Game mechanics are one of the things that needs to stay constant, though, since that's what a player's using to judge how hard things they try to do will be. It's the "augments" that can be easily adjusted, not the base resistance. Add a violent storm, a Lunar patrol, some prize horses that're just asking to be nicked...
> Probably, however if I play in your games I'll
> conform to your
> estimations. If you play in mine presumably you will
> conform to mine.
> YGWV and all that - mechanically and mythologically.
Confirm, yes, but after a bit of "huh? You mean in your game my "run fast 5W" means I'm not as fast as a horse? Oh, take back that action, then, I'll go and find a horse instead." Stay consistent, and you don't get that confusion and need for re-adjustment.
> I am a big enemy of books have a lot of published
> stats. I like the
> "average Dara Happan soldier has x" type data; but
> things like "Kallyr
> has <stat-block>" are an impediment not an aid, in
> my opinion. I much
> prefer the way guardians are in MoLaD where you have
> the abilities, but no numerical values.
This is wandering on to a different area from generic rule advice, but you do need some idea of how powerful NPCs are. Numbers (as long as you have a consistent background scale to measure against!) are the most compact way of doing it. Or if it's a one-off NPC, then a statement of "should be the second most powerful armed gang in the area, scared of X but no-one else, and slightly more powerful than your PCs" can be handy. If you're going to adjust/make up the numbers, you need to know what else will have to be altered to keep things in line.
> Isn't there a chart rather similar to this in the
> book? I seem to
> recall consulting VERY similar to it.
I've never seen one, so if you have, a reference would be good. ISTR that someone (Jeff Kyger?) was going to put one in a future publication (the forthcoming Trader book?), so if that exists, borrowing it for the new rule book would make a great deal of sense.
> In my experience my players don't really care. If
> the same journey is
> harder, perhaps that is due to weather, or
> unexpected landscape
> deformation caused by other heroes...
In my experience my players judge how long something will take based on how long it took them last time, and plan their tactics accordingly. Yes, including things like allowing extra time for the storm, and a rough estimate of by how much the cavalry will get there first when starting from a different point a little further away. The command tent has maps in, and the strategists there use them.
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