> Put it this way - when heroes clash, do you really think the
contest should be determined by which one gets an extra round of
augmentation?<
I suspect some of this depends on how you see things. Some thoughts:
- I agree with Tim I am happy with the one augment/affinity
initiate; one augment feat/devotee system. Might be why I think
devotee's are less common ;)
- I allow multiple augments pre-contest. Time is a factor in
unexpected encounters but not necessarily before a battle, though
remember for a pre-augment you may want to increase the duration and
hence the difficulty. I would avoid fixing specific augments to
actions in a contest - too much bookeeping for my taste.
- If you are augmenting then remember so are your opponents. I tend
to write up stats in episodes BA style now and use automatic augments
for narrator characters so they have multipe augments without
bookeeping.
- Yes if you are caught unprepared your opponents can get a
significant advantage over you
- The implication of narrative like 'Morden defends the camp' is
that a magically prepared opponent is very tough - retreating to
confront them at a time and place of your choosing is often the
option.
- In our last game the heroes were suprised by opponents who had up
to +12 in augments pre-prepared. It worked fine - it was supposed to
be a difficult fight and it was (and we allow mutliple non-magical
augments, for example the narrator characters had Strong and Hate the
Living as augments).
- The players are used to the process now and may look to perform
rituals to power up before confronting their enemies. Sometimes the
players even create a ritual in session - with adjudication from the
narrator.
- Mastery cancellation makes the numbers easier.
- For some heroquests I think you would need to reach 10W6 to
succeed. SO I am nost sure the numbers are way off.
Anyway it sounds like you had fun. I think you are the only people
regularly getting these numbers (we are still in late W/early W2
range), so you ought be the ones to tell us if there are problems ;)
Ian Cooper