RE: Onslaught and genre busting

From: Loren Miller <loren_at_ioxy.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 19:07:41 -0600


here I am coming in weeks late on the whole deal and a long time ago Kmnellist_at_aol.com replied to:
> << It's not that I actually hate Overtkill, I mean Onslaught.
> It's that I
> dislike the 'poetic license' that describes him crossing a room, getting
> three aimed blows to the head, and getting back out of reach
> before anyone
> can see him and react. I prefer games where the combat rules mean
> something, rather than being thrown out for some personal power
> fantasy. >>
>
> I enjoyed the Onslaught story. I like poetic license, but all the strike
> ranks, split attacks, aimed blows stuff would not/does not make a good
> *story*.

For me the reason the Onslaught among the greydogs story seemed off was not because of strike ranks, aimed attacks, and so on but because it mixed two adventure genres. Onslaught is straight out of the Destroyer or some other modern ninja slash kung-fu adventure story, while the Greydogs are out of an icelandic saga, or at least a Robert E. Howard story. When the Destroyer fights Conan or Leif Erickssenf, Conan or Leif Erickssen is gonna lose because the Destroyer can after all outrun surface to air missiles, dodge bullets, and kill entire rooms of hit-men who know he is among them without carrying a weapon of his own. Now I spose that Onslaught can do all these genre-defying things is because he has heroquested. I would just like to caution people not to let players in their versions of Glorantha heroquest for abilities that defy the genre in such an outrageous way.

Cheers,
Loren

Powered by hypermail