Digest V 06 # 067
"Nikolas.Lloyd"
> The climbing skill was defined as how good a character was at
> climbing. In RQIII, the climbing rules told me how many metres
> (metres in Glorantha? No one has to suffer the ghastliness of
> metric there, surely?
Actually, the ghastliness is when it starts to matter during game whether you use metres or yards, pints or half-litres, unless someone actually sat down to write up all the various local measurement units, none of which will be identical unless someone very powerful makes them so.
The so-called "imperial" measures (because Charlemagne, Emperor, issued them) don't mean anything to a continental, anyway. The Canadians have seen the light, and seem to be quite sensible otherwise as well, too, so what's the deal?
> In Sartar, beer is sold in PINTS as it should be)
Actually, beer is sold in kegs and served in steins (or horns in the quainter environments), as far as I am concerned. "Two clacks a beer" may work along trade routes, but won't at the local inn where the farmers meet, anyway - "put it on my tab" would be the most monetary way to express this, and ever so often a sack of grain or a piglet changes the owner.
> my character could climb over a given surface, per melee round.
> Such detail is silly: it slows the game down, restricts the freedom
> of GMs, and will never cover all circumstances anyway.
OTOH, I always found it important to know how often I'll be attacked when scrambling up a ladder, tree, or rope escaping from pursuers. Getting a fair guideline in familiar terms (metric, that is :-) helped a lot.
When describing a climb to players, I have settled down to tell them about the trickiness of the climb and the number of problems (skill rolls) they are likely to face, based on accessible evidence (i.e. if I see a call for hidden meanies, this estimate will be wrong).
Mostly there is no real need to cope with exact measurements. If there is, well, a mapmaking ability might be useful ever now and then...
Powered by hypermail