Forum > The Official Amber DRPG, Erick Wujcik, and Lords of Olympus Forum
[ADRP] Endurance
James McMurray:
Reposting since it was ignored. Anyone wanting to remain on topic please feel free to reply:
--- Quote ---What are some good ways to bend a contest so that your superior endurance can take effect? I'm thinking that going for a hell ride would work, as they either chase and get exhausted quicker or leave you alone. If you're in some sort of negotiations you could haggle over every niggling little detail ("No, I think we should spell it theatre"). Anything other ideas?
--- End quote ---
Erick Wujcik:
--- Quote from: finarvyn ---...as a numbers guy I would be happier if there was some sort of guideline for me to use. Not too specific, because I don't want my players to get so hung up on the numbers that they try to min/max the game...
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Here is the guideline.
Let the players know, ideally during the Attribute Auction, that wimpy bids are likely to result in the specific Attribute being weak.
For example, from time to time I've pointed out that the Attribute Auction sets the 'ladder' for the player characters. Not for the non-player characters. If, for example, the auction for Endurance sputters out, then I might (and have, on many occassions) point out that the player characters might have some problems when they face off against, say, dwellers from the Courts of Chaos, or some other factions.
This perspective explains Corwin, and why, in Zelazny's books, Endurance is hugely important. Effectively, Corwin bid high on Endurance, higher even than the highest bids for other Attributes. Therefore, in Zelazny's version of Amber, Endurance ended up being the decisive Attribute over and over again.
Erick
Otha:
This, to me, seems paradoxical.
On the one hand, you encourage players to bid high in an attribute because NPC's might be better at them if they don't.
On the other hand, you say that once the bids are over, you shift campaign focus to the ones where they DID bid high.
Can you see why I see a contradiction?
finarvyn:
--- Quote from: Otha ---Can you see why I see a contradiction?
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Yes, but it's really two different effects that often work together.
1. If players don't bid anything high, they think they have "worked the system" and gotten great characters for low prices. Then, when they encounter NPCs in the game, they find that their attributes are worth exactly what they paid for them. I encourage my players to bid high because they are competing with NPCs as well as establishing a ladder within the party.
2. I like to shift the focus of the campaign in the direction where they bid a lot because they are really voting for a campaign style. One of my groups is really big on Psyche so they get more magical and mind-attacking style in their game. Another group really likes Warfare, so their opponents are often more into swordplay and a totally different style. Of course, sometimes I throw a big Psyche type at my Warfare crowd just to keep them on their toes, but I let their bids help me define my campaign. The same kind of thing happens in my D&D games where some groups are all fighters and others mostly spellcasters -- their choice helps me decide how to challenge them.
So ... I don't see this as a paradox because I have more than one goal in mind and their bidding can satisfy those goals at the same time.
Does that help?
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