Re: Re: BTW we are not comparing adjectives

From: Alexander Entelechy <alexanderentelechy_at_...>
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:29:20 +0000 (GMT)


>Agreed; and this is why, incidentally, the earlier suggestion from someone else about >bench-marking scenarios as 'lower first mastery', or whatever, wouldn't work. Because >what is a mastery in HQ2? It doesn't represent anything concrete.

Traits don't represent anything concrete in any roleplaying game. The very fact they are tied to a dice roll introduces a non causal element which ends up being explained as either:

  1. the situational factors actually favoured one person over another, in which case all traits are just really a specialised 'luck' pool.
  2. One person is better but we don't see that until the dice are rolled. In which case the trait represents a quantum probability type thing, schrodingers cat style.

People who do believe traits do represent a 'thing' are acually compensating by using one of the two above methods without really noticing they did it.. Or that's what I'm thinking. Games like HQ just hold up a mirror to what you often allready did. I might be wrong though, if there's another way of making traits concrete would anyone mind explaining it to me. I'm always interested in new ways of playing.

From: ttrotsky2 <TTrotsky_at_...>
Subject: [HeroQuest-rules] Re: BTW we are not comparing adjectives To: HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, 14 March, 2009, 3:16 PM     

            Ian Cooper:

> One thing to note in this discussion. Some questioned how useful

> adjectives were in describing resistances. That's not how it works.

> When we talk about a resistance being Hard, Very Hard, Nearly

> Impossible we are talking about an absolute modifier (+3, +6...) to

> the base resistance.

Agreed; and this is why, incidentally, the earlier suggestion from someone else about bench-marking scenarios as 'lower first mastery', or whatever, wouldn't work. Because what is a mastery in HQ2? It doesn't represent anything concrete.

Instead, one would benchmark scenarios by the narrative role that the heroes are expected to fill (and I am sure they will, if any ever actually get published). A scenario in which you are supposed to be regular cattle thieves is different from one in which are supposed to be the top heroes in the kingdom. Maybe in one campaign, regular cattle thieves have their best ability at 10W, and, say, the Full Moon Corps have theirs at 10W3, but, in another, the cattle thieves are at 15W3, and the FMC at 15W6. The scenario works equally either way.

It's not the way I'd do it, but it *does* make sense :) 

-- 

Trotsky

Gamer and Skeptic



------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- ------

Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky .pwp.blueyonder. co.uk/

Not a Dead Communist: http://jrevell. blogspot. com/

Powered by hypermail