Re: hw-rules digest

From: Bryan Thexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 08:16:22 -0800 (PST)

"Hero Wars is not basing its success on being a realistic combat
simulator."

I think the Hero Wars system is meant to be a strategic simulation, rather than a detailed tactical simulation. In some ways it is much more flexible than the RuneQuest system.

Example:
Your group is attacked by a walktupus and a number of broo. Your heavily armored humakti, although possibly no match on his own for the walktapus, tries to hold him at bay while the rest of the group dispose of the broo.

In runequest, the humakti gets two actions each combat segment, and can either attack and parry or dodge as normal, or use two defensive actions (parry and dodge, or possibly parry with shield and sword). The rules will describe the blow by blow combat within those limited options.

In HW, the humakti has the option to say "I will fight defensively, just trying to stay alive against the multi-tentacles horror, until my companions can aid me. So, I will wager only small numbers of AP, trying to drag out the fight." The rules then don't give much detail of exactly what he does, but you can describe how he tries to fend off the monster with his shield while cutting at tentacles as they try to reach around it. The dice will give a sense of the ebb and flow of the battle. So perhaps the broo were tougher than expected, and the rest of the party is going to have to flee for their life, and the humakti has to desperately try to disengage. He can decide to gamble it all on getting lucky and killing the walktapus in one blow, something that wasn't an option in RQ, or he can switch skills to attempt to disengage, again having a choice of strategies, and so on. So, although the system doesn't give much blood and guts, it does let you make much more in the way of strategic decisions.

Personally, I think this is a good thing. I never found the "lets stand toe to toe and attack and parry until one of us falls over" school of combat all that inspiring.



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