HW:RiG p131 says that once an opponent has won or lost points in the current exchange, the Player can ask for his current AP total before making his bid. Do other GM's think this is a good thing, or do they generally keep opponents AP's secret?
I have tended to be open about the AP totals when I have run games, and have noticed that some players tend to carefully work out exactly what they need to bid to win the contest, while others seem oblivious and will choose bids that are either much higher than they need, or leave themselves a point or two short of victory.
It's a subject I'm sort of undecided on. In "more traditional" RPG's Players tend to know the numbers for their own Hit Points (Or equivalent) but not those of their opponent - Some people think that this intrusuion of numbers is "wrong" - You don't know how many HP you have left if you get into a fight in real life - put I can accept this as a trade off for the fact that IRL you have much more sensory input than a GM saying "You feel a bit groggy..."
Now in Hero Wars, Action Points don't represent "Hit Points" or
"Wounds", but the ebb and flow of advantages and chances of victory
between the opposing participants, which again, IRL, is something you
ought to be able to judge (to take a Non-combat example, if you are
debating with someone before the tribal moot, you should have a feel
for whether the crows is siding with you or against you).
The danger is that by having the numbers "open" you end up focussing on the "Numbers game" rather than the contest the numbers are representing
So "open" numbers, "Hidden" numbers, or "Slightly obscured" numbers
(where you might reveal "more than you", "much more than you",
"Nearly defeated" but not the actual values")?
Opinions and experiences welcome
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