I really wouldn't bother naming abilities that opponents have - just explain why the dice fall where they do. So during an extended contest you can say "The vampire's trying to lock it's eyes with yours" and the player can reply something like "I'm 'my own man', I'm not having someone else thinking for me" and get on with rolling the dice. Admittedly if you don't know what creatures can do then a list of their general capabilities might be in order but otherwise forget it.
If you're one of those people that have a view that everything in the gameworld stays constant (i.e. a skeletons are easier than zombies which are easier than wights and so on or "Doors that had a resistance of X to open three days ago should still have X") then a lot of the techniques in HQ2 aren't what you want to use. They're designed to work by setting the resistance based on how interesting success or failure are for the bunch of players as a whole based on exploring the player's agendas (clumsy word, couldn't think of a better one, sorry!) for their characters. Having said that loads of people were happy with the fixed resistance model that HQ1 and Hero Wars presented so the system can cope with it if you want it.
Cheers,
Ash
[1] Interestingly (at least for me) I've experimented with GMless HQ where we've just used the pass/fail cycle to set resistances and it worked surprisingly well. 'Go round the table, play out a conflict in turn adjusting the difficulty of the next one based on the success/failure of the previous and it plays itself.
> Final point: All this lot only matters when you're dealing with player
> characters against player characters. For most contests again the GM you won't
> bother specifying the GM character's ability, they'll just be an arbitrary
> resistance based on something like the pass/fail cycle or perhaps how
> interesting you think failure for the character would be - if failure's not
> interesting, don't bother rolling.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ash
>
>
I think this is likely to be the biggest beef I have with HQ2 over HQ1, though I'm still thinking it through. As far as I can see, setting resistances using the pass / fail cycle makes opponent abilities largely irrelevant. It doesn't seem to matter that you're fighting a hideous vampie sorcerer with a zillion augments and weird chaos powers - if the pass / fail cycle says the resistance says the exchange is Base -6, then regardless of what ability he uses, it's the same low resistance. I grok that you're supposed to select one of the vampire's abilities which will fit the low resistance you've selected credibly, but just at the moment I'm wondering if this isn't sacrificing a lot of crunchy monster flavour on the altar of the pass / fail mechanic. :-)
I think I'm happy with the Base Resistance in a session being related to how many sessions you've played for eyeballing general difficulties - say the resistance of spotting a secret door or overhearing a conversation in a maket place - but less so for critters with clealy defined abilities. For me it'd be losing a lot if you were fighting a trollkin, a dream dragon, and a vampire, and regardless of which one you chose they all had exactly the same ability score / resistance cos the pass / fal cycle said so. OTOH, I'm pretty comfortable with the idea of the pass / fail cycle modifying the critter's own abilities rather than using the modified session Base Resistance instead.
So, you're fighting a griffin on your first session, it has Exceptional Beak & Claws (High or Very High resistance, so Base 14 +6 or +9, ie 20 or 3W. Let's say 20). If the pass / fail cycle then says the present contest should be High resistance (Base +6), then you're modifying the Griffin's exceptional attack ability up by +6, not the session Base Resistance - so the Resistance the PC faces is in this case 6W (20+6), not 20 (14+6). That seems to preserve the differentiation between types of opponent's, imho, and allows tough fighters to attack the tough foes, etc. :)
Regarding not rolling if failure isn't interesting, I hear you :-).
Anyway, I'm definitely enjoying reaing the 2nd ed rules - thanks everyone for your explanations & help!
Cheers,
Sarah
> ----- Original Message ----
> To: HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, 25 November, 2010 17:23:15
> Subject: Question about Simple Contests
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Just today I've got hold of the HQ2 rules and am reading through. I previously
>
> played Hero Wars and HQ1, but it's been a few years since I've run a game. I'm
>
> trying to understand the way Simple Contests are intended to work in HQ2.
>
> Let's take a physical conflict. Abner the Assassin is trying to assassinate
> Bert the Burglar. Assuming this is a Simple Contest, how many "exchanges" do I
>
> run? Is it simply one roll for Abner (conflict goal: assassinate Bert)? If
>so,
>
> do I also define a goal for Bert (conflict goal: run away!) and derive a
>defense
>
> ability from that? So, we have Abner rolling to assassinate, and Bert rolling
> to run away. Is that it?
>
> If so, what does it mean if Abner suffers a Major or Complete Defeat? I take
>it
>
> he's not injured, as Bert isn't fighting back - he's just running away.
>
> OK; next example. A conflict between a warrior and a wizard. Simple contest.
>
> The goals are "Defeat the wizard with my weapons" and "Defeat the warrior with
> my magic".
>
> Is this still a single exchange? Is there any sense of an "active ability" and
>
> a "resistance" here, or are we simply rolling a Weapons ability and a Magic
> ability, and assuming that the warrior is simultaneously attacking and
>defending
>
> against magic with his Weapons ability, and the wizard likewise with Magic? Or
>
> do we have *two* exchanges, one where the wizard has to use an *appropriate*
> ability to defend against Weapons (like Dodge), and the warrior likewise
>against
>
> Magic (like Magic Resistance).
>
> I'm guessing in all cases a Simple Contest is just a single die roll; however,
> if two PCs were squaring up, like the Warrior and Wizard above, I'm interested
> what abilities they would use in that single die roll.
>
> Hope that makes sense!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Sarah
>
>
>
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