Re: Narrator hero points

From: theunspokenword <hia15_at_...>
Date: Tue, 07 May 2002 09:39:36 -0000

Prompted by Benedict's last posting, but not directly in reply to it, I'd say that the Narrator's job in games is often to cheat...fairly.

In other words, I would have no qualms about 'cheating' to ensure a fun and satisfying climax to a game, whether by arbitrarily fiddling with an NPC's stats and allocating them HP - or, if the playerheroes  are especially unlucky then perhaps providing them an unexpected edge, not a deus ex machina to win the day for them and make them feel like spectators but perhaps a distraction to allow them to regroup and rethink.

The fairness angle is that such fiddling should be in the interests of the total game experience (fun, excitement and also a sense on everyone's part that they are active protagonists, not passive spectators) and also that if heroes have burnt their way through HPs, especially in keeping with the game's ethos, then I'd reward them appropriately. In my games, burning HPs to be a hero means that you are more likely to be doing heroic things which means you get more HP to burn...

Obviously, though, this is just how I choose to play, not some notion of a Right Way.

All the best

Mark

Mark Galeotti