Re: Re: House Rule: Divine Strike

From: Benedict Adamson <yahoo_at_...>
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 21:21:23 +0100


I wrote:
...
 > Are you confusing the game world with the game rules? If you want an
 > NPC to escape from Krasht's mouth, but be weakened in doing so, you
 > can say just that.

...

giangero replied:

...

> Unless the players asks: "How did he do that? Can I make the same
> thing myself (provided my hero is a devotee/disciple?"

...

You want to know a good answer to that question, but I have to be roundabout, because I think you are approaching it the wrong way.

The important point is, when you give an explanation for something in Glorantha, you should never need to refer to the rules. The rules exist to help us play games, not to define what is possible in Glorantha. Imagine you weren't playing an RPG, but instead were writing a piece of fantasy fiction. You write that a character escapes from the jaws of Krasht. You give your manuscript to a friend to read and he asks 'how did he do that?'. What would be a good answer to that question?

I'd say, a good answer would be an explanation that was dramatic, exciting and made sense with what we know of Glorantha.

But, when player HW, you ARE creating a piece of fantasy fiction, so the answer you give your players is an explanation that is dramatic, exciting and makes sense with what we know about Glorantha.

Can player characters do likewise? Of course! With the HW rules, you can do anything. You can have anything as an ability. You could have 'Daring Last Minute Escape from the Jaws of Krasht' as an ability, if you want.

More practically, any of a vast range of abilities could be used to make a daring escape. I suspect you (or your players) have things the wrong way around; it's as if they are asking 'What rule in the rule book allows for last minute escapes at great cost'. What you should instead be doing is DESCRIBING THE ESCAPE in game-world terms, or in the terms that you would use if you were writing it as a story, and then decide what ability or rules to use.

For example, when facing Krasht, a player might say any of the following: * 'I flee the chaos monster.': use Run.
* 'She might have me inside her mouth, but I'm not beaten yet. I cut my way to freedom through her cheeks!': use Close Combat (something very similar to this happened recently in our game group). * 'As her jaws snap at me, I recall the magic of Vinga's Leap to Safety when SHE faced Krasht.': improvise the Leap to Safety feat of Vinga's Movement Affinity (my character has done something similar). * 'When her jaw closes on my leg, I hack it off at the knee to escape!': use Tough, Brave or Berserk.
* 'A she attacks, I momentarily heal her of the pain that makes her monstrous, and allow her to glimpse the Soul she does not know she has.': use the Control Chaos feat of Rufelza's Chaos Affinity. * 'These are not the morsels you are looking for, move on.': use Fast Talk.

To MAKE that daring escape, you only have to ensure that you are not driven to complete defeat. To make the escape at little cost, suffer a marginal defeat. To make the escape at great cost, suffer a major defeat. To escape unharmed, achieve some kind of victory. Its that simple!

...
> he beats her by surviving and saving the heroes, but she
> sucks part of his power anyway).

How are the following different:
* The battle turns against the Lunar Tribune. He orders The Black Century to fight a desperate rearguard action while the remainder escape, but casualties are very high.
* The Heortling Carl escapes the battle field, but his arm is maimed and has to be amputated.
* The Sorcerer's magic experiment goes terribly wrong. For a moment he glimpses The Secret of the Godlearners. As the Gift Carriers close in he blasts his own memory to save himself.

In narrative terms, very different. In rule terms, they are all the same: a level of defeat short of complete defeat. The rules are deliberate unspecific about WHAT happens in a contest: knowing that you have a 'minor victory' tells you little. The players (including the Narrator) decide WHAT that corresponds to in game-world terms.

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