RE: Re: ...gameplay in general...

From: stephenmcg_at_...
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 12:48:01 +0100


> In a HQ contest, victory means you get what you want, and that's
> often not merely success at an individual action, but success at
> achieving a goal. Defeating the hero is simply a stepping stone to a
> greater goal. Looking at it this way, from the pont of view of the
> villain's actual goals, the player's death isn't necesserily all
> that important. Those 100 APs of victory points are relay 'Get the
> girl points' not 'kill the hero' points.

Even if it was kill the hero points, the system doesn't make any real allowance for killing the character through AP loss (there is (was?) the coup de grace potential outside the contest).  

I think a character death should be significant. It could be significant for all kinds of reasons but especially in a narrative based game there should be a significant effect. So - if I have driven a character all the way down to -100AP in a contest where his opponent was focussed on killing then I am looking at the story and thinking "Would this be a good place to die?". If I think it is then I'd talk to the player to see what he thought.  

I'd try to make the character death part of the campaign mythology, so if the death wasn't significant then he wouldn't die just then. Depending on circumstances I'd make the quest to save him significant or I'd put him in someone's debt who saves his life. Each of these add to the game whereas a character's death would normally just subtract from it - removing all of those relationships and history is difficult for both the player and the game (and thus me!).

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