>I have found that after a 1.5 year game, that
>equipment is less and less important as the
>heroes grow more and more powerful.
Back during the playtest, I suggested a simple solution to the equipment issue. A character with superior equipment ("superior" in this case means better in some easily defined way; a greatspear has longer reach, an iron sword better retains sharpness, etc.) receives an Edge according to the following chart. Higher ability would still carry the day, in general, but this allows for the stereotypical "well-equipped but under-skilled noble" without going over the top.
Equipment is: Edge is:
Superior +1
Vastly Superior +2
A Narrator could extend this to differences in various pieces of equipment, so a character's superior weapon plus his superior armor plus his vastly superior mount would give a +4 Edge. My whole point in this was to downplay *stuff* in favor of a character's own ability. Anyone with a decent Combat affinity could enhance for Edges above this level, so stuff is somewhat useful *until the character reaches a certain point of development*.
The only reason armor and weapon ranks exist is to give combat slightly more realism than an otherwise abstract mechanic would permit... and perhaps to stave off the ineveitable "spears vs.hacking weapons" debates. With my system, the hacking-weapons fans could just declare all hacking weapons "superior" to spears and give their wielders a +1 Edge vs. spearmen. :)
-- Michael Richard Schwartz | Language is my playground, mschwartz_at_... | and words, its slides and Ann Arbor, Michigan USA | swingsets. -- yours truly
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