Re: How do you compare published abilities without numbers?

From: Matthew Cole <matthew.cole_at_...>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:57:42 -0000

ok. numpty me. I replied to this on WoG. Please forgive me everyone - I hadn't noticed that I wasn't subscribed to this group (I get yahoo groups posts via email).

(Hey Chris)

>From what I know these comparisons are completely off the scope to the
designers (setting and system). I'm not really sure what use they could be put to, outside of pub-style-discussions or the occasional in-game debate about who's heroquester would win in a celebrity death match (perhaps you can, in keeping with WoG topic scope, tell me how you think it's important to compare).

I wonder, if there is enough interest, whether there could be a tribe-centric open forum about Gloranthan abilities/target numbers for characters in printed sources. I am still really against there being an official one but there could be a lot of enjoyment in opening up an online forum where we could, as a tribe, settle on ratings for all our favourite characters. We could even post our own characters, as a fun comparison.

As a final comment: we can't say "Your Glorantha Will Vary", bring out a new game system that advocates the Pass-Fail Cycle/Hero-Relative Resistances and then go and publish cold hard figures pertaining to the setting's characters. It would be a mixed message that would lead to confusion, IMO.

-----Original Message-----
Chris Lemens

I think there is a balancing act here. One of the benefits of describing, say, Kallyr and Argrath White-Bull with actual numbers is that it tells the narrator what people in Glorantha would believe about those characters. For example, they might believe that in a face-to-face sword fight, one if going to kick the other's butt. Without the numbers, we are left with no way to compare the two, unless an author happened to address it in text (which seems really unlikely). It's kind of how prices let buyers compare two things that are not otherwise alike.

I think this question might belong on both lists: how do HQ2 authors help readers compare characters and anything else that would have an ability or keyword, if there are no numbers assigned to them? Feel free to respond wherever you think is more appropriate.

I should also say that I prefer the Pass/Fail Cycle in the HQ2 Continuum pre-publication. But I still struggle with the issue above.

Chris Lemens