Re: Re: tactics + spoliers

From: Albion Software Engineering <graham_at_...>
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 20:49:03 +0100

> 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).

Not quite right, I feel. The problem is that really, as far as the Tongue is concerned, the Dragonsnail losing, but taking its time over it is a win for him.Some how the contest has to be between the player's combat (how qickly they kill the snail) and the Tongue's run fast/sacrifice minions to escape/fight another day. The snail's combat ability is a factor in this as well. How you resolve this I'm not sure - augmenting the 'snail's combat with the Tongue's run fast (or vice versa) doesn't seem quite right. Group contests seem wrong as well, and telegraph the fact something is up to the players. Not sure how I would handle this - probably with a nasty fudge like 'if they haven't won after X exchanges, he escapes' or rolling a secret simple contest after every exchange till the tongue wins one.

Suggestions?

The original question was easier, since the trollkin's actual combat skill is negligible - its really a contest between whatever the players use and the lead trolls tactics skill, possibly augmented by his 'own hordes of trollkin'...

Cheers,
Graham

--
Graham Robinson
graham_at_...

Albion Software Engineering Ltd.