David Dunham wrote:
>Here's a secret: some HQ1 supplement writers realized that the system
>of numbers was broken and didn't try hard to get the numbers right,
>because it was impossible.
Unsurprising.
>D&D is an entirely different game.
Agreed. Never said it wasn't. I actually think D&D does a great job being a "we go into dungeons and fight monsters" game, which (from what I understand) is what it has now announced itself to be and narrowed its focus to. That's great for what it is.
>But you know, it too doesn't
>really support saying "Harrek is level 10." That would work great for
>my campaign, because everyone would be level 1 (as the campaign
>hasn't started yet). But in your long-running campaign, it would make
>him laughably weak.
Agreed 100 percent, and it completely supports my whole "the issue isn't
the objective scale", IMO.
I remember ages ago, in Dragon magazine, an article on Beowulf that
described the character from what we know from the epic, and then
presented 3 versions at different levels. That was back in Edition 1.
Since edition 3 I have been told that often characters/NPCs are
presented at 3 or 4 levels of difficulty, which requires re-calculating
stats and feats and things. All because of exactly this problem.
>It almost never comes up in our games. But, why would a Narrator need
>to get involved? The numbers are there on the sheets. Use them.
That's what I figured, but was just asking. I can see an argument saying that since the PCs have numbers, and you use those for contests, you should have numbers for NPCs.
>BTW, another reason it's not a great idea to present absolute
>numbers: HeroQuest is a generic system. Not only would you have to
>deal with the question about whether Harrek could beat Black Hralf
>the Weasel, but whether he can beat Darth Vader or Cardinal
>Richelieu. After all, they're all pretty formidable story opposition.
>(Note to those who like this sort of discussion: you can have it
>without any numbers.)
And indeed people do. Endlessly. And Harrek would kick Richelieu's ass in a fight. He'd be in trouble in other contests, though. IMO.
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