By the power of Greyskull...! (Sorry)
It also may be that the opponent may have a lower resistance. A dragon (which is a poor example, being at the far end of the combatable critters spectrum) may have a much weaker magical resistance to the sword than to close combat.
A Troll Slaying Sword would function similarly -- and a troll might have a relevant defensive ability much lower than close combat.
> >-Just starting at or buying yourself to point 'B', even if only in
> one respect, robs the opportunity to earn and appreciate the gains
> and have lots of fun along the way.-<
>
> I think your vision is quite 'low-power', if that is what works for
> you fine, thought the rules are written for medium power - hence the
> sample character has a 'magic' item 'Sack of Black Winds 13' and a
> special skill 'Six Cuts Silk secret 13'. In a medium power setting
> the heroes are above normal, and have some unique ablilites. Our
> experience would be that unique abilities are what differentiate
> characters and make them enjoyable to play.
More or less the 'off the shelf' adventure. I've seen a hero take the Lightning Spear feat at 5w as one of his starting abilities (he was a Hedkoranth with delusions of grandeur)
> Consider Elric, early on he has less idea about the sword than at
the
> end, but our character conception of Elric is ruined without
> Strombringer. Sure in a medium power setting Elric is bit tough, but
> you get the idea...
And one has to admit that Elric started off pretty powerful. =)
> The other point is that we have not found that HW has a goodie
factor
> in play, there is very little I want to get this cool power or item,
> or loot these guys for loads of treasure. Ability ratings have
> removed this kind of power up/treasure hunting play. I think we find
> it makes for more interesting motivation for character action play.
Yes. The Hunt For The Widget Which Will Make Me All Powerful is sort of more campaign now. I don't see as much 'I want a +5 sword/cow/powered crystal' or whatever.
Remember how crucual to survival those old power crystals used to be?
> I introduced a magic sword into our game as a McGuffin. So far no
one
> has wanted to spend a HP to stick it on their character sheet, I had
> no idea what it did, if a player had taken it we would have worked
it
Heh. Have someone steal it from the clan or whomever is 'taking care of it'? Or give it to the Clan Champoion and let him fall to the 'curse of the sword' or something.
> out in play. However a character did take an Esrolian broach bought
> in a market (pure aside in an episode) as a named item. How will it
> be useful? Who knows? But by spending a HP to cement it the
character
Could be useful in impressing esrolians? Might make a good thing to give the wife. Might be useful for Grain Magics. But obscure items do give the narrator a lot of flexiblity.
(Um, you remember that wierd amulet you got from the vampire?) (Yeah.) (It's glowing.)
> gave himself the potential of foreshadowing some darker purpose to
> it. And, yes this is always with narrator agreement to ensure it
does
> not 'get out of hand'.
This is an important point. HW is a lot more coperative between players and narrator than some games I recall. Especially with the encouragement to write their own myths.
> I remember Robin posting on this list saying that you could spend a
> HP during a session to 'discover' an ability, we have used this a
> couple of times to round out character conception - he should be
able
> to do that. In this as in items trust is important.I think Bruce
> posted along time ago that trust between players and narrator was
> vital to a good HW game and I would agree,
I think its essential, and besides, I'd rther harness all that nervous energy into something useful.
Jeff Kyer
"You must remember to use your great powers only for good. Unless you
don't want to."
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