Re: Ho Much Rule fiddling Is Tolerable?

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_QzonX8sZkqwv0pXn8w1ccte0u9q-1b4O1l56_L0KnRLyo-P00ibsZm9kQapM_QbOhpGdy>
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:23:50 -0700

>> I can see how that might be the case if you were using a Simple

> Contest,

>> but if it's the kind of thing that the entire Hero Band is working
>> towards, it sounds kind of "climactic" or at least important. I
> seem to

>> recall HQ stating that such situations are precisely what Extended
>> Contests are designed for.

The problem occurs when there's really only one "action" that will ultimately occur - one shot from a bow & arrow (rifle, proton torpedo...), one casting of a spell, one hero fighting a duel, etc.. It is difficult for a group to do these things due to the nature of the action. Part of the answer can be "try not to make a single action the climax of the scene", but sometimes the circumstances - or the players - rather force you into it.

Of course, this is not unique to HQ - all games suffer from this. Where a novel or a movie can easily make one protagonist the focus of a scene, RPGing usually has a bunch of players that want "screen time". And for a climactic scene, this is doubly so. Everyone wants to be in on the kill, because "it's such a cool moment" - or just to get the XP and loot the body ;-).

Compare and contrast the two Death Star endings in the Star Wars trilogy - In "New Hope", we have Luke carrying the whole scene - Han is (presumably) flying away to pay off Jabba, Leia is back at the command center, and Obiwan is a dis-embodied voice. They all augment Luke on the final "womp rats" shot, but really aren't doing "active stuff" (Yes, Han shoots the one TIE Fighter and clears forces Vader off Han's back, but that can easily be handled as an augment, rather than active, just as Darth and the Tie Fighters can be penalties on Luke Getting the shot - a narrator could play it either way, one of the strengths of the HQ system). Then look at the climax of "Return of the Jedi" - Luke fighting Vader and the Emperor, intercut with Han and Leia trying to destroy the shield generator, intercut with Lando and the Rebel spaceships fighting the Imperial fleet. (Lando gets the coup de grace on the the Death Star, but by then the main action is actually over - the Shield Generator is down and the Emperor is dead; killing hundreds of thousands of Imperial soldiers is simply gross over application of deadly force, and would have earned Lando a War Crimes trial if the rebels hadn't won the war...). You might say that Lucas became a better GM between the two episodes (that still doesn't excuse Jar-Jar, though).

And the reason this hasn't been moved over to Rules (even though it really *should* be) is because Greg started the thread, and presumably still wants to read it.

RR
He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad R. Sabatini, Scaramouche            

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