> We're playing Return to Apple Lane, and the PCs are about to face Erianda and Darsten's assault on the pawn shop. I'm wondering about how to model Gringle nd Eighty-Eyes' role in the conflict. I can see Eighty-Eyes bolstering the pawn shop's resistance to attack, performing assists, Gringle shouting encouragement and bashing heads, etc.
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> Now, I could just assign arbitrary bonuses for the PCs to represent this assistance, but I'm wondering how people assign scores to NPC allies in their games. I could stat out Gringle and Eighty-Eyes as full-blown characters with ability scores, but somehow that feels contrary to the HQ2 ethos of 'everything is a resistance'. However, simply assigning NPCs resistances based on the pass/fail cycle initially feels inappropriate, as they aren't adversaries. But maybe that's what the RAW envisage?
If you choose to use the Pass/Fail cycle, it's for calibrating contests that make up the story. Not for giving anyone a statistic.
The obvious approach is to work the aid into the resistance:
(P/F suggests life is about to become hard) Even with Gringle's aid, the attackers have a slight edge (P/F suggests life is about to become easier) Thanks to Gringle's aid, you seem to have superiority over the attackers
If you choose to play out Gringle giving explicit Assists, what kind of feel do you want him to have? I'd base his stats (for this purpose) relative to the players. Is he over the hill? Then a bit less. Still got what it takes? A bit more. (I wouldn't mind rolling an assist, they're not something that happens each round.)
The bonus approach might make sense if Gringle is going to be taken out. Frex, in the first exchange, he shouts and bashes a head. The attackers target him, he goes down, and you lose the bonus.
How's that for a non-answer? :)
> Any thoughts? How do you model NPCs assisting PCs in your games?
It's always tricky in story terms, you don't want powerful NPCs to overshadow the heroes.
Most important, figure out an approach that doesn't have you rolling NPC vs NPC each round.
David Dunham
Glorantha/HQ/RQ page: www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html
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