Racial boards/information

[jpariury]

Not sure how many of you have updated your group memberships, but I have run across the Race boards. I think its a great idea to have individual boards for each of the races, especially for spreading the knowledge, but I do have a question concerning membership to the same, as well as the race packets themselves.

Will the race packets be made public domain, or are they going to be for players of that race only? If the latter, will there be a slightly abbreviated public version made available?

My largest concern is that I have, over the years, come across numerous players that come up with interesting character concepts, only to have the kibbosh put on them due to a misunderstanding of the race within the campaign, or a disagreement with the same. As well, if the packets are kept secret, how are players who NPC, either regularly or infrequently, expected to consistently represent the race when they NPC it?

I guess the root of my concern is "Is the cost of having inconsistent racial representation and telling players 'no, you can't/it would be bad to play that here due to information you have no access to' outweighed by letting players feel 'cool' for 'knowing' something other players do not?"

 

[Shikar al'Basteua]

There are two sides to this argument:

1. How can I come up with a good history for a character if I can't get access to a race packet until after I've created the character?

2. Why should people who do not play members of a given race have access to a packet of information which contains information that they would be hard-pressed to justify knowing in character?

I have an answer to number one. Talk with the plot committee when you are coming up with a history for your character. They know the racial information and can help you out, as well as providing you with a copy of the race packet when all is said and done.

I have yet to receive a satisfactory answer to the second question.

In response to your question, JP, the race packets will not be made public domain, as we are restricted from doing so by Mike V and the Alliance. Any player of a given race may request a hard copy of their racial packet, but we will not be making it available in an electronic format through any means at this time.

-Dan

 

[Sarah]

I think it's silly. You can know all sorts of stuff OOG, but unless you know it IG too, you shouldn't be using it IG. It's called metagaming.

 

[Seattle_Jim]

I think it's silly. You can know all sorts of stuff OOG, but unless you know it IG too, you shouldn't be using it IG. It's called metagaming.

I agree that it is metagaming, but Mike V has concerns about it and I do too. In just about every game I have ever played I have run into people who read all the books and supplements and suddenly their character knows everything about the world. I wish cheating and meta-gaming were things we did not have to worry about.

 

[jpariury]

Thank you, Dan, for answering the first question I had.

Why should people who do not play members of a given race have access to a packet of information which contains information that they would be hard-pressed to justify knowing in character?

Because:

• It allows them to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to play that race.
• It inspires players to play that race
• It inspires new players to play the game
• It allows and inspires players to create concepts that do have a reason to know. (IE - lorists, historians, travelling bards, etc)
• It allows players to NPC that race properly and without having to fall back on putting their hands on their head while they ask players to wait for them to find a Plot marshal.
• Information about the world as a whole is somewhat piecemeal to begin with.

I wish cheating and meta-gaming were things we did not have to worry about.

Privately ask players who do that to change or leave. If they don't, do it publicly. I've screwed up a time or two. People took me aside and said "How did you know/do that?" I went "Oh crap, I screwed up." And then I didn't do it again.