This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

Author Topic: [Amber] How do you compare NPCs with stats above Amber to PCs?  (Read 2807 times)

James McMurray

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • J
  • Posts: 4790
[Amber] How do you compare NPCs with stats above Amber to PCs?
« Reply #15 on: December 04, 2006, 09:17:39 PM »
Check out HexMapper. It lets you draw your own bitmaps for hexes.

RPGPundit

  • Administrator - The Final Boss of Internet Shitlords
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 48855
    • http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com
[Amber] How do you compare NPCs with stats above Amber to PCs?
« Reply #16 on: December 05, 2006, 01:11:10 AM »
Quote from: finarvyn
And that's a fine thing, really. My early D&D worlds from the 1970's were all done by hand in little spiral notebooks, and that worked just fine. In fact, I used to keep track of PCs and NPCs on 3x5" notecards and filed them in a little box.

Now I prefer to do my campaigns by computer and that works for me as well, except that now I want to do hex-maps on the computer and can't get them to look the way I want. I just trade one hassle for another, I guess. :cool:


Yes, I think it ties into why I like playing RPGs and don't play any Computer games; or why I adore playing backgammon, but don't play computer backgammon; etc etc.

Its because to me the tactile (for lack of a better term) element of these sorts of games is a big draw.  I don't want a program to map a dungeon with; I want to make one myself on hex paper with lots of scribbled notes.  It feels cooler to me.

RPGPundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

JongWK

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3010
[Amber] How do you compare NPCs with stats above Amber to PCs?
« Reply #17 on: December 11, 2006, 02:54:35 PM »
Quote from: James McMurray
Check out HexMapper. It lets you draw your own bitmaps for hexes.


I know that one. It's very good and easy to use.
"I give the gift of endless imagination."
~~Gary Gygax (1938 - 2008)


Arref

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 176
    • http://www.skyseastone.net/itsog/
[Amber] How do you compare NPCs with stats above Amber to PCs?
« Reply #18 on: December 15, 2006, 09:44:28 AM »
Quote from: hgjs
In Amber, the players create a hierarchy for each stat by bidding character points for ranking.  Supposedly the amount paid is irrelevant.  However, the stats of NPCs with stats higher than Amber level are given in terms of point values rather than ranking.  I cannot imagine that anyone would play this game without this coming up and being resolved in short order, so what is the community accepted solution?  Is there one?

(My own thoughts:
The most obvious way of handling this is treating the point value of an NPC stat as its bid, and putting it wherever that would place it in the ranking.  However, this would have the effect of shortchanging the players if the initial attribute bidding didn't run high, while supposedly there should be no advantage or disadvantage to that.  My next thought was to "scale" the point value of the attribute by comparing the points spent on it by the first-ranked person to what you would "expect" to be spent on it -- so if the highest Warfare is 20 but the expected highest Warfare is 30, then all NPC Warfare values should be multiplied by 2/3 before being compared with the PCs.  The problem with that is that I lack the play experience to judge what reasonable expected values are.)


The community standard seems to be that points are the coin of competency. This allows you to fairly introduce new cousins, old forgotten elders and completely strange menaces.

Ranks are noted for "generational conflicts" and may be useful for cross-generation arbitration of conflict as Pundit suggests.

There are no reasonable expected values across the community.
in the Shadow of Greatness
—sharing on game ideas and Zelazny's Amber

Otha

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • O
  • Posts: 365
[Amber] How do you compare NPCs with stats above Amber to PCs?
« Reply #19 on: December 16, 2006, 09:36:54 AM »
The only purpose for the rankings is to generate rivalries between PC's, unless the GM gives out special "goodies" for first place.