Re: Re: HP bumps.

From: Benedict Adamson <badamson_at_...>
Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 16:01:46 +0100


hairyorlanthi wrote:
...
> Agreed. The only other alternative makes the world very weird--make all the heroes' opponents a mastery higher _than you would otherwise_.

Ian Cooper and Charles might agree, but I do not. The contests are not 'easier' because the player spends HPs. HP bumps change contest from using blind luck (good dice rolls, or at least not bad dice rolls) to determine outcomes, to using up valuable resources to get a desired result. To me, that its what it MEANS for something to be not easy. More below.

...
> Since my game tends to relatively short sessions every week, and I'm trying to move from a game started at the "low" values, I did run into a situation where my PCs had many more HP than was good for the story.

I don't understand what you mean by 'many more HP than was good for the story'. HPs means the following:
* The possibility of increasing abilities and thus moving away from 'low' values, which you explicitly mention as an objective. * The possibility of influencing the course of the story in ways that the players want, which is good for the story.

So what is the problem?

Or, are you deliberately giving large HP awards, to try and pump up player abilities, but instead of spending them, the players are hoarding them? I can see how that could be a problem. Perhaps directing the expenditure of the extra HPs would be a solution.

For the record, my Vingan currently has a stock of 16 HP. Why have I kept so many? My character conception is that she is a skilled heroquester. My stock of HPs means that she can get through a heroquest at short notice.

Also, Vinga is the Thunder Brother who can do anything at a pinch, but not particularly well, and implicitly only when things are desperate. I think a stock of HPs models that rather well.

I think the claim that spending HPs on contests makes them 'easier' is misleading. Sure, a character with a 13W ability and 16 HP will be more likely to win a contest than a character with a 13W ability. But that is an unfair comparison. Those 16 HPs were not acquired for free; the player decided not to spend them, which 'cost' the player ability increases. A better comparison is a 13W + 16 HP character with a 9W2 character. Which would win? Based on my recent experience, they are about evenly matched, with the a slight advantage towards the 9W2 character.

> Luckily, their "wyter" ability got them into a couple situations where they spent 10-12 HP EACH in the course of a melee
...

Gloating about how YOU forced them into a situation where they had no choice but to spend vast numbers of HPs suggests that your approach is wrong.

HW is about creating a shared story, not some kind of confrontation between the players and the Narrator, in which each tries to gain 'advantage' over the others while strictly following da roolz.

So your players want to keep a large pool of HPs. Why not LET them?

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