Character Creation

[M. J. Young]

I didn't take Perception as being precisely sensory, but being more like something covered by Intuition as I understand it.  It's not really how well you can see or hear, but more a matter of your level of external awareness.

My eyesight is horrible; it's been estimated as something near 20/500, which is legally blind. It's not a problem, though. I've been wearing glasses since fourth grade, and wouldn't trade them in for anything, and with them my vision is 20/15--considerably better than most people.  My hearing has a lot of strengths; I use to tune pianos. But none of this makes me perceptive. That's something I have to make an effort to practice--noticing the world around me does not come naturally.

Maybe I misunderstood the concept, but when I think of perception I'm not really thinking about sensory accuity.

For more on this idea and how it integrates with play, I've got an old RPGnet article entitled http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/mjyoung99.html">Intuition and Surprise.

--M. J. Young

[Kester Pelagius]

Greetings Mike,

And in Dunjon, senses are crucial skills, as they are easy to employ in a Directorial manner.

I think you hit the nail right on the head with that one, Mike.

Senses manifest as *skills* in most RPGs.  Even Perception, when available as a Stat, is usually optional or provided as a after thought attribute.  Harkening back to AD&D 1st ED we had a Perception Stat way before one was ever introduced in Dragon as an optional rule.  Of which, I believe, two versions were.

I'm not sure, it's been so darn long, but there were other optional states included in UA of a similar vein.  Comliness, I think, was one.  One of those Stats that most people thought was covered by Charisma.

Just a few examples off the top of me noggin.


Kind Regards.

[Kester Pelagius]

Greetings M. J.,

I didn't take Perception as being precisely sensory, but being more like something covered by Intuition as I understand it.  It's not really how well you can see or hear, but more a matter of your level of external awareness.

Right or wrong most probably do.

Perception is, after all, how one percieves things.  To most that means sight, how well they see.

Maybe I misunderstood the concept, but when I think of perception I'm not really thinking about sensory accuity.

Not thinking about sensory accuity!?  E-gads, man, what's that leave us then?  (jk)

As for intuition and surprise, those are seperate things.  Just like Comliness can be seperated from Charisma.  Of course naming your attribute Appearance is probably the best way to go, for clarity.

I suppose, when it comes right down to it, all that really matters is how the game designer defines the attribute.

So, to get back onto topic, those groupings.  Fine.  Just be sure that you-- no, not you, M.J., the other guy-- define what those attributes represent with clarity that even those of us wearing glasses (yep, me too!) can understand.  ;)


Kind Regards.

[kevin671]

Uhh.....I just noticed something about my original post......I didn't include any "social" attributes......

Social Group
Charisma
Appearance

That should about round out the attribute list nicely.......

M.J.:  RPG's do not necessarily represent the real world.......If they did, we wouldn't need RPG's.  In classic RPG's, the "heroes" go about saving the world on a regular basis.  The focus is more on the "quest" than on the character attributes.  Now, a game based on real life, on the other hand, might stat out each individual "sense" or trait that a particular character might have......might look something like this:

Eyesight                                                                                      Hearing
Touch
Taste
Smell

Reflexes
Dexterity
Hand-Eye Coordination
Agility

Strength
Stamina
Constitution
Vitality

I mean.....right here we have 13 attributes, and I could go on.  Stating out each aspect of a characters attributes would make an unwieldy character.  Now imagine a GM trying to deal with a small group of such characters, plus NPCs.......sounds like a rough time to me.......