Who explains to me:
> It relates to the overall scene at hand.
And that's the problem. Since there is zero support from the system to help you keep track and make things real you're up in the air the whole time.
I read all you explained to me about the system. I understood it when I read the playtest rules. And I dislike it intensely.
I'm not one who needs a lot of rules. I loved the character gen part of HW and I was hoping that the games running bit would be as good. (I certainly don't need anything as complex as your table for the char-gen bit.) I loved OVER THE EDGE (whose influence I see strongly in HW) but OTE had two things that HW lacks.
Sequential consequences of actions. Once a thing happens it is real and the consequences of it affect later actions. This HW denies by the 'it isn't over until the fat lady sings' rules which mean that you can't reach a conclusion until the final Status Point is gambled and lost.
Hit Points and Wounds that are real as soon as they are made. If I have to do a rules fix then the first step I will take is to restore wounds that hurt and harm even the mightiest.
Michael goes on:
> In theatre and film, the processes are not important to the play though
> they might be to the actors and audience. Shakespeare does not explain
> the nuances of each attack MacDuff makes, nor each defense Macbeth puts
> forth. The "rules" of the play do not require those. Instead, the precise
> choice of detail is left to interpretation by the director and players to
> suit their style.
What we are doing is not theatre, nor storytelling nor cinema though we steal from all of these. It is something else.
> The key is to visualize. RuneQuest's mechanics grew from the authors'
> experiences in the Society for Creative Anachronism. The processes behind
> those mechanics *can* be modeled by HERO WARS, not through the rules but
> via description of the actions and outcomes of those actions. Yes, there
> is no "one specific blow = one specific wound" paradigm.
I think the rules system should be modelling the world. That way I can discover what happens just as the players will. If my personal prejudices are allowed to rule the outcomes then I become (as GM) a puppetmaster not a co-creator.
Actor And Genius
AKA Theophilus Prince Archbishop Of The Far Isles Medieval Society
Arms Purpure An Open Book Proper: On the Dexter Page an Alpha Or
On the Sinister an Omega Or. Motto Nulla Spes Sit in Resistendo
(Resistance is Useless). Ask me about the Far Isles:
Better Living through Pan-Medieval Anachronisms.
Powered by hypermail