Re: Digest Number 25

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 09:59:18 -0700


> > >That's your perogative, of course, but in Glorantha lone heroes *can*
> > >stomp through masses of troops (hell, in stories from the real world
they
> > >do, too - look at the Song of Roland or Lancelot's rescue of Guenever
for
> > >examples).
> >
> >Followers *are* important. No-one is saying that *by himself* Harrek will
> >take out a regiment of troops (1000 men to the regiment).
>
> Actually, that's exactly what you said - in the bit I quoted, and you
> included in your reply to me. Of course if you didn't quite mean what you
> wrote, we have no disagreement on Gloranthan truth.

Hm, read a silent ("and his buddies") after almost every mention of Harrek. There are a few times that Big H worked on his own (in the early years, mostly), but he wasn't taking on regiments at the time - more mano-a-mano stuff in the Dart games and such.

> >Followers in HW do the following things for you -
> >
> >Lend APs.
> >Keep multiple attackers off your back
> >Allow you to attack multiple people with no penalty
> >Can be sent on missions, make camp, cook, and all that other non-heroic
> >stuff. If your hero has any pretension to herodom, he should at least
> >have a faithful companion, if not a dozen bully-boys!
>
> Now this puzzles me. If there is no penalty for attacking multiple people
> (providing the GM allows you to treat them as one group) what do the
> followers benefit? Or is this only a benefit if the opponents get to act
> seperately?

If you have separate opponents (ie, they can act independently), then there is a penalty to attacking more than one at the same time. Having your own followers will prevent some or all of this penalty - it is assumed that *you* are attacking one guy, and your follower is attacking the other, even thoughy one die roll resolves the entire exchange.

> I still feel that a system that allows "Harrek vs. the Hordes of
> Stickpickers" to be either a certain, but long winded victory for Harrek,
> or an easy, quick win for the Stickpickers, depending on how the GM
> divides the opponents is in trouble.

The question then becomes "what is narratively cool?" What function do the hordes of Stickpickers have in the story? Are they "in the way", or are they meant to be a real threat? Whilr this doesn't mean that you should simply hand the victory to the players, or wipe them out maliciously, it means that you should think about what the encounter means to the ongoing story.

RR

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