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Post by suboptimal on Jan 17, 2015 8:05:16 GMT -8
So, i´ve been thinking about using the movie "Franstein´s Army" as inspiration for a SaWo one-shot plot. The characters would be the WWII squad team trying to get into the castle to find & rescue "the scientist". Question: Should different Military Ranks in the squad start out with different XP ranks? I think, that at least the squad leader should get some extra XPs. (And no, i´m not worried about gamebalance or anything.)
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
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Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Jan 18, 2015 13:23:59 GMT -8
The way I'd run it is mostly novices, maybe one of two "seasoned" but don't necessarily equate that with rank. Commissioned platoon officers were often straight out of training. The Sargent is likely to be one of the seasoned characters, but I'd make a seasoned private too.
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Post by suboptimal on Jan 20, 2015 9:13:13 GMT -8
Hmm. ok. So i guess you mean the XP rank should depend more on the background of the characters. Yeah, that´s a good point. I´ll keep that in mind. Depending on how much background i want to give these pregens i´ll consider this, thanks.
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Post by shadrack on Jan 21, 2015 8:09:32 GMT -8
I would approach it a bit differently: I would likely have everyone at the same xp level, but just be sure that the edges you give help craft the character (probably for role filling) regardless of xp level or military rank. Basically you're going to have archetypes.
sargent - should have leader-y edges to share bennies, etc. also luck (he's still alive isn't he?) lieutenant - possibly more 'book learnin' type. Maybe knowledge: tactics or something like that, and/or possibly make him the egg-head of the group. In charge, but wet behind the ears?
Then you get to the privates: maybe something like sniper: marksman scout: notice and alertness grenadier/demolitions: knowledge: demolitions and throw baby! medic: appropriate edges radio: tech guy.
I just don't see the need for various xp levels. (if you have players with power gamey tendencies they will notice)
Another thing I like to do with pregens is to let the player customize hindrances: give them 2 or 3 major hindrances and let them pick one (circle it on the sheet, and tell you). Give them a list of 5 minor hindrances and pick 2, that sort of thing. (it doesn't require much in the way of system mastery/knowledge - won't break your character, and gives the player some buy-in on 'their' character). Sometimes I also give them a knowledge or two that they can select as well to help flesh out their character.
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tomes
Supporter
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Post by tomes on Jan 21, 2015 14:34:19 GMT -8
Another thing I like to do with pregens is to let the player customize hindrances: give them 2 or 3 major hindrances and let them pick one (circle it on the sheet, and tell you). Give them a list of 5 minor hindrances and pick 2, that sort of thing. (it doesn't require much in the way of system mastery/knowledge - won't break your character, and gives the player some buy-in on 'their' character). Sometimes I also give them a knowledge or two that they can select as well to help flesh out their character. I'm with you here. Another strategy is to have a pool of hindrance and let the PCs select from those. Once someone has one, it's therefore unavailable to everyone else. Instead of providing any hindrance in the book, only list those that you are pertinent to the game, or feel like they'll have some impact in the story. This prevents the following problem: 6 PCs with 3 hindrance each = 18 hindrance that you have to distribute if you don't want overlap. If instead you have PCs with 3 hindrance each and there is overlap on the character sheets, then you may have a situation where more than one PC chooses the same hindrance (not necessarily a problem, but may not be what you're after).
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Post by suboptimal on Jan 24, 2015 1:07:34 GMT -8
Yes, that was what i´ve been thinking about.
A leader, one or two "seasoned" soldiers (sniper, demolition expert ect.) and one or two privates (medic, tech guy ect.), something like that.
Both great ideas, thanks.
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