I suspect that a requirement for an augment to be 'fresh' would distract someone who is used to thinking of their character 'spinning up' at the start of a contest (i.e. always using the same formulae to 'put their character in the right mode').
I expect this is known already but: HQ (imo) seeks to fade this spinning-up ritual into the background and to present in narration what is important to the story in the current conflict. Imagine if a screenwriter or novelist were to detail the spinning-up procedure of even the most important character every time there is a conflict? This pre-supposes that players of HQ care about such things; for what it's worth, HQ is aimed at producing an experience close to that seen from authors and screenwriters in their novels, telly series and movies.
This is not to say that there can be only one use for the HQ rules! Not so! I think it's worth noting that only minimal work is required to play in a more recognisably traditional way. Perhaps the freshness test on augments or even the limit-of-one would be the first things to go when converting?
-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of John Hughes
If you're going to invoke storytelling, fights in most stories aren't about power, or tactics, or blow for blow exchanges. They're about consequences, personal decisions, *character* development. The fighting is seldom an end in itself: its often merely a necessary afterthought.
Of course characters will change over a lifetime - knowledge and wealth and power generally increase, physical skills decrease, and doing things becomes less important than having others do things for you. But that's not the point. And your Frodo example is even more misleading ... While wraiths never do much more than glower menacingly, the encounter is about appreciating the terror and reality of Mordor and as a baptism of life beyond the Shire. It's about Frodo **growing up**.
John
John Hughes
Powered by hypermail