Re: Quick questions

From: Simon Phipp <soltakss>
Date: Mon Jan 16 09:42:34 2006


CJ:

> Has anyone made their own games covering other parts fo the empire or
> Glorantha?

I've got a sketchy game for Balazar at http://www.soltakss.com/dp1.html which still needs a lot of work. Hopefully, I'll be drawing up counters for it fairly soon, now I've got Cyberboard to work.

> OK, quick DP rules Question. I understand defensive doubling, but do
> the Sun Dome Templars Double again their Combat FActor when rolling
> after removeing losses after being attacked, giving them a X4 CF
> multiplier? Or am I misunderstadning this?

That's what we always played. It makes them particularly tough when being attacked. They were always taken as casualties first, whenever possible, to stop the huge attack-back.

> And for those who own Nomad Gods, what is it like? I have haeard it si
> not as good as Dragon Pass, but any infoon the game wouldbe of interest.

Well, I only managed to play the original game two or three times, and that was against a Dragon Pass Master, who wiped the floor with me. I played the new version at Convulsions and again a couple of times. I can see why people prefer Dragon Pass, as there are a lot of new ideas in Nomad Gods and the scenarios are, perhaps, not as balanced and not as fulfilling. However, having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed playing it.

The DP Master who I played NG with commented that having Spirits permanently on the board was interesting, the gods were perhaps too powerful (we limited Superheroes to a 12!!CF normaly, going to 20 when Berserk), but there were no SuperHeroes in NG, so perhaps that was OK. Then he read the batallia and piece desriptions in 15 minutes and slaughtered me in every game we played.

> I am keen to buy a copy - one occasionally sees the French edition on
> e-bay, but I'm still interested to hear your opinions till I can lay my
> hands on one.

OK, I'd recommend it. I sold both mine ages ago, when I had a big cleanout of roleplaying stuff, and regret it to this day.

Stephen Martin:

> The game can be very fun, but it is very different dynamics, and because
> of the possibility of five players can take MUCH longer. Also, if you
> have 4 or 5 players, it is often very boring for a long time for one or
> two players, if they aren't involved in any of the battles of the other
> players.

Yes, there's a lot of nothing in Prax - all open space and lots of units to move around in. And the support rules can be a bugger as well - we always played in Winter to minimise the effect.

Some of the scenarios suffered from the Victory Conditions Syndrome, where the player controlling the most Oases at the end of the game wins, so there was a cat-and-mouse game up to the very end, then a fanning out of troops to block the other player from reaching oases and an attack on any enemy-owned oases.

> The game has a bunch more cool units than does Dragon Pass, because of
> all the spirits. Certainly, if you like Glorantha or Dragon Pass, you'll
> probably enjoy Nomad Gods, even if only for the info in it.

I played Argrath in Prax, which was quite good as well. It used some counters from DP in Prax to cover the taking of Corflu and Pavis, the Cradle and so on. It worked really well.

Robert McArthur:

> Since the list may go away, now's a good time to ask a couple of
> questions as well as mention that I'm a bit of a way down the track of
> writing a computer-hosted version of DP (the AH version). It's not
> official and the idea wouldn't, up front, be to have a
> computer-controlled player. I started it as I haven't had anyone to play
> with for so long, and I really enjoy the game :-) I know that there's
> the gameboxs available for PBM play, but I think there's something
> specifically needed to cope with the complexity of DP play! So, just
> letting people know... early days yet of course. Oh, and this is for my
> own purposes only, no selling, nothing else. No copyright infringement
> (yet - when I actually play against someone then I'll have to start
> talking to Issaries of course, but I'd like something nice to show them
> when I do).

Before you do a lot of work on your own version, have you looked at Cyberboard? It's game-playing software with a good mapping tool that allows you to record moves and transmit them to other players. I haven't used it to play a game, yet, as I much prefer tabletop gaming.

> 2. is the underlying hex under Wintertop mountain or hills? I've looked
> at other sources and can't decide myself

It would have to be mountains. Funnily enough, we never played that the underlying terrain of a settlement had any effect. I suppose it should.

> > 2. Does this mean the Sun Dome Templars quadruple in defence when
> > working out combat factor for determing attackers losses?
>
> Not in my game. They're explicitly formed to double in defence (unlike
> anyone else). I treat their counterattack like anyone elses - double
> their written CF. Whether or not it's the rules, I find this works well
> in practice as they're a nasty group anyway to go against. Of course
> only Sartar ever gets them...

Unless you are playing NG or in Balazar, both of which have Sun Dome Templars. I think Agimori have the same ability in NG, as well.

> > Also, how did Cragspider come to posssess her great Fire based power?
> > is that still part of Glorantha?
>
> [Peter Metcalfe answered:]
> Yes. Her fire power is mentioned in KoS p187 when she "sears all the
> Vindori tribal lands with fire which fell from the sky". She is
> probably the firewitch slain by Ustanosson in KoS p162.
>
> [me]
> Which doesn't answer the question *where* she got them. Good question
> which I can't answer :-( Perhaps she controls Amastan (sp?)?

http://www.glorantha.com/library/eurmal/personalities-cragspider.html says of the Great Darkness "She revealed her powers of fire and light at this time, a terrible power much feared by her uz. She protected them from it." So. perhaps she gained them on her journeys back to the Underworld, when she encountered Arachne Solara.

Robert:
> So, in short, I'd love to hear some other options! Instead of doubling,
> maybe half again? Why should the counterattack be increased at all? Is
> there a better way?

One way we found useful was to attack the Superhero stack with magic first, hopefully to weaken the stack, then go in with archers, to disrupt any remaining non-SH units, then go in with a big hammer and try to destroy the SuperHero and his remaining friends. You really need more than one stack attacking as well, with some Heroes in the stacks, adding their leadership. If you go with SH vs SH in the stacks plus a couple of other stacks plus a magical/missile attack then you have a chance of killing the superhero, and then hoping he/she doesn't come back.

Alternatively, kill his/her best friend, preferably with a flying unit, even better if stacked with the Travelling Stone, and then fly away out of range for the rest of the game.

Simon

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