So you'll see things like:
Hunter 9W
climbs and jumps like an Alynx +1 father's eversharp hunting knife +1 fishing +1 swimming +1 knows Tula like the back of her hand +1 names of plants and animals +1
In this example (from a real-life character) breakouts are used for two things. The first one is focussing the keyword a bit more to make it easier to win contests involving the keyword. Knowing about animals is something that every hunter would have but this character gets an easier time of it as they've broken out the ability. The second is getting hold of some capability for the character that's not generally thought of as being part of the keyword but fits anyway. Like dad's knife, being able to swim and being Alynx like.
If you're using umbrella keywords and a player sticks a fairly broad ability down on their character sheet (e.g. farmer) then make it a keyword. They'll use it as they would of before but have the option of breaking out things that interest them.
The exact boundary of what's a keyword and what's not can change with time. One of my player's character picked up an alchemy ability during play. After a couple of sessions it was apparent he was using it for making poisons and not a lot else but we didn't bother changing the ability name. After a few more sessions the player asked if he could cook up a "love" potion with his ability. It was a bit of a stretch in the context of what he'd used the ability for but doable. After the session it dawned on me that it was really a keyword so we doubled the hero point cost and now it's got 5 or breakouts for types of scunge he can cook up easily.
Now for the gratuitous Amazing Spider Man example. In stunning Umbrella vision:
Great Powers <whatever score is appropriate>
biting and humiliating wit +10
wall crawler +1
web slinger +1
wiry and agile +1
spidey sense +1
Great Responsibility <whatever score is appropriate>
cause the deaths of people I love +10
press photographer secret identity +1
protect Aunt May +1
can't tell Mary Jane the truth +1
Daily Bugle and JJJ rubbishes me daily +1
picked on by Flash and I can't retaliate +1
College Nerd <whatever score is appropriate>
mechanical genius +1
cook stuff up in bedroom +1
too uncool to be out of school +1
Native New Yorker <whatever score is appropriate>
know my way around +1
rooftops +1
get anywhere quick +1
This can feed all sorts of internal conflicts within the character and give him a decent augment when pummelling whatever the villain of the week is. All for the low, low cost of 8 hero points rather than 20 or so. What's not to like?
Cheers,
Ash
> Subject: Re: Keywords vs Abilities
> To: HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, 7 December, 2011, 6:25
>
> --- In HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com,
> Aaron Stockser <nwn2.wow_at_...> wrote:
> > I'll take a stab at this...
>
> Thanks, Aaron!
>
> > This is a cheap (or free) way for a Narrator to ensure
> that every character
> > in the campaign has basic proficiency in these
> unrelated but common
> > Abilities. Once the package is purchased though, each
> Ability must be
> > improved separately as there is no "Citizen of the
> Galaxy" Ability in play.
>
> Okay, I can see that as a bookkeeping convenience,
> basically. Gotcha...
>
> On a tangent, though, why wouldn't/couldn't there a Citizen
> of the Galaxy ability in play? If you have taken the
> time to conceptually link a handful of abilities into the
> keyword, so everyone knows what is considered conceptually
> part of Citizen of the Galaxy, how is that different than
> any other broad ability? It covers the basic skills
> you use every day in a life in the Republic. Other
> broad abilities like Farmer or Paladin or Jedi Knight can
> have just as many diverse elements within them, and they are
> (I think) valid abilities by RAW. So what makes your
> example of Citizen of the Galaxy less of a candidate for
> Abilityhood than something like Jedi Knight, which
> presumably incorporates equally diverse abilities like
> Acrobatics, Meditation, Negotiation, Philosophy, Lightsaber
> Training, etc.? Is it just Narrator fiat, or are there
> guidelines on defining abilities that I'm not getting?
>
>
> Hmmm... Maybe Jedi Knight, Farmer and Paladin aren't "good"
> candidates for abilities either. Maybe they should all
> be keywords too, although that just leads into a recursive
> loop. I need to give this some more thought.
>
> > Umbrella Keywords both
> > encourage specialized Abilities and
> thematically-strong characters by
> > allowing both broad competencies and specialized
> Abilities to be increased
> > at a decent rate without falling behind.
>
> This is the part I'm still not sold on. Let's use
> your example:
>
> > Amazing Spider Powers 13W2
> > -Webslinging +5
> > -Spider Sense +8
> > -Wall Crawling +1
> > -Acrobatics +4
>
> Let's arbitrarily say that the starting value when creating
> super powers was for Amazing Spider Powers was 10W2, and the
> rest was bought. The exact amount doesn't matter, it
> could be 5W2 or 1W or whatever, the basic math will follow
> the pattern below, and the lower the initial value the more
> pronounced the effect would be. So for this example,
> I'll assume a 10W2.
>
> If my math is right, that means he had to pay 6 points to
> go from 10W2 to 13W2, then +5 for Webslinging, +8 for Spider
> Sense, +1 for Wall Crawling, and +4 for Acrobatics, or 24
> points total. In exchange for that 24 points, he got
> one general broad ability (Amazing Spider Powers) at 13W2,
> and higher values in four more specific abilities.
> Cool.
>
> Now, let's build a Spidey Clone using just the broad
> ability, also starting at 10W2 and applying the same 24
> improvement points to it. Again if my math is right,
> he'd end up with Amazing Spider Powers 14W3. Even with
> a severe penalty for being a broad ability, that is still
> noticeably higher than the real Spiderman's score, even in a
> contest of webbing or spider senses specifically.
>
> Now, I recognize this might be considered a very min/maxing
> approach, and I'm not encouraging/endorsing that. I
> guess my concern is that the umbrella keyword (and broad
> abilities in general) is implemented in a way that seems to
> fail to support it's intended purpose, where the mechanic
> actually encourages the opposite: broad abilities and
> min/maxing. From a strictly game-mechanic point of
> view, I cannot think of a reason to buy an umbrella
> keyword.
>
> Now, HQ is not intended to be a simulation system; I get
> (and like) the focus on story, and maybe it just isn't a big
> concern to the target audience. Or maybe I'm still
> missing something. :-)
>
> Either way, the rules do give me the option of advancing
> umbrella keywords at the same rate as any other broad
> ability without even needing a house rule, so I'm not really
> concerned or bothered. I'm confident we'll find the
> right balance for our group. I'm mostly just curious,
> trying to see if I'm missing something, or if it just comes
> down to a judgment call / matter of personal taste.
>
> Thanks again for your time and thoughts!
> Lindharin
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> To Post a message, send it to: HeroQuest-rules_at_...
> To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: HeroQuest-rules-unsubscribe_at_...
>
> For assistance, contact the list ownerYahoo! Groups Links
>
>
> HeroQuest-rules-fullfeatured_at_yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
Powered by hypermail