Re: Armor and equipment

From: David Dunham <david_at_...>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:19:07 -0800


On 8 Nov 2011, at 09:45, michaelL wrote:

> How can armor and equipment be used? Since there is no armor class or damage reduction, how would a mail hauberk protect you?
>
> I thought in RQI you would use it as an agument bonus. (Skill divided by 5=bonus) In RQII, aguments must be fresh, create suspense, and emotional responses.

I assume you mean HQ not RQ …

Normally, a mail hauberk is not an interesting part of the story. It's just what fighters wear. It could be a requirement to use certain skills, like using your Weaponthane keyword to impress a farmer.

If it becomes important to a story, in game terms it's because it has a rating on your character sheet. You either use it directly ("I ignore him, letting the blade bounce off my hauberk") or as an augment.

It can be used for color. For example, to narrate the use of a hero point, it's convenient to describe an augment you didn't actually use. "His blow got past my shield" [spends a hero point] "but glances harmlessly off my mail hauberk."

Frequently items on the character sheet will have names. "I show up at the moot wearing Turnspear, my ancestral hauberk."

If your schtick is Mister Armor, then it may make sense for you to use the hauberk as your augment every battle. But that's because Mister Armor is your role in the story, not because you couldn't think of something different.

Relative modifiers from equipment don't really make a whole lot of sense IMO. If you, the hauberk-wearer, are rated 15 in Armored Combat, you are just as effective as my 15 Swashbuckling. How we defeat people will be somewhat different, but we are equally good at resolving story situations using pointy objects. If the narration suggests otherwise, there might be a modifier, but in general there is not. It doesn't matter that I have no armor and you do. (If it does matter, you are slow and can't move as fast and have a penalty -- everyone knows that!)

In short, don't try to simulate the effects of armor. HeroQuest is a game of story logic, not physics.

David Dunham
Glorantha/HQ/RQ page: www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html

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