What Ash said ;D
The one thing I really want to add (as it was something I struggled with till I "got it") is that, unlike pretty much every other RPG we've played, in HeroQuest a *Star Destroyer has NO STATS*
A Star Destroyer (or a freakin' *Fleet* of Star Destroyers) in HQ is pretty
much always going to fall into one of two categories - a *Resistance*
or a *Plot
Device*.
Based on time spent on the scene, I'd argue that the *3* Star Destroyers over Mos Eisley were either a Low Resistance or (for me) an Automatic Success for the Falcon's "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts" Ability.
The Star Destroyer in the escape from Hoth was a much higher Resistance, and the one that captured the Blockade Runner was a Plot Device.
In HQ, there is no such thing as a "generic Star Destroyer" with Stats and Abilities and Ratings and whatnot. *Every* Opponent/Encounter/Challenge the PCs face in HQ must needs be defined situationally, in the context of the story, scene, and setting, and even then the focus is on the appropriate Resistance level, not what cool Abilities/Modifiers/Keywords you can come up with to define it.
It's incredibly liberating when you "get it" - but your head will asplode if you keep falling back into a traditionalist/simulationist perspective.
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 12:41 AM, Ashley Munday <aescleal_at_btinternet.com>wrote:
> **
>
>
> Walt said...
>
> "I still have some simulationist in me and am thinking about the
> differences between them."
>
> If you mean simulationist as in "I want to have the rules enforce a vision
> of reality" then stop right now or go and play Traveller/Star Wars/Space
> Opera. HeroQuest ends in tears or GM paralysis if you try that.
>
> If you mean "I want the outcome to seem realistic to the participants"
> then you that's cool, you can do it.
>
> He asked before that:
>
> "How does combat between very large and small things work..."
>
> The answer to that is the same way everything else works in the game. You
> have a contest between whatever's on either side. As a player and GM you've
> got several (but different) methods of getting the vision of reality you
> want.
>
> Fr players you can help frame the contest by stating your intent and
> choose the ability you use to resolve it. For GMs you can choose the type
> and the difficulty of the contest and frame the scene by negotiating with
> the players what happens when the contest's resolved.
>
> So if a player character is commanding the Millennium Falcon it could go
> something like...
>
> Player: "We're running for it, using the ship's 'Did the Kessel run in a
> measurement of distance, not time'"
>
> GM: "So you just want to get out of there, not firing back, just legging
> it?"
>
> Player: "Yep"
>
> GM thinks: "It's not that dramatic, make it a simple contest. They're a
> lot more agile and the Star Destroyer is trying to disable them and not
> destroy them so..."
>
> GM: "Okay, simple contest, relatively easy, if they hit you they'll damage
> your drives."
>
> At this point roll the dice. If the player gets any level of success they
> get the hell out of dodge and get a lingering benefit of something like
> "Evaded Star Destroyers." If they fail then their drives are clunked,
> lingering penalty for anything to do with manoeuvring the ship and GM has
> the door open to destroy the ship, board it, send it flowers, whatever.
>
> There are other ways of handling this though, depending on what's
> happening in the rest of the game. A different interpretation from the GM
> could easily be:
>
> Player: "We're running for it, using the ship's 'Did the Kessel run in a
> measurement of distance, not time'"
>
> GM: "So you just want to get out of there, not firing back, just legging
> it?"
>
> Player: "Yep"
>
> GM thinks: "I really don't want them farting around here, it's more
> interesting where they want to go, okay..."
>
> GM: It's fairly easy to evade them, but if you fail then you'll get away
> but you'll take some sort of damage. How's that?"
>
> Player: "I can live with that!"
>
> Dice are rolled again. Any level of success and they get away without
> damage, getting an appropriate lingering benefit. On a failure they get
> away with some form of damage, perhaps "horrible clunking rattling sound
> (hurt)" or more extremely "Life support knackered (dying)."
>
> This is completely different from:
>
> Player: "We'll turn and fight, bet they're not expecting that."
>
> GM: "Er, no. What ability are you using?"
>
> Player: "'Daredevil pilot'"
>
> GM thinks: "Jesus, what a bunch of muppets. Oh well, they don't stand a
> chance, it's sodding huge with no real vulnerabilities. It's like an armed
> herring taking on a gun nut Blue Whale. But I'll make it an extended
> contest - it may be their last and I want to give them an out when they
> eff-you-see-kay it up."
>
> GM: "If you're sure then - it's really, really hard. Can I repeat how hard
> it is?"
>
> Player: "Go for it!"
>
> GM: "If they win this you're completely at their mercy, if not a rarefied
> cloud of vapour expanding into the vacuum or space. You really happy with
> that?"
>
> Player: "We'll cope!"
>
> And so on, but at least the players can change abilities after the first
> round and perhaps change the difficulty with clever choices or disengage
> with damage and run for it. With hero points and a few assists they might
> even come out alive.
>
> Phew, sorry for the mouthful.
>
> TLDR version is:-
>
> - Frame the contests according to the players desires and the abilities
> they're using to get those desires
>
> - Choose the contest type and results according to where you feel it's
> most interesting for the story to go
>
> - Set the difficulty from how appropriate the ability they want to use is
> versus the goal they've set themselves
>
> - Give the players as much information as you can before the dice are
> rolled so they can make informed choices about the fate of their characters
>
> - Make sure the potential outcomes are interesting and credible. If the
> players look like they've just sucked on a few lemons then reconsider
> before the dice are rolled.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ash
>
>
>
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