Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-12-2018, 12:15 PM   #31
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
I would be very unlikely to acquiesce. I have other things I want to run, and I said "game over" didn't I?
I wasn't talking about anyone's particular inclination to run something; I was talking about the definition of the word "campaign" as it relates to role-playing games. I also said *I* was considering a troll wars campaign, not you. It was a hypothetical to demonstrate the meaning of "campaign" as the adventures leading up to achieving a particular objective (allowing other, unrelated objectives), rather than the sum total of all adventures a set of characters in a particular setting have.
Stormcrow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 12:32 PM   #32
sir_pudding
Wielder of Smart Pants
 
sir_pudding's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcrow View Post
I wasn't talking about anyone's particular inclination to run something; I was talking about the definition of the word "campaign" as it relates to role-playing games. I also said *I* was considering a troll wars campaign, not you. It was a hypothetical to demonstrate the meaning of "campaign" as the adventures leading up to achieving a particular objective (allowing other, unrelated objectives), rather than the sum total of all adventures a set of characters in a particular setting have.
I don't have very good experiences with players demanding sequels to campaigns that I have ended (even inexplicably for campaigns that ended apocalyptically). If I say the campaign is over, I want it to be over.

If in that hypothetical I wanted to run another story arc or adventure path or whatever you want to call it, I wouldn't have said it was over.

In the case of AlexanderHowl's suggestion, do they get the five points at the end of the troll wars? In which case that's the same as giving them the points at the end of a major story arc, whether you call that a "campaign" or not. Or do they get it after all their adventures are over and you say you are done running the game? In which case I suppose the purpose is if another GM chooses to allow the character at that point total they might, or if you chose to allow them at that point total in an otherwise unrelated game, but IME these aren't common events and I think in either case they are going to allowed on whatever points they are allowed, so their bonus points from the other game aren't especially meaningful.

Giving them five points after I said that I don't intend to run it again, seems to be encouraging them to bug me about running it again.

Giving them five points after I ended the world and they ascended into paradise and are very clearly not PCs anymore is going to encourage them to try to give me an aneurysm.

Last edited by sir_pudding; 02-12-2018 at 12:37 PM.
sir_pudding is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 12:32 PM   #33
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

I like using characters in multiple campaigns within the same world, though I am always willing to have new character show up at the same level as the existing characters (old players leave and new players join, so you got to be flexible).
AlexanderHowl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 12:38 PM   #34
sir_pudding
Wielder of Smart Pants
 
sir_pudding's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
I like using characters in multiple campaigns within the same world, though I am always willing to have new character show up at the same level as the existing characters (old players leave and new players join, so you got to be flexible).
In most of my campaigns it isn't the same world by the end of it.
sir_pudding is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 02:45 PM   #35
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
I don't have very good experiences with players demanding sequels to campaigns that I have ended (even inexplicably for campaigns that ended apocalyptically). If I say the campaign is over, I want it to be over.
Irrelevant. I'm not talking about players demanding sequels, I'm talking about the GM running a sequel.

Quote:
In the case of AlexanderHowl's suggestion, do they get the five points at the end of the troll wars? In which case that's the same as giving them the points at the end of a major story arc, whether you call that a "campaign" or not.
And my point is that that is the definition of "campaign" being used. There is another one, the one YOU'RE using, which doesn't mean that. You're applying YOUR definition to a statement made using the OTHER definition.

Quote:
Giving them five points after I said that I don't intend to run it again
... is not the situation I described.

Quote:
Giving them five points after I ended the world and they ascended into paradise and are very clearly not PCs anymore is going to encourage them to try to give me an aneurysm.
My example was of Norsemen saving their village, not ending the world. You are building straw men.
Stormcrow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 03:15 PM   #36
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
I like using characters in multiple campaigns within the same world, though I am always willing to have new character show up at the same level as the existing characters (old players leave and new players join, so you got to be flexible).
I almost never use the same world. I have a theme and premise I want to explore, and I build the world to fit them, or apply them to a borrowed fictional world. And when the exploration is done, I define a different world. Figuring out worlds is so much fun that I'm really reluctant to forgo it.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 03:20 PM   #37
Brandy
 
Brandy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Nashville, TN
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

I give four points at the beginning of each session. In that session, they are available for impulse buys (a house rule version); after the session, they convert to experience points. Players tend to spend 1-2 points each session on impulse buys and therefore have 2-3 points available to spend on character improvement.
__________________
I didn't realize who I was until I stopped being who I wasn't.
Formerly known as Bookman- forum name changed 1/3/2018.
Brandy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 05:04 PM   #38
sir_pudding
Wielder of Smart Pants
 
sir_pudding's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcrow View Post
Irrelevant. I'm not talking about players demanding sequels, I'm talking about the GM running a sequel.
"Players want to play in the Viking world again."
Quote:
And my point is that that is the definition of "campaign" being used. There is another one, the one YOU'RE using, which doesn't mean that. You're applying YOUR definition to a statement made using the OTHER definition.
Right, but I still don't understand what definition AlexanderHowl is using.
Quote:
My example was of Norsemen saving their village, not ending the world. You are building straw men.
No, I was joking about my own experience with a player:

"When are you going to run that game again?"
"The one that ended in the Apocalypse?"
"Yeah!"
"Uh, never?"
"But why not? I really liked my character!"
"Okay he is totally happy forever, and everything he does is satisfying and works all the time. He is entirely content for the rest of eternity. The end."
"Okay let's play that!"
"Uh, no."

Is literally a conversation I actually had.

That player would have been happy with more XP, but I have no idea why.
sir_pudding is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 05:49 PM   #39
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
Right, but I still don't understand what definition AlexanderHowl is using.
I've encountered at least three different concepts:

*I come up with a theme and premise and a problem, or a series of problems, that the PCs struggle with. That's a campaign. When the struggle is resolved, or the theme is fully explored, the campaign ends. The world was created for that campaign, and when the campaign ends, I put the world away.

*When the campaign ends, I keep the world, and later I'll come up with another campaign that the same PCs can participate it.

*I, or I and other GMs, come up with multiple campaigns set in a variety of worlds. The same PCs can be migrated freely between worlds, either at the end of a campaign, or perhaps during a campaign, though that's less usual. The existence of the PCs is independent of the existence of particular world.

The way I do things is generally the first. That is, a campaign for me is usually linked to a specific world and to a specific set of PCs. I've never had the urge to do the second, and I wouldn't tolerate the third.

However, that's not because I DEFINE a campaign as "a series of adventures that take place in a particular world," as Stormcrow seems to think. I define a campaign as a series of adventures with a common theme, premise, and/or central conflict, and normally with a single set of protagonists. The fact that for me, each world goes with a single campaign, more or less, isn't a matter of how I define "campaign"; it's a matter of my choosing to make up a new world for a new campaign. For someone who reused worlds more often than I do, I would consider "campaign" to be a smaller unit than "world."
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-12-2018, 08:00 PM   #40
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: Do you have any special rules/restrictions to regulate character advancement paci

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
However, that's not because I DEFINE a campaign as "a series of adventures that take place in a particular world," as Stormcrow seems to think.
No, I have no problem with how you define it or do it. I'm saying that when one person is using the word one way (AlexanderHowl), and another challenges him because of a misunderstanding of definition (sir_pudding), we should clear up the confusion by deciding which definition we're talking about.

AlexanderHowl said he gives 5-point bonuses at the end of a campaign. sir_pudding challenges this, on the assumption that the end of a campaign is the end of ever playing with those characters or that setting again, so what's the point of giving anyone points? AlexanderHowl says he defines campaign in the single-objective way. If you're going to be discussing regulation of character advancement and bonus points at the end of a campaign, you need to agree on which "campaign" you're talking about.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding
"Players want to play in the Viking world again."
By which I mean "GM says he's got another idea for a new Viking campaign, and the players say yeah, we want to do that," not "Players ask GM for another Viking campaign."
Stormcrow is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:42 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.