Re: Re: Contest Questions

From: L C <lightcastle_at_...>
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:47:41 -0400


Alexander,

Alexander Entelechy wrote:

>I think you have to consider whether rolling the dice is
>actually appropriate when you zoom in.

I think that is true, but presumably he wanted to put some uncertainty there.

>In the example given we have this going on:
>
> Adam: I want to rob you
>
>Bruno: I’m prepared to kill you
>
>Adam: Screw that, I run away.

*nod*  

>
>Now it’s not immediately obvious that this should call for a
>roll. Look for conflicting interests, is Bruno really going to kill
this robber
>who is now trying to flee?
>
> If the answer is yes then you have to break the rules
>because technically a death can only occur on a complete victory,

Well, no. You don't *have* to break the rules, but I see what you're getting at.
I also think the book explicitly notes that if Adam was a minor NPC, the Narrator is perfectly justified having any defeat kill him.

>this is kind
>of lame for games where death is more common and I’d do the opposite.
If Bruno
>wants to get Adam and he wins by even a marginal victory, then Adam is
dead.

Even if they're both PCs?  

>The one difficulty with this is that Adam might be kind of
>annoyed because technically he would get a roll first to see if the
mugging succeeded.

 From the "I want to rob you" part?
You want to run the mugging as a persuasion roll of some kind before Bruno is allowed to draw the sword?

>The whole area of escalation is one that Hero Quest doesn’t do well.

I'm willing to hear more arguments on this, because I do think it is something that the system is not always strong in. I presume you mean escalation in this sense of raising the stakes? (I go to mug you, you draw a sword.) Can you give other examples of this kind of escalation, say not in a combat?

>If you wanted
>to be strict about it, HQ escalates by using consecutive dice rolls,
so the
>actual sequence would be this.

> Adam: I want to Rob Bruno (Now Adam knows Bruno has a sword
>so he’s trying to intimidate him into not drawing it right, so the
first contest
>is that)

Intimidate against Jaded or Warrior or something. OK.
I'm not sure its obvious the goal for the first statement is "intimidate", though.  

>If Adam wins then Bruno is intimidated into not drawing (he
>can still otherwise struggle if the situation changes, all we have
established
>so far is that he doesn’t draw)
 

>If Adam looses then Bruno draws his sword and now maybe Adam
>wants to get away and Bruno has to decide whether he wants to prevent
this and
>kill him.

And for that you would allow death on a marginal victory or am I misreading you?
LC

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