Forum > The Official Amber DRPG, Erick Wujcik, and Lords of Olympus Forum
Making first place awesome enough to bid for
RPGPundit:
--- Quote from: James McMurray ---I'm not done reading it yet, but isn't it set up so that rank 3 can never beat rank 2 in a fair contest, rank 18 can never beat 17 in a fair contest, etc.? So haven't you just said "make it awesome by using the rules?" Or alternatively, "make it awesome by making it awesome?"
Forgive this newbie, but those statements don't do me a lot of good.
--- End quote ---
Well, the point is that whoever gets ranked 1st is the best of his generation (and note: he should be that, at the very least there should be no other Amberite NPC "cousin" of his that would be his equal or better). That gives a kind of security. Yes, if you're 2nd the other guys can't beat you, but the guy who's 1st can.
I mean, optionally, you can make 1st be even better, able to do certain tricks, in other words, CONSIDERABLY better than 2nd (better than the diff between 2nd and 3rd); but really to me its more to do with the GM making sure that the difference matters.
There's also a social/intimidation aspect. Remember that 1st ranked in something doesn't just mean you're the best, it means everyone in the family knows you're the best.
RPGPundit
finarvyn:
--- Quote from: RPGPundit ---
Dude, you don't need a fucking "relationship map" because if you run the attribute auction right, the competition between the players will start there. That's where you'll start getting grudges between players; a good GM will put those who competed heavily with each other in certain portions of the auction as "pre-existing rivals", its what the auction is meant to generate!
--- End quote ---
Ah, but the problem lies in my present gaming group -- which is composed of my wife, two children (teenage), my sister, and a couple of family friends. Getting them to have a friendly grudge is harder than it looks with this particular mix of players, and they really are more interested in everyone having fun rather than dominating each other. That's the "problem" with being a crusty old guy with a family who loves to role play.
Now, if I could turn back the clock to play ADRP with my old high school/college gaming buddies that would be a whole new ballgame. They were mostly sick bastards who would stab each other in the back just for the fun of it, only the ADRP hadn't been invented yet! :mad:
By the way, that's also why my attempts to run SORCERER have been less edgy that I would like. The dynamic of my group doesn't quite mix well with certain styles of play.
Otha:
--- Quote from: RPGPundit ---
Dude, you don't need a fucking "relationship map" because if you run the attribute auction right, the competition between the players will start there. That's where you'll start getting grudges between players; a good GM will put those who competed heavily with each other in certain portions of the auction as "pre-existing rivals", its what the auction is meant to generate!
--- End quote ---
When you run the auction, all the players see around the table are their friends (and maybe family). In a healthy group, it's really really hard to generate those rivalries unless they're pre-existing. The attribute auction can fall totally flat if the players sit down and say, "Okay, Ben, which do you want to be first in? Strength? Okay, how much do you want to buy it for? Ten? Ten is good. Ron, what do you want? Warfare? Okay, that's cool. Fifteen points? Good. I'd like first in Psyche, but I also want to get Advanced Pattern, is everyone okay if I just spend twenty on it? Okay..."
And really, if they realize that they CAN do this, and that it'll work, then no matter what goodies you attach to first place, no matter how you browbeat them, they'll just spend their points and that'll be it. No rivalries, no high bids, lots of powers and lots of artifacts, etc.... so no bullshit about "if you run the auction right" because you can't guarantee it, especially with a group like the one we're talking about here.
So if the auction isn't going to work, then you HAVE to go with something more visceral. A relationship map is one way to generate that.
James McMurray:
What's a relationship map?
finarvyn:
First of all, the "relationship map" is designed for campaigns which are more social and interactive, such as AMBER or SORCERER. Putting one together for a standard D&D game may be interesting, but since most modules are more "us against them" we don't usually need such things for those games.
The basic idea for a "relationship map" is that you write down all of the names of important characters (both PC and NPC) on a piece of paper and draw lines between characters who are connected somehow -- marriage, siblings, same employer, whatever.
Put together as many connections as possible and you build this web of interconnected characters. I required my players to pick at least two connections between themselves and people on my list of PC/NPC choices. I also encouraged them not to select only "good" relationships but to include at least one "bad" relationship. This tends to spark rivalries and such.
What I try to do is to take players who usually team up and make them rivals, while other players who rarely take the same side may get some reason to work together. It tends to shake up the group and force them to care more about the fate of other characters.
It's a nice bookkeeping tool and makes players think more about the history of their characters. Some of my players do this already, others need to have it forced upon them. ;)
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