Re: Assembling a Tricky Situations List

From: David Dunham <david_at_...>
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 18:39:15 -0800


>It would be nice to explain Augments better as well. For instance, what is
>the difference between augmenting with an "inherent" ability like "Muscular"
>or "Agile" and augmenting with an "active" ability like "The Seven Maneuvers
>of Demetrios" or "Speak Crap to Confuse Enemy"?

How are these in any way different? "Brenna drives her foe back, leaping agilely about" vs "Brenna drives her foe back using the Seven Maneuvers of Demetrios" vs "Brenna drives her foe back while coolly speaking crap to him." The rules are the same. The difference is the story.

>- Measurable abilities : Some abilities are measurable in real life and it
>would help to translate them from HQ abilities to real life values. The
>obvious one I see are Strong, Large, Fast, Wealth. In other world, how much
>can you lift if you are "Unbelievably Strong" 5W or how fast can you run
>with "Running like the wind" 17?

In my opinion, this doesn't matter. The ratings relate to the story. My benchpress ability doesn't translate to an Unbelievably Strong rating. Rather, I'm stronger than anyone in my clan: 5W shows that. And, I can run just as fast with Run like a Gazelle 17 as Running like the Wind 17.

Now having just said that everything is the same: that's only true on a pure mechanistic basis. If Brenna uses Speak Crap, the Narrator could apply a penalty if Brenna's foe happens to be deaf. Or could apply the Belisarius Mystery Stroke, which is well-known to counter the Seven Maneuvers. The rules support the story, and require a Narrator to apply them.

-- 

David Dunham
Glorantha/HQ/RQ page: http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein

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