Now the trick question; was this because
>a) The assassin stumbled and fell from the roof breaking his neck, or
>b) Argrath lightningly fast drew his sword and skewered the poor
bastard?
This depends on what the two players declared as their actions.
Assassin : "I sneak along the rooftop, pick my time and then jump on Argrath's back. I use my Sneak ability of 10w1"
Argrath : "I use my Awareness ability of 15W1 to try to spot him, and if I do I will side step his lunge."
The assassin fails and Argrath criticals.
Argrath : "Aha, I jump to my left... *splat*... you're road pizza!"
If the argrath player had declared drawing weapons, or other actions
the
outcome would have been different.
More recently Alexandre says :
> And IMO if something is not, someway, modeled by the game
system, then it's
>not manifest in the game reality. If the opponent's intentions don't
affect
>the way the action resolves itself, then quickly IMO players won't
bother to
>describe their defense, as these descriptions don't matter.
Fortunately, there's no reason why player declarations can't have a
profound effect
on event, even if they're defending. Statisticaly a defender is no
less likely to
win an exchange than if he were the actor, so given the stake chosen
by the actor
there is no reason why he can't capitalise on this opportunity just
as much.
If a defender declares that he is parrying and backing off slowly,
but keeps an eye
out for a Riposte, that's fine and he may score a wound. If he says
he will dodge
to one side and flip out a foot to try and trip the attacker to the
ground, using
his momentum against him, then that might suceed too and will have
very different
consequences for the attacker than a riposte would.
To me, declarations are the bread and butter of Hero Wars. If your
character wins
an exchange, then he succeeded at what you say he tried to do. If you
didn't say
anything, then perhaps you aren't particularly bothered about what
the outcome is.
Ina roleplayign game though, the players are the centre of the
action. I think
they should always be asked to say what they are doing, whether they
are atacking,
defending or whatever. This way they keep interested and have real
input into
the game. Narrator character's actions can be retconned as required
if you like.
Simon Hibbs
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