>I might call it Run Fast on my
>character sheet, but it has no relation to Run Fast on a horse's
>character sheet or a mouse's. It may have far more relation to
>Sprint on another humans. Understand what is being implied.
Then why give humans and horses 'Run Fast'? They both run, they can both do it fast, if I can't use the number directly, the number is WRONG. I don't want to spend time in a game saying 'okay the horse has a run fast 17, and you have run fast 2W2, but the horse is a horse so it gets a bonus of <make up number> 10W2, for a total of 7W3'.
In many cases I'll want to compare the horse and the human, if they use different scales, it makes more work for me. Far better to just say 'okay the horse has a run fast <make up number> 7W3...' in the first place.
Abilities whose names imply they can be directly compared should have numbers that allow them to be directly compared. Anything else is an extra level of complexity that is COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY.
>The easiest way to design a `monster' in HW is to list the abilities
>they have, which are important to the story, and then assign ratings
>to them dependent. <snip>
Absolutly agree.
>2: Mundane abilities are just that. Consider running. I am a normal
>if unfit human male and probably have Run 6. My brother plays a lot
>of sport and probably has Run 17. Some of my friends run every
>morning, they might have Run 5W. I don't know any full-time athletes
>but if I did they might have Run 10W2. Olympic sprinters might have
>Run 10W3. Once in a generation one of the sprinters might be so good
>as to be Run 10W4.
I don't agree here either. Firstly, olympic sprinters are MUCH closer to each other than that. Secondly, you can reasonably model the difference between them and an amatuer runner by allowing them to augment with 'trains hard 2W2', 'fitness coach 2W2', 'steroid abuse 2W2', and whatever else you feel the need for. Secondly, at high masteries there ARE no mundane abilities. At climb 10W3 I stand some chance of climbing Kero Finn and crossing to the other side. Mundane ability? Not really. Glorantha (especially in HW) encourages characters with heroic abilities. They're not comparable to those we see in this world. The division into mundane and magical abilities is a rules artifact, not a reflection of gloranthan reality.
>This does not mean that any of them could outrun a horse!
But there are people in Glorantha who can!
At the end of the day, if I have a new player who says 'I want a character who can run as fast as a horse' I'd rather say 'well horses get run fast 10W2' than 'tough'. If he spends the hero points to reach those skill levels, I say let him do it! Anything else is being too simulationist...
Cheers,
Graham
-- Graham Robinson graham_at_... Albion Software Engineering Ltd.
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