Bryan Thexton asks:
> After having digested a lot of posts on this, I think I finally put my
> finger on the one 'numbers' issue that was still bugging me.
>
> If I'm playing a game where the characters are young apprentices in Nochet,
> Harrek's pirates should be terrifying doom-carriers, not someone that you
> should be able to find some way to deal with if the story cycle says you are
> due an easy contest. . . .
>
> Conversely, those who were amongst the last defenders of Whitewall should
> not find a normal cattle raid challenging, . . . .
I don't have HQ2 to hand, but two points:
First (as others have said), in some situations, there basically is no contest. This actually carries forward the concepts in HQ1. I recall that there was discussion there about "contests at which no self-respecing hero should ever fail" or some such. The upshot of that is that you automatically succeed. So, at the trivial level, you don't have to roll to breathe, walk, eat, etc. under normal circumstances. If you are Harrek, you don't have to roll to kill an average opponent.
At the other end of the spectrum are contests that are just impossible. At the most extreme, "jump through time" and "stop the sun in the sky" are basically impossible. You could (needlessly) make up a long list of things at which your character currently has absolutely no chance of succeeding. For example, the average Heortling has zero chance at "survive for year without food" and "jump over Kero Fin." But you can imagine a hero that could do one of those.
Second, for things that are within the realm of possible for a particular character, HQ2 provides modifiers. From a prior email, I think the table is something like this:
Nearly Impossible = Base +M2
Very High = Base +9
High = Base +6
Moderate = Base
Low = Base –6
Very Low = Base –M or 6, whichever is lower
Between these two things, I think the whole spectrum is covered.
Chris Lemens
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