Re: Abusing character creation

From: matthew.cole <matthew.cole_at_...>
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2011 17:38:29 +0000

_at_Nick:
If you mean "spent most of his hero points" when you say "put all his effort" then you need to offer a compromise. It was partially your fault that it got that far because you didn't explain why it's a bad idea to focus too heavily on one thing. Of course, this mistake commonly comes through a lack of experience and is understandable. One possible compromise would be redistributing points spent but this is something you'll want to do rarely.

_at_Michael:
You need to be involved during character creation. Insist that the players have specific skills or use the umbrella method (HQ2) so that anything they want that is too general is actually a keyword. Of course, there is power to be had in a keyword: it covers a range of applications and can have breakout skills that can be increased individually; keywords are expensive to increase because you are increasing all the skills inside them. Remember, specific skills (apt for specific obstacles) can be improvised on, at a cost.

As Ash says, powergamers in HQ2 are really just wasting their time. Let the group know that there is fun to be had from the result of every dice roll you have them make, no matter the outcome, or you won't be rolling. We found it is best to demonstrate that "failure is fun", because many players will disbelieve it, instinctively. Traditional methods punished failures and reduced opportunities for gaming when they happened. HQ2 has advice for the suitability of contests - it says "don't have them if the outcomes are not going to lead to more story" (paraphrase). It also provides several methods for alternative approaches when you realise the outcome could reduce the potential for more story, for instance: Costly Success.

I hope this has been helpful, don't hesitate to ask more! :)

Matthew

On 1 November 2011 17:14, Nick Eden <nick_at_...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> The problem actually becomes "how do I keep my powergaming mate happy,
> after he's put all his effort into 'Win Every Fight' which turns out
> to be a bit useless" rather than "how to stop powergamer dominating"
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 4:31 PM, Nikodemus Siivola
> <nikodemus_at_...> wrote:
> > On 1 November 2011 18:18, michaelL <michaelalewis25_at_...> wrote:
> >
> >> I'm new to the Heroquest system, coming from a more traditional rpg
> background, where
> >> you buy your abilities(GURPS). I'm worried that some of my 'Power
> gaming' players are
> >> going to try and abuse the system. I must admit, it seems like it
> would be easy to do.
> >> Pick an ability that is as general as possible.
> >> Should I be worried about this? How does playtest respond to this?
> >
> > General abilities are weaker than specialized ones. See p. 51
> > "Specific Ability Bonuses". There are other reasons why this is not a
> > worry, but that's the easiest to point to.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > -- Nikodemus
> >
> >
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