Re: Re: converting; cliffs; magic

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 12:19:22 -0700

> > >Yes, but you should still be able to define levels of compentency in
both
> > >systems and relate them to one another.
> >
> > This depends on the level of the series. If you're playing a
> > stickpicker game, you'd want to end up with different numbers
> > (perhaps a 90% skill is only an 18, where in a higher level game it
> > would be 9w).
>
> Huh? If this is true, then any published Hero Wars material is utterly
> useless unless it's used in the EXACT same level of series as it was
> published for. By your statement, the abilities level of a lion, say, in
> combat, would vary with the level of the series. A lion is a lion; it
> doesn't matter if the player characters are Harrek's companions or some
> farmers who are having a really bad day. The same can be said for a
> typical Sun Dome Templar. We know WHAT a Templar can typically do. We
> know, descriptively, how good he should be at it. We need some way of
> tying that DESCRIPTION into an ability rating. And I'm sorry, I can't
> accept that his ability rating would vary with the level of the game being
> played.

But that is exactly one of the ideas behind the game. HW is a dramatic game, not a simulation of reality. A lion's abilities will vary on how important it is to the plot. It doesn't matter if the heroes are Stickpickers or Harrek's companions, if the narrator wants the lion to be a threat it needs to have the numbers to make it a threat.

In NB pg 11 we cover Benchmarking a scenario: "Each published episode provides you a benchmark ability rating. If the heroes top abilities are rated at or near the benchmark, you can run the episode as is. If you want to run the episode with heroes of significantly higher or lower ratings, take an average of their best abilities, and determine the difference between that average and the benchmark. Then add or subtract that difference, as appropriate, to all narrator character ability ratings higher than 17. Benchmark adjustment should not reduce abilities to less than 12."

If the Benchmark of the scenario is "Best skill 5w" and a creature has a skill of 5w2, then it is meant to be a major threat to the heroes. If your heroes are at the 5w2 mark, then the creature should have it's ability upped to maintain it's threat rating. You may need to make a slight change ("uh, it's not *just* a lion, it's a lion demigod"), but the threat is the important thing *in the paradigm of the game*. Other games have other paradigms. RQ was based on a more Real-world model. If the guard had 75% attack, then his "threat level" was greater or lesser depending on if you had 30% or 120% in your own attack.

People have run Heroquests with no-mastery heroes (and some still prefer that level of play - Hi David!).

RR