Re: Time:Scene, Phase, rounds?

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 13:58:10 -0700

> I've not got access so far to the full rules, only to the on-line
> synopsis and
> to what i've seen in this list.
> Being an ol'timer of runequest, i'm used to the round concept and its
> flexibility.
>
> I'm not sure i understand the new concept of time in HW.
>
> I've seen the AP switching mechanism discussed before, and it looks a
> bit strange to me:
>
> I understand an extended contest as a graphical exchange of
> blows(insults,
> taunts, stealthy moves vs perception ...). I don't really understand how
> long it
> lasts or how the environment would interfer with the ongoing action.

It lasts as long as it needs to. In a combat, each exchange is probably a couple of seconds (as long as you need to take a couple whacks, taunt, whatever). In negotiations such as buying a horse it might be 15 minutes, while negotiations with the chiefs of your tribe might be weeks.

"So," you may ask, "how long does a spell last"? Until the end of the contest, or when your narrator tells you that it wears off.

> After an extended contest to approach a lunar fortress,
> the Oscar Wild and his followers are discovered at the gates
> by a sentinel.
>
> The sentinel wants to shoot alarm, OW want to neutralise the
> sentinel.
>
> Well the sentinel is 10 meters, so OW decides to fire the knife he had
> in
> his hand.
>
> Any body has an idea of how we should manage it system wise?

any one of several ways:

If one side saw the other first, it can start the contest by making an action (OW will throw his knife (Oscar can throw knives?!?)), or the guard will yell the alarm).

If both sides are equally surprised, then you can call for Quickness tests (as Trotsky suggested), or go by Higher AP ( as someone else suggested for mutual suprise/attack situations), or whatever other way you can devise to determine who gets to go first ("Never Surprised" should give an advantage...)

> Supose the sentinel has succeded to shoot the alarm and guards are now
> arriving
> one by one.
>
> This is probably an extended contest, but how do we quantify the rising
> force of
> the guards system wise? how do we account for the various actions that
> the guards
> could want to start (melee, magic, ...).

You can add in extra guards as individuals, this allows them to take individual actions (these three are fighting, that guy is trying to close the gate, that one is casting some kind of magic...) or:
Add them in as Followers of the main guard (just adding their AP to his, and negating Multiple Attacker penalties if he suffers them). This won't allow them to do multiple things, just add their AP to the main hero.

Roderick

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