I would add that the Large 5w2 ability is not a measure of the quality itself, but the potential for success that the creature possessing it has when USING it in some contest.
The system mechanics are therefore not subjective, but entirely objective and consitant.
What do I mean by this?
Some being in its homeworld has a Large 5w2 -- some poor Orlanthi in that realm is in severe danger of trampling.
That same being has Large 5w1, still capable of causing crushing, but the danger is reduced.
Is the creature about half as large? Could be.
Is an Earth creature perhaps slower and cludgier than it is on its
home word? Sure.
Is a water spirit having trouble keeping itself co-ordinated and
solid? Sure.
In other words, whenever that being tries to USE that Large in a CONTEST it is at a severe dissadvantage.
The NUMBERS are clear ... it is up to the Narrator to profide the narrative justification.
Rules lawyers can be kept happy by the consistent rules. The challenge is the narrative justification.
Which by the way, leads me to a wider point about HW. The players don't have to worry about GM whimsy -- the numbers are simple. The narrator just has to come up with clear narrative explanations for the numbers (and isn't that our job anyway?)
So no need for Sorceror vs. Spirit, Mystic vs. Theist subtables. -20 in enemy world -- asses your chances for success, based on your abilities my dear rules lawyers. Hell, pull out a calculator and figure your probabilities. Your narrator will provide the story logic, while you do the math. And all you role-play freaks can bliss out and ignore the numbers (as per usual) :-)
> Maybe the rules list is the wrong place to mention this, but Greg's
> (unpublished) fiction does include examples of people who, while
> heroquesting or otherwise interacting with myths, either perceive
> themselves as insignificant motes buffeted by cosmic forces beyond
> their comprehension, or else take on cosmic dimensions themselves.
>
> I think (in general) that attempting to measure anything on the
Hero
> Plane is mistaken. Measure is a technique that applies to the
Mundane
> World; on the eternal, cyclical, symbolic Gods' World it cannot and
> does not work. The key thing is that your sense of time, scale,
size,
> etc. is skewed in the otherworld. Sometimes you're a gnat squeaking
> in giants' ears; other times you stride from one mountain-peak to
the
> next.
>
> Follow the story. Don't sweat the small stuff. I agree that having
> modifiers bite in two directions at once (they get +20 on their
home
> plane, and I get -20 for being there) sounds severe -- any Anaxial
> buffs want to comment on this?
>
> Cheers, Nick
>
> PS: the Invisible Measure of the Sorcerous World is, of course, the
> reverse. *Everything* there is precisely quantifiable and
measurable.
> This is the uncanny place where every family would have *exactly*
2.6
> children, where pop-up boxes appear as your eyes pass over entities
> detailing their elemental make-up, where rangefinders and
perspective
> lines appear to suit your convenience, where Adepts can read runic
> Matrix-code scrolling down their perceptions. Confused? You should
be!
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