At 10:07 AM 8/27/2002 +0000, giangero wrote:
>Then I wonder how much powerful a disciple has to be to accept a
>challenge by Krarsht herself in the Underworld (or why should Krarsht
>simply bother to challenge him instead of eating him and the heroes
>as a dessert)!! He should be powerful, yes, but I don't figure him as
>a sparring partner of Harrek's!
The way I understand encounters in the Otherworld, the hero thinks that they're facing the Otherworld Entity (deity, whatever), but it could be a
worshipper of the Entity, a lesser version (servant, whatever) or the Entity, or the Entity itself. The hero doesn't know, the narrator could decide to define the exact nature of the opposition, or the narrator couldjust decide on the apparent nature ("you recognize Krarsht") and the rating of the opposition (it's a Krarsht challenge of rating 10w3).
If you, the narrator, decide to say to the player "well, that's wasn't really Krarsht, just a worshipper of Krarsht" and they get disappointed, then don't do that. The hero has no way of knowing, and assumes that they just fought Krarsht (or the forces thereof). There's no reason to flaunt this to the player either, especially if you, the narrator, do not decide whether it really Krarsht. The story only requires that the hero confronts Krarsht, not that the narrator and the players positively define the entity to be the full glory of Krarsht. Older, wiser NPCs MAY know that a hero of a given level could not have escaped the full fury of Krarsht, but it's up to the narrator whether or not to have those NPCs disabuse the hero of their assumptions.
>My DS (althought debatable) technique allows him to temporarily raise
>an affinity (because I don't think that another ability suit the
>story) at almost Krarsht's level (even if he substantially loses, but
>not with a large gap, else he would be completely defeated...).
Since defeat is determined by ability ratings (there are no hit points), an Injured result gives a loss of 50% of ability. A hero suffering a Major Defeat at the hands of Krarsht should lose 50% of the wagered ability. If anything, doing this is kinder than the recommendation to strip the ability entirely when the hero loses a quest challenge.
>OR I could say that she was not Krarsht (just one of her "minions"),
>but then the effect of the scene drops considerably.
See above for my thoughts on this.
Thanks,
Andy
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