What You See is What You Are
It occured to me yesterday at work… People are different. People see things differently.
Yes, it’s quite a shock, I know but listen anyway. Think about it for a moment. Why is this guy a comedian and why is this guy a soldier?
The answer is simple. They see things differently. A comedian is a good comedian if he looks at something and see what humor he can get from it. The soldier is a good soldier if he looks at something and sees tactics, weak spots, entry points and so forth.
I’m not saying that people are divisible into professionions from birth. These things can be taught but for some it just comes naturally and those are the geniuses. Those are the people that we put on a pedastel.
Just think about it some time. Go out there and find a situation. Look at it and think about what you see there. Is it humor? Is it compassion? Is it cynicism? Is it art?
I think what you see is what you are.
And thus, it brings me to RPGs. Again.
There are basically two ways of defining a Role-Playing system’s character definition. One way is through professions and levels, the other through skills.
In D&D for example, the system is based on professions and levels. The first two definining characteristics of your character is its race and its profession. Profession leads to certain skills and certain abilities that are very difficult or impossible for other professions. Some people stick with this form of thinking, some people are stuck with this form of thinking and some are sick with this form of thinking.
The HERO system, on the other hand, is based on skills and powers. The defining characteristics of your character are its skills and its powers and those tell you what it can do. I support the latter and say there is merit in it and it is infact more flexible and more varied.
However, there may be an explanation to profession based systems. Take real people for example. The job we do usually takes up one third of our day (with sleep taking another third), one third of our life. And if you remove from the equation people who do things just because they really need the money and not because they really want to do it, you have the people that their profession is one of their more defining features.
For example, a career soldier, a treasure hunter, a doctor, a pilot, a fire-fighter, a professional driver… All of these people took these jobs because they have in them the characteristics that are required for these sort of jobs and these sort of jobs can help you define the people who take them.
A soldier is usually someone who has no problem with authority, is brave and has no problem doing what it takes to get the job done. A doctor is usually someone who wants to help people, who is compassionate and values life above all else.
I’m not saying there are no exceptions but don’t tell me you can’t see the pattern.
Posted in Role-Playing, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with comments disabled.