Re: narrator hero ponts

From: Ian Cooper <ian_hammond_cooper_at_...>
Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 10:40:16 +0100 (BST)


>Given that HPs spent in a contest BEFORE an NPC
spends his are wasted,

Why are they 'wasted' the hero and the villain both try to adjust the outcome in their favor and the results balance out. If the hero has not spent the points they would be worse off.

>If the battle was going against the PCs, would the
Narrator give the PCs free bumps, to swing it back again?

Only with care. This is mainly what the heroes have HP for- giving deus ex machina bumps to heroes, to get them out of tight spot removes the players feeling that their characters are authoring their own story, but I might have devised the contest numbers badly in preperation and feel the need to adjust 'on the fly' to ensure the effect is as I desired. Extreme cases only though.

>Otherwise, you are saying that the PC's HP stock
should be expended to ensure a see-saw battle (either spent for real advantage, or wasted because of NPC HPs).

No, I am suggesting that the narrator characters stock of HP be expended to ensure a see-saw battle. As I said before a villain's stock of hero points is not dependent on player character hero points, it is dependent on his importance to the plot. If the hero has no hero points - the villain still gets his. You are only looking at it from the point of view of hero points countering your attempts to bump, they might also be used by the villain to protect against a bad roll.

>Forcing a PC to spend their HPs to produce a Narrator
effect (as it were) seems unfair.

Fair/unfair suggests you perceive HW as a game that can be won or lost, where as I percieve it as group story telling. That is, I suggest, why we have a different perception as to how they should be used.

>And what if the PCs don't actually want a see-saw
battle? Climaxes need not be see-saw. Miyamoto Musashi's battle at the lone pine is just a succession of slaughters.

Not familiar with it, but is Miyamoto fighting a long running, much-hated villain, in a series climax. If not then it is not an example of the effect I am trying to achieve. I must have missed the sentence where I said 'All climaxes must be see saw battles'. Guess I'll have to go back and edit that out.

>But what if the PCs don't have any HPs to spend?

Again, villian points are not dependant on hero points not designed to counteract them.

A villain possession of hero points represents their importance to the story.

>How will the Narrator ensure a see-saw battle, if
things go against the PCs?
I don't have to spend his hero points.

>Or are you saying that a rapid defeat of the PCs is
OK, but a rapid defeat of the NPC is not?

No, I'm not suggesting anything like that. I am suggesting that I want to tell a good story. I am not out to defeat anyone.  



Ian Cooper
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