Re: Hero points : a narrator recants

From: Wulf Corbett <wulfc_at_...>
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 12:19:42 -0000

But, if they use them in combat, they cannot use them to improve abilities. If you give them greater challenges, they must improve, or use up all the HP they have to survive. Striking the balance will kep the HP total low.

>Perhaps the point per sessiosn should be for a
> bump but that is the only bump the player gets and if not used can
be
> spent as a hero point. Otherwise the players get points at the end
of
> the session to spend on related benefits plus some at the end to
spend
> on what they want, provided they can justify it in terms of the
overall
> campaign.

This is fine, but less 'heroic' - using HP to bump fumbles and create criticals can make a much more heroic look to the campaign. One thing low-level RQ never was, was heroic, with all the failures & fumbles. The question players should have to ask is, "Do I use up my HP during the game, and be stuck at this level so I need to use more HP to get out of the same jam next time, or do I suffer the effects of this jam, but use my HP to improve, so I do better next time?". Of course, using a HP to create a critical is just... well, heroic!

> As an aside, at 3 pts per session in a five week game a charcter
could
> gain half a mastery in close combat - this strikes me as excessive.

Well, firstly the character must have USED CC in each session to get the improvements at the 'related' cost, but if you run a combatative game that's possible. Personally, I'm running CC (and RC) costs as per Affinities (3 HP per level related), and individual combat styles within CC as normal abilities (1 HP per level). So you could have CC 2W (Sword & Shield +2, Unarmed +1).

Wulf

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