Skirmishes

From: Gian Gero <giangero_at_...>
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 16:29:39 GMT


Hi to all,
sorry if I changed the subject, but I don't know where this all originated, so I comment here perhaps with little knowledge of the precedents.

From: "Steve Lieb" <styopa_at_...>
Subject: Re: Actual Rules Question!
<<I mean in an immediate sense. I challenge you to find ANYONE who engaged in a RQ3 melee with, oh, lets say 10 underlings, coming out of THAT COMBAT better off than they started...?>>

My combats at RQ3, with from 2 to a fifty or so opponents, ended almost invariably with a side quite destoyed and the latter so badly "injured" that it could not afford another similar confrontation for a reasonable period of time (from an hour to a couple of seasons, according to the situation).

>
>Not at all. The good guys deal with the henchmen at the gate. By the
>time they rush up the tower to confront the big bad guy, it's a new
>contest, and they start at their normal APs. (Plus, they may have used
>a Hero Point or two already and be weaker that way.)
>

<<Granted your example would work that way, but I happened to be thinking (snip: I can't actually answer to the following sentences by Steve)

From: "Morthander" <morthander_at_...>
Subject: Re: Actual Rules Question!

<<When it comes to hurling a dozen underlings at the players - I would actually do it like this if I were worried about AP carry overs. I'd assign all five trollkin per player a single rating and then use that rating as the basis for the extended contest.>> Eg
Trollkin mob 3w2
or
Pack of dogs 12w2
or
Trusty hencemen squad 10w3
In addition to making things fast, this gives the GM the advantage thatm he can describe the outcome in a more narrative fashion - ie if you drive the squad to -8, the GM can say "two lie decapitated, four injured and the rest flee before your power" or at -34 "Five fall with a single blow, three more die with the backswing and the last two faint with the shock of being splattered with bloody entrails">>

AFAIK, dear Morthander (may I call you Morthy?) not all the would-be users of HW will enjoy the narrative/dramatic style as opposed to the mecanicistic/rulistic one.
In my own team, the main problem of upgrading from RQ3 to HW will be, I suppose, to convince my friends that the two "souls" of adventuring in Glorantha will be saved and better combined. Some of my players actually prefer the narrative style, others think it is too open for discussion and prefer the simultionistic approach at a high degree!

<<The other advantage of combining in this way, is that it actually gives the players a tougher opponent and maintains the narrative quality of the HW rules IMO.>>
I agree with you, Martin. Some of my players would not... Not that this have to necessarily mind you at all, but I will have some difficulties, I am afraid.

Ciao
Gian


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