Re: Durations of Edges/Bonus, Unrelated Actions, Combat

From: Andrew Dawson <asmpd_at_...>
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 19:31:53 -0400

At 01:13 AM 06/20/2000 +0100, Alex Ferguson wrote:
>This is a concern I definitely share. It's hard to get players
>to bid high just by 'motivational techniques': the game gives
>them a 'perverse incentive' to bid low, in particular if they have
>at least a marginal advantage, and aren't planning on blowing lots
>of HPs. It would be better if the game encouraged them to bid
>higher, or was at least more neutral in that respect. This is
>tweakable, but it requires work...

Here's an untested idea on how to give them incentive to bid higher. Give them a Cautious in Combat trait if that's how they insist on acting. (This is only appropriate for those who should be acting heroically in combat.)

Have them roll against this trait to bid more than some arbitrary number (say 3-6 AP). If they fight too cautiously when they need to be fighting heroically (say if they have a time limit), then they will likely fail. If they fight too cautiously in front of their clan, then they are liable to labeled cowards. Then the Cautious in Combat ability can be used to negatively augment social reactions with the clan and similar abilities.

This method uses the hero's culture to offset the game mechanics motivation to be cautious.

Later,
Andy