Re: Re: RQ v. HW v. HQ1 v HQ2

From: Ashley Munday <aescleal_at_...>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:39:50 +0000 (GMT)


Ian Borchardt said:

"I believe you are making an implicit assumption on the type of play when you make this statement. Your assuming you have a set of players which you are running through a pre-designed scenario/storyline fed by the gamemaster."

I hate to tell anyone that their beliefs are wrong, but in this case yours is.

Cheers,

Ash

> From: Ian Borchardt <iborchar_at_...>
> Subject: Re: RQ v. HW v. HQ1 v HQ2
> To: Heroquest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com
> Date: Sunday, 22 February, 2009, 10:28 PM
> Ash writes:
>
> > I find this fairly interesting 'cause virtually
> every GM I've talked
> > to/corresponded with/played with in the last 25 years
> has used
> > a pass fail cycle in their games*.
>
> If I understand what you are talking about, then I have
> never used a
> pass/fail cycle in any game I've run. And I'm
> neither a callow youth
> nor inexperienced gamemaster (having been doing it in
> various systems
> for over 30 years now).
>
> I believe you are making an implicit assumption on the type
> of play
> when you make this statement. Your assuming you have a set
> of players
> which you are running through a pre-designed
> scenario/storyline fed by
> the gamemaster. This is not necessarily the case,
> especially if you
> and your players prefer sandbox play (in that the players
> are free to
> do as they like within the world). And this is even more
> important
> if you have multiple players/groups of players adventuring
> in the one
> campaign. At which point consistency becomes paramount,
> and the only
> way to maintain consistency is to be objective, rather than
> subjective, in determining the capabilities of any possible
> opposition.
>
> Sometimes (actually "usually" is a more accurate
> choice of word here)
> players will have a unique approach to the situation, for
> good or for
> worse, that the gamemaster never really thought of. The
> will approach
> a problem from oblique angles if they can't see
> themselves winning in
> a direct encounter ("there is always another
> way"). Setting the
> difficulty level to the character's abilities robs them
> of the
> incentive to come up with these off-the-wall ideas, some of
> which have
> resulted in great fun and memorable stories. Especially
> when players
> earn their chance to brag and tell their war stories.
>
> So yes, there will be encounters in this type of play that
> will not
> provide much of a challenge and that the players will
> breeze through,
> and encounters that will destroy the adventurers fairly
> readily. The
> players should exercise discretion in what they do and
> never be afraid
> of uttering the immortal lines "run away, run
> away!" And if that
> fails, well, Runequest was the game that introduced the
> idea of
> "ransom" to many of us.
>
> Ian
> --
> Ian Borchardt (iborchar_at_gmail.com)
> Philosoph, Fool, and Magician
> "That is not dead which can eternal lie,
> And with strange Ians, even death may die."
>
>
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