> I also observe that it can be tricky for us neophites to HW to
> balance contests. I had a party that frontally assulted a broo stronghold
> (which I thought was really stupid, 5 heroes versus 15 or so broos).
> Well most of the heroes ended up on the short side, but the Humakt
> warrior (and his follower) ended up slicing through the broos, ending
> the combat with more AP's than they started! It's not that this is
> bad, but not what I expected. The fact that the Humakti had 3/4 of a
> mastery level up on the broo, resulted in this condition. Heck the
> broos even had fetishes to give them more AP's, as well as all of
> them used an addition fetish to augment there combat edge.
>
> Now there are many ways to overcome this, looking back
> retrospectively. I could have divided the broos up into groups, with one
> leader and 3-4 followers per group, with the leader having a higher combat
> skill,for example. Overall, it seems that if someone is up an effective
> mastery level (even say 5W vs 18), the higher one will almost always win,
> even facing multiple opponents (unless one is completely swampped).
>
> It is just so different than RQ, and other RPGs, I'm having a bit of
> difficulty adjusting. Any advice or comments.
NB: GMitHW p.9 §2 says: "As a rule of thumb, a person with one additional mastery [i.e. a difference of 20 in TN] can usually take on three to five lesser-skilled opponents with a good chance of winning due to bump-ups. A 2-mastery difference allows odds in the range of 20-1."
This *is* true. Try it! Really, pick up a D20 and play an extended contest between 20W (clan champion) vs. 4 times 20 (Dara Happan Hoplite) or 10W2 (experienced champion of a war clan) vs. 4 x 10W (tough zombies). You'll see the beauty of the system and understand Harrek and his ilk a little bit better after that... And, please, do your players a favour and-as soon at it is possible-put them against 20 times their number: they'll love it!!!
If you add to this the fact that Heroes (PCs) have Hero Points whereas most Narrator-Characters don't, you'll quickly understand that-with one more mastery than their opponents-Heroes can survive against 5 or 6 times their number.
Christoph
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