, for the sake of argument, some classes are more common among certain races, that wouldn't necessarily make them mechanically better in a way that mattered to adventurers. This is particularly true since adventurers in general are superior to the common run of humanity because (given that we're talking about Old School D&D and not something gorge-elevating like 3e, with its 5th level farmers and 8th level blacksmiths) they have the ability to gain levels.
I agree.
Not to mention that by eschewing any kind of mechanical advantage you've maximized the variability of combinations of class and race, since all are equal mechanically. Want an Ixian Barbarian or Amazonian Magician? Done. With any sort of mechanical advantage those sorts of combinations would be less likely to be played, since players may consider every advantage they can get, rather than an interesting role to play.
I agree that with evened mechanics you may have maximized equal desirability of the races and classes, but I disagree that all might ever be equally common and personally lean heavily on the Attribute Requirements, even adding points for creations during the darker years.
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Posted by rhialto 12/31/2018 12:39 pm | #30 |
I agree.
Not to mention that by eschewing any kind of mechanical advantage you've maximized the variability of combinations of class and race, since all are equal mechanically. Want an Ixian Barbarian or Amazonian Magician? Done. With any sort of mechanical advantage those sorts of combinations would be less likely to be played, since players may consider every advantage they can get, rather than an interesting role to play.
I agree that with evened mechanics you may have maximized equal desirability of the races and classes, but I disagree that all might ever be equally common and personally lean heavily on the Attribute Requirements, even adding points for creations during the darker years.
Yes, I agree with that. I was focusing my attention on PCs, and not the overall distribution of classed NPCs. I guess I should mention that only my significant NPCs have a class: the vast majority of NPCs are 0-level, with whatever abilities I think they need for the game (which is one way I highlight how even a 1st-level PC is exceptional).
"It is all very well to point out that the man lacks facility; as he asserts, sheer force can overpower sophistication."
Jack Vance, Rhialto the Marvellous
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