>
> Keith Labrygon_at_a... :
> > I had my own 'only one augment' house rules which
> cut
> > down on the need for auto augments but made a
> rolled
> > augment the thing to do. ...
> >
> > This combined with the roll-contest first and
> augment
> > afterwards worked for me. I like it because you
> know
> > which specific ability really made a difference.
> > Did I win that contest because I "hate lunars" or
> because I "love
> > dragonewts"?
>
> Very interesting. It has irked me for some time
> that:
> 1. The players spend ages trawling their sheets for
> augments and doing
> mental maths to apply them. This detracts from their
> concentration on
> the game and slows it down at exactly the wrong
> moments.
Interesting. That hasn't been my experience, either in playing HQ or running it. I've found that players get more focused on the conflict at hand while scanning their sheets for automatic augments, bringing the augments into the narration of what's going on in the contest.
> 2. The listing of a number of augments before the
> contest minimises
> the narrative impact of any of them because we dont
> know which one(s)
> were key in the outcome.
Surely they all were. A contest doesn't take a specific amount of time. So, for example, when my wife's Lunar soldier got in an argument with a much superior officer and brought various relationships, personality traits, abilities and magical affinities into play, the contest took very little time to resolve, but the in-game conflict was this epic argument between two Lunar soldiers, invoking myth and magic.
> 3. Applying many augments up front wastes time since
> its likely that
> they will not make any difference anyway.
Yeah, but then again, it might. And I've found that myself and other players really enjoy bringing augments into the contest. It adds color and texture to what otherwise would be a one-note (one-ability) roll.
Augments are one of my absolute favorite parts of HQ, and one that I think sets it apart from most other games. Being able to augment one ability with any number of personality traits, relationships, magical abilities, equipment and other skills and abilities is brilliant, and really makes conflicts interesting.
YMMV, I suppose.
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