weak defences

From: Kmnellist_at_aol.com
Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 18:06:21 EDT


Nick Brooke mentions that -

<< tough
 NPCs need stats and defences like the Coders to ward off inadvertent  vulnerability to unexpected forms of attack. >>

This is my one small worry about a HW type game system. In RQ there was almost always a way around someone's defences because there were so many ways of attacking. This did make powerful characters need a lot of tactics and powers to cover every possible attack. I sometimes thought this led to a kind of defensive overkill - the Crimson Bat comes to mind, Ralzakark is pretty bad too. It takes several paragraphs to describe their regeneration, impossibleness (?new word?) to surprise, multiple attacks, spell immunity etc etc etc. None of this was remotely playable (I don't suppose it was meant to be) as the GM couldn't possibly remember every ability. HW promises to do away with all this super power catalog (I hope) but itdoes make powerful characters invulnerable in that there are no chinks in their game system armour. Part of the 'strategy and tactics' of RQ included 'boosting' one character with all the top spells that could be found and sending him in as the only person capable of harming the BIG BAD MONSTER. I agree with Nick's point to some extent (that RQ was not good with these characters) but feel that HW may go too far the other way. (Anyone with several levels of combat mastery is going to be HARD TO KILL no matter how you attac him/her)

Keith N


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