Hero Wars Stuff

From: George W. Harris <gharris_at_mindspring.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 21:45:56 -0400 (EDT)

        I asked:

>What the hell does an action point represent to the character? Beyond
that, >what about the act of wagering action points?

        To which Nick Brooke replies:

>The degree of RISK he is prepared to accept in the action he undertakes.
>Thus, betting a low number of status points is "cautious" (e.g. tentatively
>holding your ground / posting a polite question to the Digest); betting a
>large number of status points is "risky" (e.g. a desperate last-ditch flurry
>/ posting an abrasive opinion to the Digest). If you have a high skill, you
>can afford to bet low and expect to win in the long run; if you have a low
>skill, your best hope of a quick success may be to bet high and pray.

        That is what I had tentatively thought it was supposed to represent, and I'm glad to see that it is so; now my only real concern about the action point mechanic is that it is easily tractable to game theory and thus encourages gamist play.

        I asked:

> I have inferred, I hope incorrectly, that Plot Points serve as some
> sort of trump card for a player to use to greatly increase the chance of
> success with a particular action, and that they are for each player a
> limited resource. I would really dislike such a mechanic intensely.

        To which Nick Brooke replied with a question:

>Because, like RQ Rune Lords' Divine Intervention (or WB&RM Heroic Escapes),
>it might allow your players to frag games by virtue of their Gloranthan
>magical potency? Or are DI/HE rolls OK, but Plot Points not, for some arcane
>reason?

        apparently without noticing that further along I explicated:

>If it is supposed to represent some personal mojo, well, that's not how
mojo >works. Having good mojo would make you more successful at *everything*, *all* >of the time. It wouldn't allow you to pick some number of times a week when >you are much more likely to be successful, when the rest of the time you're >just an ordinary schmoe. So, unless there is some obvious Gloranthan analog >that Plot Points are supposed to represent, I fear I may dislike them >intensely.

        I had hoped that that, along with my previous comments:

> So, for the player attempting immersion in the character's frame of
>mind, dealing with Fortune Dice is distracting and can ultimately detract
from >the role-playing experience (I don't want to seem to be picking on Feng Shui, >here; this type of mechanic appears in lots of games, such as Star Wars, >Vampire, ShadowRun, and doubtless countless others). This is why I veiw such >mechanics with apprehension.

        would make clear that the objection I have to what the Plot Point mechanic (the antecedents of which I am well aware of, as the commetns above reveal) appears to be, from previous discussion on the Digest and from Nick's comments above, is that whereas Divine Intervention is something which has a clear analog in the world of the character (in that the character in dire straits makes a desparate call for help from her god, and that her god may render that help depending on the magical power of the character, teh character's status in the god's cult, and luck, and with a cost to the character which is necessary to allow the god to act directly on the mundane plane (apparently), Plot Points do not seem to have some clear analog fromt he character's point of view, as their multitudinous uses would make such a view puzzling (something that can be used to increase skills or magical powers permanently, *or* can be used to increase the chance of success of something dicey?

        Or, to be a tad less verbose ("Yay!"), Plot Points require the player to make decisions that the character does not make and indeed cannot well understand, whereas Divine Intervention does not.

        David Dunham comments:

>As per Colin's wise counsel, I will refrain from any Hero Wars comments
>save for a quick reply to George Harris: As I posted some time ago, Hero
>Wars is a paradigm shift from RuneQuest -- Hero Wars doesn't model
>processes. Your message describes this fairly well. Given that it's
>difficult to communicate across a paradigm shift (there's often an "aha!"
>moment where suddenly you understand all), I think you should try the game
>before deciding.

        Hmmm. While Hero Wars is certainly very different from RQ, I haven't seen anything mention that would mark Hero Wars as having elements that do not already appear in other roleplaying games on the market. Remember, RQ is 20 years old; that a newly-written role-playing game would differ dramaticly from a twenty-year-old role-playing game is not really surprising. I certainly intend to try it, and may indeed have great fun with it, but I still have major reservations about the utility of the game for immersive role-playing.
- --
Doesn't the fact that there are *exactly* 50 states seem a little suspicious?

George W. Harris                        gharris_at_mindspring.com

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