This is why you should work out.

[Songthrush]

I have a great character. He is not strong enough to drag a note unaided.

That's right, a NOTE.

As in, dragging, sliding one under the door.

HOW MANY SUCH WEAKLINGS LIVE AMONG US!

[Sho]

Quite a few; I've heard of it happening before.

[SekoETC]

I guess everyone has about one. I have one that I know off, though I haven't tried with all of them.

[Redbeard]

I had one that couldn't do it... then I quit and when I tried a second time the note just slid under with no problem... Maybe it is random timing..

[Songthrush]

I assure you it's not! Here it is, from the horse's mouth.
(I got in touch with PD and someone nice sent me this very reassuring reply)

"your character is just not strong enough to drag a note unaided . The default minium weight of any object is greater than your character drag."

He can't lift the default minimum weight of any object. In his late twenties, I always envisioned him to be the vigorous, love-life type. I guess I should rethink that; something along the lines of congenital heart disease, profound laziness, obesity, total lack of healthy reflex.

The people that now got him as the leader of their town will be glad to learn that.

[SekoETC]

Aww. Well my leader of a town (not the first one, the less known one) is my weakest character, and I imagine her a grandmotherly, frail person, even though her hair is still coppery brown without a hint of gray. Only when there's a troublemaker around she wishes she had more strenght to stop them from hurting people, otherwise it doesn't bother her at all.

[The Sociologist]

That's how you can tell apart experienced-player newspawns these days. They hit a pigeon, hit themselves, and then drag a note under a door. Then only do they just maybe speak. Or alternatively they fall asleep....

Recovering notes from wherever they got dragged to can become quite a chore in some towns.

Seriously, trying to be a town leader if you cannot even drag a -note- under a door must be quite a challenge, whereas the scariest tyrants would be those who can drag unaided. Even your own town guards could easily be rendered utterly terrified of you. Potential -real- Stalin types, those. Time for a purge, anyone?

After all, control in this game is all about locked doors and dragging. No other form of combat works by itself. Indeed, I'm seriously considering posting some suggestions to liven things up a bit, eg. six youngsters armed with bone clubs would stand a chance at breaking down an ordinary locked door, but not a bronze door. The latter would take at minimum six people with sledgehammers, but then there's also a steel reinforced door....

Let's have some variety! Some opportunities for mass action. I'm starting to find the game rather stultifying, almost fascist at times. And that makes it boring, and being boring it loses people.

[chadpants]

After all, control in this game is all about locked doors and dragging. No other form of combat works by itself.

I disagree. In Seko's and Songthrush's cases, it may not matter whether they can drag a note or do more than "awkwardly" handle a weapon. Great leaders surround themselves with great people, or strong people as the case may be. Even in the Cantrian world, more often than not leaders leave the "wet work" to their minions.

Control in this game is really about having the right tools, charisma, wealth, power, strength, or whatever your character has that makes other characters follow her or him.

[SekoETC]

If you are a skilled or expert fighter who can drag people with one hand, you're likely to be a different kind of a leader than one who can't push a note under a door and is awkward in combat. But which one is a better leader doesn't depend on these skills but something that's not and cannot be programmed. Personality, mental strenght, people skills...

[The Sociologist]

If you are a skilled or expert fighter who can drag people with one hand, you're likely to be a different kind of a leader than one who can't push a note under a door and is awkward in combat.

Quite so, but there are perhaps rather too many of the former and a certain "sameness" about the whole thing.

[Surly]

I always envisioned him to be the vigorous, love-life type. I guess I should rethink that; something along the lines of congenital heart disease, profound laziness, obesity, total lack of healthy reflex.

Yep... this was the result of the "Tell them how to play, don't let them do it themselves..." change that skills brought.

It's amazing that absolutely noone has yet come up with an argument that convinces me skills were necessary or even a good idea...