At 07:00 AM 7/13/99 -0400, Kevikazzam@... wrote:

>1) I feel that dark elves should have the bard class open to them.

I have no opinion on the question but would offer some insight into how to
answer it.

Perhaps this is true, but my experience with live roleplaying rules systems
says that your arguments must be based on out of game reasoning and
balance, not in-game culture, history, and racial characteristics. In-game
reasoning does have importance and must be considered, but since we're
creating an artificial world out-of-game constraints must take precedence.

If there is any chance of persuading Verant to open the bard class to dark
elves, the argument must be based on game balance. Once you have a
persuasive position there, inventing the in-game explanations for the way
things are is easy and fun and somewhat unnecessary, since people will do
it themselves even if you supply canned explanations.

The biggest problem with accomplishing your goal is prying information out
of Verant. They may have the killer out-of-game argument for the way
things are or they may not have thought very deeply about it. Making that
sort of determination in the face of Verant's general lack of communication
will be somewhere between difficult and impossible unless you can find the
right nerve to hit and actually get a response as we do from J.M. on some
topics.

Personally, I find attempts to communicate with Verant extremely
frustrating. For the most part people there, including J.M., don't even
acknowledge most questions or suggestions, so you have no clue when they're
even listening, much less what light they may be able to shed.

Bob