>You are right, I'm sure it won't just be you that
>won't like the AP system. I'm still friends with most
>of the people that I started gaming with, over 20
>years ago (gad, I feel old!). Were we to actually get
>together to do some role-playing (something which,
>despite claims of willingness, hasn't happened in a
>few years) there is no way I would try and get them to
>play Hero Wars. A good half of them find even the
>level of simulation in RuneQuest to be far too basic
>(to give you an idea of what they adore, we had a home
>brew system that broke the body down into 30 different
>areas, tracked not just hit points but broken bones
>and bleeding caused by different types of damage at
>different levels. Quite accurately, the typical loser
>of a combat was left unable to stand, slowly bleeding
>to death. Unfortunately, from my point of view, a
>typical party vs. similarly capable group of opponents
>would take well over an hour to determine who was left
>dying in their own gore).
>
I hope, that I'm not giving the impression of lusting back to the Good Old Days of RuneQuest. (Although I do love the system and regret that it is being left to die.) I loved Over The Edge too, which is even more impressionistic in its game mechanics that HW. And I've run both the sort of game I enjoy and the sort of combat I like with OTE. But HW falls down because of a delusion of the writers: that the AP mechanic is interesting....
<<SNIP ALL THE THINGS ABOUT BEING ABLE TO DO OTHER THINGS WITH HW>>
Yes, indeed. I agree but I don't think that the AP mechanic will suit any of them particularly well...
I'm sorry. I probably should let this rest until the damn game is in my hands and I can read it the whole way through.
>Which is not to say I think the system is perfect.
>I'd love to see some extended examples of the system
>in action, to see how some of the odd blends discussed
>here are envisioned working out by the designers.
I'm worried about how much 'handwaving' there will be in the final version. But much of what I've seen (which admittedly in the first three chapters is the parts of the system I thought worked excellently) has been good. I'll try to contain myself and be good. Promise.
-- Michael Cule
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