[Torg] Possibilities: Better Results Now VS Character Advancement

[Kansas Jim]

Sam writes:

>From what I've seen, and worse what I've heard from people on this list, not having possibilities
> to raise a skill and succeed where needed is not the problem. Quite the opposite. Too many
> possibilities available for the PCs is the issue. And when the game is played with knowledgeable
> players, I too have seen this issue, though I have a tendency to not-so-subtlety drop a hammer. 

WEG claimed that the "too many possibilities" problem was what led them
to split things into Life Points and Skill Points and put a maximum
limit on the number of Life Points characters can have in Masterbook.
But I think the real problem there was more a case of GMs giving out
adventure awards that were too generous to begin with, they mentioned
getting letters where GMs bitched about their players having so many
P-Points they could spend them on almost every roll and never run out.
Well how did they get so many P-Points to begin with, hmmm?

I met one player who told me about a previous Torg GM he played with
who gave out like a dozen P-Points as the Act Award! He said that at
the end of adventures he was able to improve every one of his skills
and still have more than enough P-Points to never fail at anything he
did during the next adventure. When the PCs are running around with
as many P-Points (and eventually skills as high) as the High Lords,
something ain't right and I don't think it was the game system's fault.

-- 
Kansas Jim, Torg guru (ksjim (at) sdc (dot) org)
Torg website: http://www.sdc.org/~ksjim/index.html