Of course, not being afraid for your character does not have to mean you don't care or are not challenged--it could mean that you embrace failure. I'm not sure if it has been discussed much on this list but I know there was some good discussions of this on the forge. One of the less obvious but very real strengths of the HeroQuest system is that failure can be just as interesting as success.
In most systems failing just takes options away from you. You are dead, you are caught, you can't open the door so you can't progress through the dungeon. In heroquest failure is more transformative than limiting. It tends to open up new opportunities, strengthens passions, gives interesting challenges to the character, etc.
It even opens up deliberately taking actions at which you know you are apt to fail, because it will be fun. For example I'm in a play by email game where we are all apprentice wizards, and my character is singularly short of social skills, and is has a rival who is far better off in that department. My character caught the rival cheating and promptly tried to prove it, only to get roundly humiliated in the ensuing contest. That was great stuff, actually far more interesting than success, because it set up a stronger hatred and desire for revenge.
Of course there are times when you really want to succeed, but once you embrace the interesting side of failure, those times are when you think things will be much more interesting with success.
I'm not against making people fear for their characters, I'm just saying I don't think it is an essential feature of the system, but rather a play style option.
Regards;
-Bryan
-
Powered by hypermail