Re: Combat

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 11:13:04 -0700


>
> >> How does the HW system allow for someone like one of the Gloranthan
> >> Superheroes, like Harrak to carve through a company(or more) of enemy
> >troops?
>
> >2. The narrator can group the grunts together into a single unit and have
> >that attack Harrek. While it still has the same attack ability, it now
has
> >the AP to last a few rounds.
>
> I assume you cancel out follower numbers, and apply what's left as
> Multiple Attacker modifiers? I seem to remember the WB&RM (as it was
> still called when I bought it :) counters represents about 250 troops,
> so Harrek & his 50 buddies would be at about -600! So it doesn't QUITE
> work... of course, if only 6 opponents can get at harrek at a time,
> that's different...

Nope, under the rules (some people have suggested modofications) each additional time you have to defend you get the -3 Multiple attacker penalty. Since a composite greoup attacks only once, you don't have to worry about it.

The composite group mechanics are specifically meant for the "lots of inconsequential guys" type scenes, where Our Hero wades through body parts and blood up to his armpits and comes out barely breathing hard. The group doesn't have any better chance of hitting Our Hero than a grunt does, but the number of AP slows down the hero (giving the villain time to escape, or cast his grand magical spell, or whatever).

Just to reiterate a point - HW does not model reality. It models action-adventure stories (from Gilgamesh to the movies). Heroes are Heroes, spear carriers are just in the way and are there to slow down but not stop the hero. The best way to kill a hero is with another hero, because that is dramatically appropriate. The greek heroes of the Illiad kill each other, their followers are barely mentioned. Mordred kills Arthur, not some footsoldier with a spear. James Bond defeats footsoldier after footsoldier with ease, but has long fights with henchemen (Bond-ian masterminds tend to run away rather than fight). The Terminator is taken down by the hero with a home-made bomb, not by a cop with an anti-tank rocket...

The more men involved on one side of a fight, the less individual ability they have, and the less chance that they will take down the hero (unless the plot demands that he be captured, or go out in a blaze of glory like Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid or Bonny & Clyde).

While HW tends to discuss things with a Movie or TV metaphor, much of these came from centuries of storytelling. Jason & the Argonauts is about a Hero band, the Odyssy is about a Hero with a band of followers, etc. Many of today's stories are retellings of ancient stories (the 80's gang movie "The Warriors" is based on the Anabasis of Xenophon...).

Roderick, babbling

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