> The greatest *strength* of Hero Wars vs. RuneQuest was (I had hoped
> and understood) that everything would be so much simpler.
I have yet to see a fantasy RPG that handles high-level gaming at all efficiently. The French RPG "R�ve de Dragon" comes close, but it has difficult magic rules procedures. HW is closer, but no cigar IMO.
The problem being that game designers generally fail to see powergamers' needs as worthy of interest, and therefore fail to include provisions for high-level gaming, which means that beyond a certain point the systems break down.
Robin has a far better understanding of these design needs than his editors, but, unfortunately, the original flexibility and open-endedness of the system has been buried under a plethora of spot-rules, seemingly designed to make HW/HQ more RQ-like.
> So your opponent has a couple of masteries' advantage over you in the
> arena you wanted to compete in? Well, *by design and intent*, you are
> thereby stuffed -- best think about some other way of attaining your
> goals, 'cos the simple brute-force route is closed.
I don't think that the brute-force route is _closed_, but the design and intent of HW certainly do make that route a difficult one. But Harrek the Berserker, for one, does succeed in that particular area, Violence being Always an Option.
IMO the greatest strength of Robin's design is that the Narrator is left in charge of a palette of basic rules mechanisms, instead of the usually binary modes of classic RPGs, and told to exploit this palette to the advantage of everyone's enjoyment. Low-, Medium-, and High- level gaming are presented as just one spectrum in the HW experience, and the Narrator is told that he should use the other spectra of HW to do exactly as he and his players wish : this is a "revolutionary" concept, and presented as the next step towards the future of roleplaying. And yes : it _is_ a revolution.
But once you start wondering whether or not 6 wibbles are right and proper (or not), what's the "correct" way to play HQ, or other such tediously excruciating roolz questions (with a couple of local HW1 exceptions), then you are _quite simply_ failing to understand HQ.
This isn't hand-waving.
It is a simple realisation that no given power level will suit everyone's needs. So, a good fantasy RPG should, by design, fail to set any such power level.
> Allowing unrestricted augments from a single high-rated affinity
> breaks this paradigm.
No it doesn't. If unrestricted augments from a single high-rated affinity are OK in your game, then they're OK. If not, then they're not. HQ allows for both Narrator preferences.
I personally restrict augmentations to some vague amount that "feels right" to me. This is an arbitrary decision on my part, as encouraged by HQ.
> It allows any moderately powerful character
> (with a sufficiently motivated player) to *believe* that he should be
> able to escalate his abilities exponentially (or indeed "obscenely,"
> to use one experienced Hero Wars player's term for this).
The "obscenity" stems from the fact that the "Sample Resistances Table" and other paraphernalia are broken, as failing to consider the needs of high-level gaming. viz. Wealth Rules and other threads passim.
> I *appreciate* that there are many Narrator Tricks (TM) that can be
> used to rein in such abusive behaviour. But I do not think the bald
> face of the augmentation rules does enough to discourage it.
Not what they're there for IMO.
> I would
> *like* a game where I'm pretty darn sure my PCs' and NPCs' relative
> ability ratings will stay more or less where I set them.
So ? If you've some house rule for limiting augmentations to some desirable level, whatever level that might be, then it will surely apply to both PCs and NPCs alike ? Similarly, numbers of HPs doshed out at the end of each session.
> I just don't like it. I'm not comfortable with it. I want to have
> some safeguards in place so people don't expect to be able to screw
> with the numbers that way.
But the whole point of Robin's design is to take all of these tools out of the book and into your hands !
> Besides which, I do know what I'm talking about when I refer to the
> logarithmic / exponential nature of HW ability ratings and augments.
> I have never seen much evidence of this from the "all's-well" camp,
> more's the pity...
Hmmmmm : if you _really_ wanted me to, I could certainly start a "Logarithmic Functions of Magic and Supradimensional Gloranthan Realities as Represented by the Game Design of HeroQuest" thread ...
No ?
Surprise, surprise ...
Boring 10W6 (Augmentations from David Cake not pre-included) ...
Julian Lord
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