>From: "Trevor Ellis" <trevor.ellis_at_...>
>
>Generally this will have less emphasise on immediate goals and
>gratification, and more on the longer-term objectives of the group,
>stead, clan etc.� Needing a little more Hero and little less
>Adventurer;
That's something you can go with if it's what you and the players want. That said, I don't think there's anything about Hero Quest that makes the lenght of the objective something to worry about. That is, what I find in play is that character issues get resolved at a startling rate (and new ones spring up in their places). Yes, often these are related to the character's attachment to clan, stead, etc, but there's no reason you can't be resolving things in the first session if you want to do so.
Nor any reason you can't make it take a while, either. Just that the rules will support either.
>a little more Story Co-writer and a little less Story Victim
Yes, this is very true. Again, my suggestion? There is no plot, but that which the players make from their characters reacting to the environment.
>In HQ I anticipate there would be even longer periods of straight
>Role playing.� I fear however that there is a danger that these will
>be punctuated by a solid stretch of Rule playing, then a few die
>roles before continuing the game.��
I think that there's a sort of false dichotomy being presented here. That is, the sort of action you're talking about as "straight roleplaying" are actually supported by the HQ rules. That is, what I find is that you "just roleplay" all the time, with constant contests being sprinkled all over the play, and affecting it's direction. And rather than throwing you off of the "magic of the story" it actually improves that magic. Gives you something mechanical to "just roleplay" about.
>The magic of the story could be broken whilst a protracted discussion
>takes place regarding what combination of skills, feats etc would be
>allowed by the GM, would be the best ones to use, and would be ones
>that the Character might consider most appropriate.�
So, just don't discuss it much if it bugs you. As GM, just hear their list, and say, cool, and roll. Or, at most, say, "I'm going to give a -5 Improv mod for that, so TN is 5W. Roll it." Just don't discuss.
OTOH, you might find that the discussions of what abilities might apply to the situation and how they do actually reveal things about the character. Very much in the spirit of "straight roleplay" and not about winning/losing, or such.
Think of contests in HQ as "dramatic springboards." There is no player challenge involved, it's about revealing things about the character, and finding out how events turn out so that you can move the plot forward. To that extent, handling time for contests is very low (extended contest can take longer, so make them rare, if you don't want such interruptions), and maximal creativity remains in the output while still having interesting guidelines. So I really wouldn't worry much about pacing and such.
Mike
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