Re: HW and healing

From: Ross Inglis <ross_at_bizbop.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 18:57:51 +0100


>From: Simon Hibbs <simonh_at_msi-uk.com>
>>Any one who goes down can be pulled out, healed, and thrown back in.
>
>Isn't that the aspect of RQ you were praising earlier in your post?

I wasn't praising it. I was pointing out that in RQ this can only happen a limited number of times. I was _asking_ if this can go on infinitely in HW.

Ignoring the nitty gritty of my example, the point I was trying to make was that magic effects that are _limited_ in the context of time are a good thing as they:

  1. Help players realise that brute force is not always smart.
  2. Give players hard decisions at the end of Scene A regarding carying on to Scene B immediately while in a weakened condition or leaving scene B till tomorrow when they will be back to full strength but giving their opponents the opportunity to respond.

It is the decisions that the players can make that concerns me.

The depth of my role playing experience depends on how many real choices I am offered from moment to moment. A real choice being one that results in distinctly different consequences from any other choice I might make. I was arguing that infinitely re-usable magic cuts down my choices because I never have to worry about my condition after any choice, I can always start each scene in exactly the same _perfect_ condition be they separated by 5 minutes or 1 week. In practice this means I can always choose problem solutions with maximum use of available powers. I need no longer give thought to devising a cunning plan that is risky with low probablity of success but which conserves limited resources (except of course unless I want to just for the hell of it :-)).

I'm not saying HW is like this, I don't know, I am merely expressing a view of what I want out of a game system and wondering if HW can do this.

And before you try to infer anything more about my likes and dislikes, I also hate bookeeping. :-)

Ross


End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #92


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