>
>
> --- Darren Hill <rpglists_at_...> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 16:08:13 -0800 (PST), joshua
>> neff
>> <joshua_neff_at_...> wrote:
>> > Gandalf kicks all kinds of ass and is, in almost
>> > every respect, far more powerful than any hobbits.
>> But
>> > he could *never* have taken the ring to Mount
>> Doom,
>> > whereas Frodo could. And Frodo couldn't have done
>> it
>> > without Sam.
>>
>> Are these facets achievable in HQ, and if so, can
>> you provide examples?
>
> The One Ring corrupts, right? And the more powerful
> one is, the worse the corruption will be. Let's say
> Gandalf is a PC with all kinds of masteries. He's
> really damn powerful, far more than Frodo is. But what
> Gandalf isn't is *innocent*, and let's say Frodo has
> Innocent 17. Now, even at 17, that Innocent is enough
> to resist the ring--at first. Of course, Innocent
> isn't enough to resist the ring completely,
I see what you're saying, but if you were playing that as a game in Middle Earth using HQ, wouldn't it be possible for other players to have traits such as "Resist Evil Influence", "Hates Sauron," "Champion of the Lesser Races of Middle Earth," "Love [someone or thing]," "Altruistic Dedication to the Downfall of Evil Forces," "Dedicated to the Destruction of Magic (especially circular items)", and "Good Guy" for the same purpose?
> I actually had a hero in a similar situation in Mike
> Holmes' Shadow World game. My character had gotten
> possession of a powerful magical item, and everytime I
> used it, I had to roll against it to resist its
> corrupting influence.
What was the base ability you used for the test? Did it ever change?
That's my point - that in HQ, you aren't likely to create something and
say, "only this ability - and no other - can be used for this particular
type of task you'll be rerolling pretty frequently actually." As soon as
it is possibly to have more than one ability, the idea that one PC (Frodo)
can do this, but no other PC can, looks very shaky. And how many GMs build
their campaign (deliberately, anyway) on the premise that if one PC dies
(or the player is unable to attend), the campaign ends with the bad guys
winning?
I'd say that Frodo and Gandalf would each have abilities they could use
(and Gandalf did use, successfully) to resist the influence of the One
Ring. Off the top of my head, Faramir, Aragorn, Galadriel, and Frodo all
resisted. It's just the portrayal of these resistances was different - the
flavour text was modified to suit the characters.
The racial description for Hobbits probably grants several abilities that
quite naturally stack for this sort of challange giving them an edge for
starting characters, but in a game with experienced characters that
advantage might go out the window.
Now I'm not disagreeing with the original debate about the merits of mixing characters of differing power levels - I think that can work fine if the GM takes it into account.
Darren
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