Dark Side Points

From: Mike Holmes <mike_c_holmes_at_...>
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 07:47:19 -0500

>From: Ian Cooper <ian_hammond_cooper_at_...>
>
> >So how do we deal with this dark heart of herodom?
>Mechanically could be an issue. I fear the emergence of 'dark side points'.
>But I suspect most games are able to pose the question of 'power corrupts,
>absolute power corrupts absolutely' well. >

No need for new rule, HQ has one that suffices here. If the player wants his character to be tempted by something dark, all you have to do is to put that down on the sheet as a Flaw. "Tempted By Darkness 5W" or whatever. Then when the player has a chance to use Darkness to accomplish some goal, he can either take the +3 augment, or eschew it to play the guy resisting this.

I've always touted this as one of HQ's most important features. The rules don't say you have to play to your flaws or personality traits. They simply give you an incentive to do so. Which is key, because it means that when a character gets into some sort of dilemma or tough choice, that the answer of what he'll do hasn't already been made in terms of looking at the character sheet. Instead it's still up to the player to figure out what the character does. Whichever decision he makes being highlighted by the player incorporating certain abilities, or by the conspicuous lack of their incorporation.

I mean, it's never so telling a moment as when a character sets aside his "Love for Griselda" to play to his character's "Duty to Tribe" or something.

>The trick is always to force the hero to choose, between two evils, so that
>he is damned even if he takes the latter. The only escape is to walk away.

My suggestion is to make walking away a statement itself. That is, make not choosing a choice that says something about the character. So, for the above situation, you have Griselda being carried away in one direction while the battle he's supposed to be directing rages in another. If he walks away, he's abandoning both. You can even allow the player to make the "I can have both" decision, by allowing them to escalate and risk something even more than they're already risking. But don't let the player get away with avoiding making a choice for the character.

Mike

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