> On 10/5/09, Travis Watkins <[email protected]> wrote: > > Then again, if chimerical sentients are common enough, it might not be > > that much easier to track. > > > > What is the difference between 'tall Caucasian with short brown hair' > > and 'short Minotaur with light-brown head-fur' when at least 1/3 of > > the local population are chimeric? > > > > It just depends on the local population('We don't have many of _your_ > > type around these here parts' works just as well for Arabs, Asians, > > Cat-men, and Minotaurs), if there are several families in the area, > > 'just follow the horns' does not work quite as well. > > > > Also, the Uncanny Valley is a race specific modifier, and if that race > > is not around much, then that should not be a relevant modifier. Just > > as if red-heads cause Minotaurs to charge, it is not relevant for > > playing a red-head in a sci-fi game without chimeras. > > > > I would put all racial appearance modifiers in a 'setting specific' > > section of the description. > > Anything else is just flavor. > > > Besides, humans aren't the "norm" in all settings. Sure, it's typical > of fantasy settings for humans to form the majority and baseline, but > that's not necessarily the case. In settings where all kinds of > sapient species are widely represented (e.g. Earthdawn) it would be > rather silly to rate the point value of everyone's appearance based on > what a single specific species thinks of them.
Precisely. It's a points sop. Or humanocentrism. All tribes see themselves as normal and others as weird, alien and wrong. But this leads to you needing a matrix of points and taking a mean figure for the template. ...which could also be said to be a points sop. So there really isnt a good answer... Ta McE _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
