Before I started I feared the problems I would have would be with the Personality Traits but actually, as long as I clearly marked the points at which tests would come and awarded trait ticks for role-playing actions, the players found this acceptable. Tests in the 'Other World' where their personal choices were overridden by dice rolls were disliked but I think they accepted the rationale behind them.
But the problems came, and I fear the problems will also come with the new Glorathan Game, with the Passions/Inspirations rolls and the way criticals work.
Unlike the RQ system under Pendragon rules, mastered skills cannot be fumbled. And not only do you start with a far higher chance to critical but once your skill is over 20 it increases much, much faster. One point of increase above 20 means an extra 5% chance of criticalling. The equivalient in RQ would mean only a 1% increase in the chance of criticalling.
By a combination of high skills and successful inspiration, the characters who rose to High Command frequently had Battle Skills of 40 at which point every skill roll was a Critical. Which somewhat reduced the tension of the fights they found themselves in. The lesser characters would normally enter a battle with a 50% chance of criticaling with their weapon skills and no chance of failing. I rarely managed to wound them in the battles and they rode down fearsome monsters with boring frequency.
The coarseness of scale under PENDRAGON worries me very much. For High Mythic stories it might work. But for the long mundane slog it don't.
Perhaps I was running things wrong. But I don't think so.
This worries me for the future of Glorantha. Hmmm.....
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Michael Cule
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #555
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