Re: Things That Go Bump

From: TTrotsky_at_aol.com
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:37:59 EST


Dan McCluskey:

<< I have a little theory about interactions of a >W3 difference IMG, which
is that they simply don't happen... It might sound kinda dumb and arbitrary, but I think it fits really well>>

      If it works in your campaign, go for it, but I'm unconvinced that it's the way things 'really are'.  

<< To put it simply, Humans who acquire abilities of more than three or four
masteries start to find themselves on the hero plane, >>

     Yes, but they don't have to stay there permanently, since it seems to me that the likes of Harrek and Jar-Eel are very much present in the mundane world.

<< True Dragons sleep so much because there just isn't anything powerful
enough around for them to notice. >>

     If they can notice beings up to three masteries below them, I should think there are indeed other things around for them to notice (three masteries is a lot!) Not very *many* things, I grant you, but enough to have a chat with if you really wanted.  

<< When you are a hero, you can see other heroes, or armies, or dragons and
big chaos monsters, but a lone trollkin just won't exist for you anymore. >>

     Maybe this is just the way I'd want to run games, but I like the idea that heroes are 'grounded' in their culture and society and have to deal with everyday things when they aren't out heroing. Sure, I can't see why Harrek would *want* to talk to Timmy the Trollkin, but I'm sure he'd be able to notice him (assuming he didn't have anything more important to look at, which is quite likely!)

 << Thus you can have stories of Onslaught sitting in a Greydog tavern, but  Harrek has to sack Cities. >>

     Onslaught is alleged to have three or more masteries in Kill Things, which makes this dubious, IMO. I'm assuming here that you mean having any skill at 1W4 or higher prevents you from contacting beings with their best skill at 20 or less, BTW, so that even if your communication skills are similar, you still can't talk to each other if your Sword skill is three masteries beyond their Pub Landlord ability (or whatever they're best at). Is that your intent?

<< I really like the idea personally because it seems to mesh easily with
both the Hero Wars Roolz and Gloranthan "reality" as described in the histories (gods can't interact
 directly with the "mundane" plane, etc.). >>

      Personally, I think that's because they're gods, not because they're highly skilled. You can become a god if your skill is high enough (and you meet various other criteria), but you don't have to do so, IMO; there are other options. Wouldn't your theory also prevent people with low level abilities from contacting the gods to obtain divinations or indeed, any divine magic?

<< It also creates a framework for the world changing around PC's as they
increase in masteries without the lame hand waving "it's just different now" kind of excuse that always pissed me off so much in DnD...>>  

     My solution is not to have the world change around the PCs, but that may just be my preferred style of gaming (and perhaps explains why I don't like hugely powerful PCs).  

Forward the glorious Red Army!

     Trotsky


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