Re: tactics + spoliers

From: miker_at_...
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 18:49:42 -0000

The NPCs will have a specific goal in mind. They will be taking actions to carry out that goal. The *actions*, not the goal, is what are described to the players. The players then choose defending abilities based on their opponents' actions, not their goals.

Let's use a slightly different example than the one that's been used, so far. Let's say the heroes have found the hideout of a Krarsht Tongue. The Tongue, caught off guard, decides to get away. To cover his escape, he sends his pet dragonsnail to act as a delaying action so he can get away.

The heroes are making their way through a cave with a pool, and suddenly the dragonsnail lunges up out of the muck and attacks them. The dragonsnail attacks them, and the heroes fight it off. All the players is that a dragonsnail is attacking their heroes, and that's all the narrator tells them. It's left up to them to either assume it's hungry or that it's some tactical ploy. If the dragonsnail wins, the Tongue gets away (whether dragonsnail eats the heroes is a matter of the narrative moment and how much it wins by). If the heroes win, the heroes manage to deal with the dragonsnail quickly enough to catch up to the Tongue (the fate of the dragonsnail now being a matter of the narrative moment and the margin of victory).

Contests aren't just a matter of goals, but also how each side chooses to accomplish them.

Mike Ryan

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