Tonight,..in the game I'm running,..we just took the newly-created Character Sheets (see the downloads section), and the recently finished rewrite of the Character Creation chapter (also in downloads) and I had all of my players RE-CREATE their characters in a two-step process that REALLY helped me to find any further kinks in the process,..and also REALLY indicated how much easier this new process is to follow and "get right" without becoming confused by the earlier rendition of the rules.
If any of the rest of you have already tried the old way and found it confusing and difficult, I have based this new method (and the new character sheets) on the loads of data and input you have provided me,.... and I HIGHLY encourage those you who have been running your games, to have your players do the same.
The first part of the process was having them start re-creating their character AS IT WAS WHEN THEY FIRST MADE IT,..using only those points given to them at startup (depending on the Power Level you chose). They will, however, be using the NEW rewrite of the Character Creation chapter exclusively, referring ONLY to the old Animal Templates, which haven't changed. In general,..using this new method players discovered MANY mistakes made when first attempting to make their characters, especially concerning totals of various equations and abilities and such adding up differently because the correct order was now being properly guided and enforced. Players discovered that sometimes they ended up with more points at their disposal to spend, and sometimes less. Many stated that their characters made "much more sense" now,..and that they had a much better "handle" on their character. Likewise, many rules seemed clearer to them this time, and they found it a much swifter process as well. Also,..there were even a few last minute changes made to the new character sheet (already changed and uploaded for your use), to make it even more useful in-game (and more accurate). All in all,..VERY productive!!!
This is all good news to me!!!
In the second part of this "shake-down" process, I then gave them back all the Story Points they have received so far during game play, to FINISH bringing their characters back up to date, which they then spent in a flurry of newly acquired understanding thanks to the clarity of the re-written rules.... This, by the way,..is a VERY good reason to keep track of the number of points handed out (in general) over the expanse of your campaign. Any time a character dies, and they wish to rejoin the campaign with a newly rolled-up character, then you know JUST how many points to give them (in addition to whatever points came with the Power Level they started with). Knowing this total also gives you an idea of what Power Level of campaign you are currently running, in case you need to reconsider the power of the creatures and hurdles you set against them...
Anyway,..this exercise certainly proved most useful for me, at least,..and had the added bonus of helping even my set of long-time players understand these rules better...
Let me know if any of you out there do the same,..and when you DO use these new rules, let me know if there is still further clarification needed...
Oh!! And as an aside,..I ended up making cheap copies of the entire new Character Creation chapter (without the Animal Templates) to give to each of my players. Since this chapter is the one perused most often when playing the game (at least, so far), giving them some cheap copies of the new rules to leaf through instead may help preserve the fairly fragile nature of the cheap glue-bindings of the hardcover books (which will start to fall apart if you use them too much)... Just a thought...
Thanks!!
Scottie
If any of the rest of you have already tried the old way and found it confusing and difficult, I have based this new method (and the new character sheets) on the loads of data and input you have provided me,.... and I HIGHLY encourage those you who have been running your games, to have your players do the same.
The first part of the process was having them start re-creating their character AS IT WAS WHEN THEY FIRST MADE IT,..using only those points given to them at startup (depending on the Power Level you chose). They will, however, be using the NEW rewrite of the Character Creation chapter exclusively, referring ONLY to the old Animal Templates, which haven't changed. In general,..using this new method players discovered MANY mistakes made when first attempting to make their characters, especially concerning totals of various equations and abilities and such adding up differently because the correct order was now being properly guided and enforced. Players discovered that sometimes they ended up with more points at their disposal to spend, and sometimes less. Many stated that their characters made "much more sense" now,..and that they had a much better "handle" on their character. Likewise, many rules seemed clearer to them this time, and they found it a much swifter process as well. Also,..there were even a few last minute changes made to the new character sheet (already changed and uploaded for your use), to make it even more useful in-game (and more accurate). All in all,..VERY productive!!!
This is all good news to me!!!
In the second part of this "shake-down" process, I then gave them back all the Story Points they have received so far during game play, to FINISH bringing their characters back up to date, which they then spent in a flurry of newly acquired understanding thanks to the clarity of the re-written rules.... This, by the way,..is a VERY good reason to keep track of the number of points handed out (in general) over the expanse of your campaign. Any time a character dies, and they wish to rejoin the campaign with a newly rolled-up character, then you know JUST how many points to give them (in addition to whatever points came with the Power Level they started with). Knowing this total also gives you an idea of what Power Level of campaign you are currently running, in case you need to reconsider the power of the creatures and hurdles you set against them...
Anyway,..this exercise certainly proved most useful for me, at least,..and had the added bonus of helping even my set of long-time players understand these rules better...
Let me know if any of you out there do the same,..and when you DO use these new rules, let me know if there is still further clarification needed...
Oh!! And as an aside,..I ended up making cheap copies of the entire new Character Creation chapter (without the Animal Templates) to give to each of my players. Since this chapter is the one perused most often when playing the game (at least, so far), giving them some cheap copies of the new rules to leaf through instead may help preserve the fairly fragile nature of the cheap glue-bindings of the hardcover books (which will start to fall apart if you use them too much)... Just a thought...
Thanks!!
Scottie