feats and descriptions

From: Mikko Rintasaari <mikrin_at_...>
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 18:40:29 +0300 (EET DST)


> > ME:
> > Frex I'm sure one of the authors had a clear meaning behind the feat
> > Sunset Leap, but I'm afraid I have no idea what it meight have
> > been...
>
> I wouldn't be so sure, I think many of the names were intended to be
> evocative and encourage players to use their imaginations. I think
> sometimes this did end up with over-ambiguous names, Sunset Leap
> being one. But heck, it's in the Movement affinity, and Rock-jumping
> presumably lets you leap to the top of (or ever) rocks, so Sunset
> Leap can always be considered a long jump with a cool name. I don't
> think you have to read anything more into it than that.

Ah, but you do (or at least can). :)

While reading the new Glorantha book I happened on a passage:

Blue Uleria crosses the sky in a third of a day and then promptly rises again in the east. She Starseers thought it to be so full of life energy that it was incapable of entering the Land of the Dead. Many Pelorians worship her in orgies to stave off the approach of death. But the

Orlanthi calimed this planet to be Mastakos, their god of motion, and
^^^^^^^^                           ^^^^^^^^
could duplicate to a lesser degree his Great Leap from west to east.

[page 244 Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars]   ---

So. I still claim that the authors did have a reason for each of the feats they put in. What puzzles me is why the hell don't we get told the meanings of the feats...

> > Lightning sword:
> >
> > (What's this supposed to mean... a sword charged with lightning... a
> > bolt of lightning wielded as a sword... an enchantment that makes the
> > sword move lightning fast...)
>
> All of those sound plausible to me. The first might give an edge (to
> Close Combat), second would allow direct attacks using the feat, the
> third gives a bonus.

That sucks. We are not playing scrabble. This is no way to run a FRP. Either it's an adjective meaning "swift" or it refers to actual crackling stormfire, and I want to know.  

> > Swordhelp: ???
>
> I always assumed this is an enhancement-only feat, which can be used
> to give a bonus or edge to Close Combat with a sword.

I suppose... what a lame name. Sounds all too generic (in a system which makes one feat pretty much like any other)  

> > Disruption (cause wound): This spell enables one to bid 7AP, and if
> > succesful causes a wound on the opponent.
>
> I think descriptions like this would kill the game. Firstly, it's too
> constraining just in a mechanical sense (can you bid other than 7?

Nope. It's supposed to be a _minor_ spell. A trick... a cantrip.

> What if you just want to defeat him by driving him to 0, rather than
> giving a wound? What if I'm running a character with 10 followers,
> could I bid 70 and do 10 wounds?)

If you don't want to wound him, don't blast him with a spell that will wound him.  

> Secondly, you'd be swamped in them -- someone would have to remember
> the rules of each one (just as in most games).

I wastly prefer complexity over the redictionistic view of vanilla HW  

> And it would stifle creativity. If the feat is "Cause Wound" pure and
> simple, you can bid what you want, describe it how you want, and use
> the contest results to see how well it worked.
>
> David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_...>
> Glorantha/HW/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html>
> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein

I'm afraid David that I feel the overwhelming flexibility that makes all attack magic same as any other to be lessening creativity, not adding to it. It will come down to (I hit him with 20AP of magic)

Just my views of coure...

        -Adept

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