Re: tactics + spoliers

From: giangero_at_...
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 15:10:08 -0000

> 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?

If the Narrator wants the Tongue to escape, the fact that the Snail is thrown to the players is merely a "dramatic excuse" to let him flee. So I could resolve it as Combat ability vs Combat ability, but anyway the players can't reach the higher goal of catching the Tongue.

If the Narrator wants to have the Tongue risking capture by the Heroes, than he should use the combat-with-the-snail-duration ability as the resistance against which the players bid. And I also think that he should tell them he is doing so. I don't think it is correct to reward them for something they don't declare to aim at, so if they don't know the Tongue is fleeing and so can't declare to be trying to stop him, the fact that he is taken or not is a decision from the narrator not an outcome/reward of the contest.

But its more a matter of styles-of-play rather than a matter of accurate usage of the rules, IMO.

Ciao,
Gian