RE: When Hirudo were voted on

[Daniel Lawrence <dan@aquest.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From:	Kris Ames [SMTP:kris@cioe.com]
Sent:	Monday, October 19, 1998 8:52 AM
To:	gmlist@cioe.com
Subject:	When Hirudo were voted on

Well,

It seems no one posted on the results of the voting when Hirudo were
indeed voted on this summer, but as you can see in this post they were
voted on during a GM meeting on 6/27.

I personally remember Dan saying at the time (obviously he could have
changed his mind)  "With these new changes to Hirudo I think they are
playable for local campaign use although I won't be changing them in the
book".

Honestly Kris, I know I feel so strongly about Hirudo that I can not 
conceive that I would have said that. I remember the vote, yes the quorum 
of GMs at the time wanted Hirudo as adventurers. I thought at the time that 
it was going to be difficult to accept the fact that I still did not want 
adventurers starting as Hirudo.

What may have led up to this confusion is the fact that after the re-write, 
they are easier to digest then before, and that I am pretty sure I said I 
would not (and never generally do) 'go after' to change the ones that 
already existed. Also, in character, no one EVER starts out being brought 
up as a Priest of Rudri, being taught that as a background and buying the 
skills at base cost. Hirudo's are given the dark gift later in life after 
they have acquired their early knowledge and training. (BTW children as 
hirudo are pretty vulnerable, and would have a low survival change... even 
if this happens, they have not yet acquired a background and buy EVERYTHING 
at triple cost)

The upshot here is that it does not even make since for an adventurer to 
start out as a Hirudo. If their adventuring life is supposed to represent 
the significant events of their lifetime, we generally accept they have 
done nothing significant before they are played (and thus have earned no 
extra experience or gained any additional skills/abilities beyond their 
training). So, regardless of our feelings on this subject, it does not make 
sense to start out as a Hirudo.

As for any adventurer acquiring the dark gift....I believe that its impact 
on the campaign is so large, and so potentially unstabilizing that I do 
want to be involved, and approve, beforehand, of any such event.

As to the posting hassles... remember this was before we had some of these 
procedures in place. It would seem much less likely for this to occur today 
than it would have last summer.

							dan

Guys,  We really, really need to have all voting posted to this list and
Dan's yeah or neah also posted with in one week of any vote.  That way we
have this all documented and there can be no question later (like we are
having now).

-Kris
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