Re: Re: stretches and credibility checks - anyone else having difficulty?

From: Hal Bowman <hal_bowman1_at_...>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:52:46 -0800 (PST)

[Trouble with running Garhound contest]

The first was matching the PCs with the contests in a "no standard skills" game. The riding contest requires riding a horse. A PC who is a "Orlanthi exile farmer" at 1M - how well can he ride? One the one hand, no training (6). On the other, maybe he would have ridden at least a little? Can everyone ride decently, because they live in wide open Prax? So there was that issue. It was a major problem, because everyone was used to PCs with lists of skills (RQ, CoC).

The other was the wall of death. This contest was a mess. Players kept trying to use their PCs special abilities to help them, but some were really reaching - there was some frustration about GM fiat being the determinant of what was an acceptable augment and what was a stretch. There was some issue about how likely it should be to fall off the wall after being hit with one arrow or more, etc. No mechanics - just GM judgment.

I had just no idea how to run the Garhound contest without loads of fiat, which was like common law gaming GM'ing. I found myself watching out for precedent setting and keeping track of rulings. Not MGF.       

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