Kiero
2010-07-04, 11:28 AM
I find ArM sometimes interesting, particularly when applied to different timeframes and locations (I got involved in a PbP game a few years back that was set in early Colonial America [circa 1750], for example).
But there's a big thing that really puts me off the game: troupe play. When I'm a GM, I play the world, I have to worry about everyone and every thing. When I'm a player, I love that I only have to worry about "my guy" and my guy alone. As I understand the default model in ArM, you have to play three characters, covering three different social levels.
You've got the mage, who's supposedly the star of the game, the big mover and shaker who deals with the unknowable powers of magic and the politics of his own kind. You've got the companion, a capable mortal set apart from others because they've been chosen by the mage to represent them and take care of things that need a special touch. And you've got the grog, a servant or other member of the lowest orders who gives you a view from the ground floor as it were.
There's a double-whammy for me there; I don't like playing multiple characters, and neither mage nor grog interest me in the slightest. The companion on the other hand is exactly my kind of fun.
Would it break a traditional game of ArM to only play one out of the three (besides that player possibly sitting on their hands when their character isn't permitted to be involved in magely business)? Are there ways around this, or has anyone had to deal with it? It is possible to dispense with the troupe model altogether (and just let people pick one of them to be "theirs")?
But there's a big thing that really puts me off the game: troupe play. When I'm a GM, I play the world, I have to worry about everyone and every thing. When I'm a player, I love that I only have to worry about "my guy" and my guy alone. As I understand the default model in ArM, you have to play three characters, covering three different social levels.
You've got the mage, who's supposedly the star of the game, the big mover and shaker who deals with the unknowable powers of magic and the politics of his own kind. You've got the companion, a capable mortal set apart from others because they've been chosen by the mage to represent them and take care of things that need a special touch. And you've got the grog, a servant or other member of the lowest orders who gives you a view from the ground floor as it were.
There's a double-whammy for me there; I don't like playing multiple characters, and neither mage nor grog interest me in the slightest. The companion on the other hand is exactly my kind of fun.
Would it break a traditional game of ArM to only play one out of the three (besides that player possibly sitting on their hands when their character isn't permitted to be involved in magely business)? Are there ways around this, or has anyone had to deal with it? It is possible to dispense with the troupe model altogether (and just let people pick one of them to be "theirs")?