[Torg] Improving Attributes in play: Edges

[Travis James Hall]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: torg-bounces at justintimeadventures.com 
> [mailto:torg-bounces at justintimeadventures.com] On Behalf Of Chris
> Sent: Sunday, 16 November 2008 3:21 AM
> To: torg at justintimeadventures.com
> Subject: Re: [Torg] Improving Attributes in play: Edges
> 
> So you're a visual learner and think that what a teacher can 
> do for you is minimal. Try to learn ballroom dance with a 
> partner from a book forget how, and then try to learn it from 
> a teacher. I assure you that a lot of the things in Torg may 
> be explained by a teacher, but are most likely handled with a 
> very large amount of visual information, with people showing 
> you how it is done.

Obviously there's more complexity in learning than just the student's
learning style. I don't deny it.

However, something to bear in mind... I did once have to learn to dance, in
a big hurry, during a roleplaying game. I had, as a teacher, a competitive
ballroom dancer and sometime-instructor. (I don't see her at the roleplaying
conventions so often these days, because she attends dance championships on
the same weekend now.) Repeated attempts to instruct me in basic steps
failed. I achieved my limited success when I asked her to stop for a minute,
closed my eyes, created a binary code in my head to represent the dance
steps, translated that into a financial accounting analogy for my character
(because I had to dance in character, not just as myself - binary worked for
me, but not for Anthony Kingdom) and then used my code/analogy to guide my
movements.

The point? Learning styles are not equally effective from one person to the
next.

> The most obvious example is martial arts. 

Done that too. I could have learnt the principles watching a video, but I
did definitely need my instructor as a sparring partner to put the moves
into practice.

Some skills are easier to learn using certain methods. Instruction by a
teacher is not always the most effective.

Travis Hall