wrote:
>
> I'm trying to (finally) completely understand the Hero Wars system.
I
> have Hero Quest comming to me on order and hopefully this helps me
> understand the rules but I sti;ll am a little cinfused.
I think Hero Quest explains them much more clearly, with more and
better examples too.
With regard to your examples:
- You can, and in many cases should, change the ability you use
during the course of an extended contest.
- At the start of the contest you state what you are trying to do,
and what ability you are initially using. Your starting AP are based
on that first skill.
- After that you may change skills to attempt various things, and AP
keep track of how you are doing.
Therefore:
- Charging archers. This can be run in different ways. If they are
not a major point of the session, probably a simple contest will
suffice, and with a success the heroes reach the archers unscathed
and defeat them in some manner depending on the success level. With
a loss they may still disperse the archers, but take some level of
wound in the process. If the archers are supposed to be a major
challenge then an extended contest is in order. You could
potentially still start with a simple contest representing the
charge, if all the heroes do it together, then go to an extended hand
to hand contest. Probably it would be better to start the extended
contest right away. The heroes can try and charge, shoot back, or
whatever. It is somewhat up to the narrator to decide at what point
they have closed to within hand to hand combat range. The archers
will probably have to take an unrelated action at some point to draw
melee weapons (or may choose to skirmish, running back, turning to
shoot, etc).
- How do they have them on the run? If the result of an extended
contest has the villain successfully fleeing, then the heroes should
not have another shot at him. If he starts to run when he sees them
and they try to shoot him down, it is up to you to run it as a simple
contest ("You get one shot, your archery versus his dodge, then he'll
be out of range. Roll") or as an extended contest ("OK, he is trying
to run away, your goal is to cripple or kill him so he won't get
away? OK, Your starting AP is based on your archery skill plus
modifiers, and….")
- In a normal extended contest you can and often should change
skills, as I stated above. The examples of taunting or throwing sand
in the opponents face are no different. They are part of the
extended contest, not nested within it. "This round I try and taunt
him, so that he'll attack me recklessly" "OK, you can do that, what
skill are you using? Note that depending on the characters involved
and the taunt this might be confined to a small bid (you are trying
to gain a bit of an advantage "All of you Tarshite warriors fight
like women!") or very large ("Hey Storm Bull berserker, I saw your
mother sleeping with broo."). However if the bid could potentially
end the contest the description probably has to be a little more
complex, like "I taunt him so that he'll charge and impale himself on
my spear." In the case of throwing sand that is a simple use of some
other skill (say "combat tricks" or "street fighting" or perhaps even
a close combat skill with an improvisational modifier, but the
defender may either have to switch their defending skill to something
less favorable, or also take an improvisational penalty in defending
against it.
I hope this helped a little.
--Bryan