Random thoughts on points in the digest

From: danny bourne <d.bourne_at_dial.pipex.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 14:58:40 +0100

     

> ?? I thought that in HW, like in Pendragon, the higher skill you have,
> the better you are, and the roll must be under that skill level to
> succeed, the higher roll winning in case of tie !!

Pete is correct, the lower the skill, the better.
>
>
>> The Plot Points system. [...] Given that they are also what they
>> spend to advance their characters they are going to treasure these
>> and not throw them around like confetti as they did in the demo I
>> watched at CONVULSION.

I find it curious that you get a plot point for rolling your worst possible success. I get more development points (or whatever) for rolling marginal successes than a person who heroicly succeeds left, right and centre. Persionally I would throw them around on key die rolls. It's all very well having unused PPs if you can't spend them due to being dead/captured/lost on the heroplane etc

major NPC's shouldn't bother throwing chaff
>>(weaker warriors, debaters etc.) at the players to soften them up,
>because >in fact all that they are doing is bumping up the players
>action points and >making them stronger, rather than weaker.
>
>Action points are not carried over between conflicts, which is evidently
>the case here if waves of warriors are being sent in.

I don't see that as being so. The NPC nasty says 'into the breach, my cannon fodder scum' & he then follows them up. It's no different than taking one one cannon fodder NPC & then another - that wouldn't make the AP's reset (at least it didn't in the debate session Robin ran that I was in when we were transferring from one foe to another).

>These wild lashings out against a five-page version of a beta version of a
>game system are starting to get on my wick. For example, Pete Nash lists 9
>critical points, nearly all of which are complete rubbish because they are
>based on experience of 2% (albeit the 2 most important %) of the game
>system. It contained no refereeing guidelines or rules options. [snip]

Hold on to your handbag there Phil, I think you're overreacting somewhat. The way I read Pete's posting it seems to me that he simply put up ideas based on the system as seen. If people look for comments & then say ah well, you only have a 2% knowledge of the system, why bother asking for coments? I hope you'll show Pete how nearly all of his examples are complete rubbish with your higher than 2% experience of the game system.

>> Do you realy think that Xena Warrior Princes would be a better programme if
>> every time she got in a fight she got maimed or mutilated and had to be
>>healed ..?

It would be a better programme if she was beheaded, disembowelled and then burned at the stake - cos that way they'd take it off air.

(wesley_
>I was not going to get involved in these discussions about HW as most of =
>the people slamming the game so hard have never seen it or have only seen =
>cut down con versions,

I'm still waiting to see someone slam hero wars. Putting up a critique ain't the same thing.

>Harrek the Berserk might have 120 action points. How do you figure that =
>two character can have hundreds?

There are ways it can happen eg, NPC Nasty out actions all bar one of the PCs. That PC, however, has overcome all the NPC's cronies - due to the transfer of APs, they could both be in the hundreds.

>Plot points are given at 1 per session and 1 if you roll exactly what you =
>need to succeed. So, the average PC is going to get 2 per session.

Spurious. Are you going to roll a D20 40 times in an average gaming session?  These =

 but using it for something like =
>fighting a regiment single handedly is silly.

I don't think Pete was being literal (there is a modifier for multiple combatants after all). I think he meant more of a one on one, chop him down, next, chop him down, next sort of routine (as can happen in Rolemaster where you can get a spiral of multpile insprations to give you stupid plusses on your dice rolls).


End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #82


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