I have read this whole thread with much interest and I know how a background in more traditional games might suggest that HQ has a gap in its rules for this kind of thing. From my reading of the book, there's no need to add to the HQ rules for this.
Ash had the most important point to make: "Whatever you do don't roll ANY dice for them...". Take this most seriously because the impact of what he is warning against can be a subtle undermining effect on the way your game works. Robin wrote the rules that way for good reason and play-testing (I assume) must have borne that out.
There are a few different HQ methods for this and none of them require you to roll for conflicts that do not involve the players' characters.
One that hasn't been suggested so far is to use the NPC as a situational modifier. This rule demonstrates the use of adding to an Ability value without rolling. Remember the Ability scores on the character sheets are not representative of character skill and that the players are not rolling their dice against *anything* except the *story*. These ability scores just show how important the player finds that aspect of their character to the story.
The most important thing to realise is that you are using the game system to create a narrative of the form found in film or literature. You're not trying to use it to model a real situation - instead you are (together) narrating something with it's own class of dramatic license.
Again, *never* roll conflicts that don't involve the player's characters. If you get tempted to, stop and just decide the outcome that would be most interesting/enjoyable for the group as a whole and just describe (narrate) it. The other way leads down the dark path and forever will it dominate your destiny! Before you know it you will be stating out your NPCs and we all know where that leads! [remember that Troublesome Griffin!]
I hope that was helpful, it should reduce the amount of work you need to do as a narrator and lead to freer enjoyment!
Cheers
Matthew
On 21 December 2011 09:04, SARAH <sarah.newton5_at_btinternet.com> wrote:
> **
>
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I think I'm answering my own question again. :-) I've been having a fresh
> and closer look at 'Supporting Characters', the Ally, Patron, and Contacts
> sections in the Relationships chapter, and think I can extrapolate how to
> handle friendly NPCs. That section implies 'statting' a supporting
> character on a PC's character sheet with a Relationship score and one or
> more keywords or key abilities at levels equal to the PC's highest ability
> score or a couple of masteries higher. So, you could have "Patron: Gringle
> 13 (Issaries Priest 17W2)" or some such.
>
> By extension a "casual" NPC ally (one you don't necessarily have a
> Relationship ability score for) could be statted in similar fashion
> (assuming we see his role as analogous to a Patron).
>
> The Supporting Characters section implies that succeeding in a
> Relationship roll of such a Patron would persuade (etc) him to use his
> abilities on your behalf, as direct abilities. This could be as a separate
> ability, augment, assist, whatever. Again by extension, this would be the
> model for a "casual" NPC, too.
>
> For my purposes, that means I can either sketch Gringle with a keyword or
> two, or even with more detailed Significant and Exceptional Ablities, then
> set his top ability score (as a Patron) a couple of masteries above the
> PC's highest ability. For a more equal ally, I'd set his ability roughly
> equal to the PC's top ability.
>
> Does that sound about right?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Sarah
>
>
> >
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > Thanks for all the replies - some good advice and food for thought. I
> guess the discussion has helped me focus on my main question, which is
> really one of magnitude - how do you quantify the impact an NPC ally has on
> your session? Of course you can handwave everything, but I'm looking for
> something a little more structured, perhaps along the lines of the pass /
> fail cycle.
> >
> > I'm thinking NPC allies have significant and exceptional abilities (etc)
> in the same way adversaries do, with an implied level of competence (score)
> relative to the PCs. So you might have a powerful NPC ally who's Very High
> competence, one who's pretty much on a par with the PCs who's Moderate, and
> so on - giving you a rough indicator of ability scores for gauging assists,
> augments, ability scores when acting as sidekicks or followers, etc. I'm
> not sure how or even if this should tie into the pass / fail cycle, except
> perhaps to derive from the session's base resistance.
> >
> > Incidentally, I always have players make NPC ally rolls in my games, in
> as much as they're needed at all, always have done. Happily HQ2 reduces the
> need even for that. Enough to be keeping track of as it is! :-)
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> > Sarah
> >
> >
> > --- In HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com, Bo <lorgryt@> wrote:
> > >
> > > On 12/20/2011 1:12 AM, Jeff wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Most important, figure out an approach that doesn't have you
> rolling
> > > > NPC vs NPC each round.
> > > >
> > > > This is key. Never have the Narrator role against herself.
> > > >
> > > In HQ this isn't necessary as far as I can see. Not only is it
> > > anti-climactic to have a good roll for and NPC be the winning roll of
> > > the exchange, but they assist and augment system make it real easy to
> > > either give the players the up or the resistance the down. So you
> never
> > > need to roll at all.
> > >
> > > Bo
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> >
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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