Herowars as a concept_wealth_simple contest and adding abilyties

From: zero-c_at_...
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 00:42:15 -0000

Dear group!
I think that almost all discussed topics have one common misunderstanding,that leads us to all the endless debates. We are all used to a different roleplaying concept! Roleplaying is about experiencing/playing and narrating dramatic stories,like in the myths of our world or in fiction/TV/movies. In the past,most games came out with very detailed rules,that mostly tried to simulate a gamesituation as "realistic"as possible.That lead to all the loads of dicerolling and tableinterpretations we are used from RPG´s.HW takes one step back,to get into the future of roleplaying,with the focus on narrating a story and the rules helping,making a gamesession dramatic and exciting but not necessarily realistic(there is no need for-fantasy is about being non realistic,or being heroic!!)
So all we should always have a look at:how to make our gamingsessions exciting.Instead we are always looking for new rules,changing rules to make HW into something else,it was meant to be-I think this point is MOST important.
The skills are vague on purpose,as a part of the gameconcept! There are no hitpoints on purpose,as a part of the gameconcept! Every rule is there,to make gaming dramatic,not to simulate anything (in terms of being 100%realistic)!

When I came up with my question,how to resolve ranged combat in a non extended contest,I looked at the rules and came to the conclusion that there is something wrong with the simple contest rules.That was a big mistake!!!!
The simple contest rules are not intended for combat! The question was,how to simulate(misunderstanding of the rules!)an outcome of a ranged weapon,fired at somebody,who does nothing(i.e. not resisting).
The HW answer,as I understand it,is:the narrator decides what suits the story best!You don´t have to simulate it!Why should you???This is no simulation,this is storytelling.If I shoot at someone and he has no means of resisting,it´s not dramaric in terms of the story.So you don´t have to throw dice for it.The narrator decides what makes the story most interesting.Storytelling is the word. So that´s why there are so few possibilities for getting a lethal wound on the simple contest table-it´s not intended for resolving such situations!!!It´s not a mistake,it´s intended!If you have dramatic combat,you use the extended contest! It´s the same with adding abilities and wealth.HW uses images,metaphors and concepts for the rules as opposed to simulating anything(with values).
Every rating,is an abstraction,saying with other "words": good,better,best and so on.
So when you say being 15 wealthy,it means foremost,that you are more wealthy than someone who´s wealth is 10.Also,there is a concept behind it,what in means(like 15 having the status of a craftsman).But it´s not about how much cash you own.That´s something,that was never in the rules,it´s something,that somebody wanted to be in the rules.And I think he wanted it,because he did not fully understand what wealthratings are(and what not).
That was,what I liked about Julian´s wealthtable:he said all the money in the inner world is 10W6.Now forget all the moneyvalues again,for one moment,think of how you would describe all the money in the world with one word.Very difficult indeed.In germany children say,when describing very huge sums
as "tenthousandmillionsbillions".So that´s a metaphor for their concept of a very large,not imaginable amount of money.It´s an image,like wealthratings.It´s the same with all the money in the world :you can´t really imagine how much that is!Still in HW you can say how much it probably is:10W6!
In mythology Hades,the god of the underworld is also called Pluton,which means "the rich",because he owns all the riches of the underworld(like mineral resources as well).Also 10W6 is the metaphor (-like )rating(=quality) for a lesser god....!!!!While Julian said that the amount of money(8.000.000W)is a 100% meaningless,I disagree.He says so,because the amount of 8.000.000W was something that resulted from mathematics(doubling cashamount for every 5).But the rating was correct,by chance...!!
I don´t understand too much about heroquesting,just that:basically you get a huge boost in experience when you go for one.Okay,the rules say,that you relevant skill doubles.So from there on everybody arguments in the mathematically way,forgetting what a heroquest is.There is no need for a method of adding ratings.A rating is an abstraction-you CAN NOT add it,in the way you normally think.The mistake is that you always think about the numbers first,being used to a world where everynumber is addable.I think that HW ratingnumbers are not addable,because ratingnumbers stand for a certain quality not quantity!
So for the heroquestexample,you have to assess what rating would be reasonable,also from the point of view ,drama or storyoutcome.HW is about narrating a dramatic story,that´s rule number ONE! peace
Christian