How the rules appear to the average first time gamer. The buyers of the future. People who will pay money that will fund the development of the supplements that we are all looking forward to.
How better to put them off than for the game system to tell them that this word "run" means someting different to that word "run". That this number 10 is different to that number 10. I am talking on average here, there will be exceptions that like twisting their minds in this way. But these exceptions will not pay enough to fund much product development.
The reason I am so attracted to HW as a system (and also what I have seen of HeroQuest) is that the core rules are so clean and simple and scalable. That's how I managed to program all of the basic rules into my HeroWarsProgram (barring a few bugs with edges, which don't much matter anyway). I am not saying that the rules are problem free, but that most of the problems are outside the core mechanics (inconsistent sample resistances, how subcults work in Orlanthi lands, never mind the rest of Glorantha, the Lunar Magic multiplier).
To attract new players we have to work with common ground. Pointless and baroque rules conventions (Robin, thank-you for introducing the word to this discussion) is hardly an attractive attribute of a rules system. OK, for some people, it maybe more Gloranthan but what is the point if it leads to a dead end?
In my conception of playing a game in Glorantha, there is no obstacle to having all numbers mean the same thing. Why shouldn't I participate in a contest of my character's debate skill versus someone else's running skill (he is running to call the guards while my character is convincing someone to change sides). If we can't even agree that "run" (and variants) always means "run", then how can we attempt to contest debate against run?
The numbers serve 2 puposes here.
First is to ease the narrators job. Is it not much simpler to assign the number once, after working out the factors that affect the story? That does not mean that situation modifiers should not be applied when the story is told, it just means that all previously known factors are applied before the story starts. And it doesn't mean that the number, once assigned, cannot change radically in a future episode.
Second is to build trust between the players and narrator. If the players believe that the numbers mean nothing then the narrator will have to work hard to build trust in other ways.
regards,
Charles
Powered by hypermail