Re: Oh, this and that...

From: Clay Luther <claycle_at_...>
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 17:53:56 -0500


hw-rules_at_egroups.com wrote:

> From: Wesley Quadros <wquadros_at_...>
> Subject: Re: Feats and their Descriptions

> If you do not like using your imagination when you FRP then go play Rulemonster. (I hit
> him with my short sword, using my left hand and he has scale mail. Okay, table 14b-4L
> shows...wait! I have a nick in my blade. Oh, 14b-4L/5n is the correct table then).

Huge LOL.

> > 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)
>
> Only if you elect to describe it that way. You should hear our Vingkotling using his
> movement magic and his spear magic. He has had magical earth spears leap out of the ground
> to impale attackers. He has hurled statues at them with ovement magic. He has distracted
> them with auto-fighting spears while teleporting behind them.
>

This example was priceless since I was faced with the exact same opinion from one of my players. Here's the quote from a post-game email he sent me:

---quote---
Not-so-good Stuff:

  1. Magic didn't feel... well... -magical-. I may well have missed something, but most magic seemed to be heavily into providing augmentations and edges, and mundane abilities could do the same thing. Plus, using magic abilities seems to take more time. ---end quote---

I've already emailed him the example above in addition to some other comments I had. Thanks for the indirect help.

> When my storm voice attacks somebody with wind magic I usually do bid 10-20 AP. But I am
> slamming them into a wall with a gust of wind. I am lashing their face with icy wind and
> pellets, I am throwing them into the ceiling with whirlwind or I am sucking the breath out
> of their lungs with a vaccum.

Again, another great example that I've forwarded on to my group...

Thanks, Wesley. Exactly what I needed...

> From: Wulf Corbett <wulfc_at_...>
> Subject: Re: Clay's Big Ol Combat Thread

> Wounds are too insignificant, and pointless against skilled opponents.
> It would take a dozen wounds to put a good starter character (5W) down
> to the level of an average man, and that takes too damn long. So...

I agree with this, but we are still in the learning-the-rules stage, so I want to avoid tweaking right now...but, great suggestions, nonetheless. I'll have to return to them in a few sessions.

> >Of course. The player in question is also the one who later said he
> >didn't realize how addicted he had become to critical tables in other
>
> You can still have 'Critical' tables. Every Wound can be a specific
> effect. Aim for the sword arm, get a wound, the enemy gets a penalty
> to his sword use IN ADDITION to the Wound. OK, it gets complex to

Interesting concept. Maybe "specific wounds"...ie, "I want to hurt his ability to use that sword!" In these cases -- applying a 7AP for a wound to a specific ability -- yields a -3 penalty (-2 seems too little, -4 too much, -3 seems goldilocks). YIKES! I just tweaked...

> Oh, and remember to use Weapon and Armour Rank, and account for all
> Bonuses and Edges, they can soon rack up a hefty advantage for the
> Heroes!

Oh, no, we did not forget this. The Humakti player made the most of it. #1, he wrote a greatsword of magical quality into his description, #2, he took the +5 edge with specific weapon gift. Greatsword 5W^2 + Gift^5 == +12 edge vs unarmored opponents.

Needless to say, he did not *need* to strain himself in combat...in fact, in this case, we had alot of fun describing his Conan-like ability to casually kill-off an almost defeated or dazed foe without looking (1AP). You know, sort of that "I'm looking at *you* but stabbing this friend of yours on the floor behind me with this really big sword I have..." attack.

> From: Bryan Thexton <bethexton_at_...>
> Subject: Re: Digest Number 131
>
> Just to wade into the whole boring combat discussion,
> but without all the cutting and pasting.....
>
> It seems to me that combat against similarly equipped
> opponents of roughly even skill will tend to be a
> slow, cautious affair.

I tried to stress in previous posts that the climatic combat in question was, indeed, fairly evenly matched. The players had the advantage in skill, the opponents were not as skilled, but there were more of them.

> So, one solution is to avoid close matched combats :-/

Agreed, at least for large combats. A close match *duel* would probably not be boring, even if the opponents were cautious. And if it started to get boring, well, I guess I could start inflicting handicaps (you're getting tired...).

> In summary, go into detail on the dramatic parts, but
> for the long gruelling parts, just roll and get it

Agreed, but we did not know beforehand that the climax of the adventure was going to be soooo grueling :-).

> From: Jonas Schi=f6tt <jonas.schiott_at_...>
> Subject: Minimaxing (was: something to do with AP bids...)
>
> Clay Luther:
>
> >Well, we figger'd out with our pretty little heads that the game
> >encourages you to seek out edges like crazy.
>
> Right on. Which is why the overall most useful thing you can spend words
> in your narrative on is good weapons and armor. A hobby skill at 13?
> Pshaw, you can get that in play for a measly 2 hero points. But a high
> quality piece of equipment is priceless.

Well, but as you implied in subject line, chasing several preinstalled edges in the character description starts to smack of munchkinsism, does it not?

> Which brings me to the second most useful thing you can put in your
> narrative: followers. Gotta love those little AP batteries. They're sorta
> like storage crystals in RQ...

And although, when my players created their characters I dropped several heavy-handed hints to this effect, NONE of them took followers.

> From: "Nick Brooke" <Nick_Brooke_at_...>
> Subject: RE: Durations of Edges/Bonus, Unrelated Actions, Combat

> > Over the Edge does this rather nicely. The player has to describe
> > what he intends to do. If it is boring, and therefore predictable,

> Another of Robin's designs, Feng Shui, gives a penalty if players "re-use"
> their stunts in exactly the same way, time and again. The rules thus
> encourage creative and entertaining play. Now, "Hero Wars" certainly

I've played both games and had forgotten about the OTE "boring" penalty die. I will probably use something like it (Been-There-Done-That, Handicap -1). However, I found that the application...or the words used when applying it...of such a penalty sometimes requires care. From my experience, to just burst out "That's BORING!" to a player can generate some hurt feelings. I've learned to say something like, "Orlanth is not impressed with your *fourth* offering of duck foie gras this month.")

Duck foie gras...hmmm...Lunar delicacy?

--
Clay
claycle_at_...

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