Bruised and Tired

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From: mob (mob@bayswater.schnet.edu.au)
Date: Fri 16 Oct 1998 - 08:28:40 EEST

G'day all,

_________________
Bruised and Tired

Pam depressed Steve Lieb (v6 #241):

Pam:
>Oh - and you CAN die in Hero Wars. Just fight somebody with lots of
>mastery (like Count Julan), and fail while he gets a big success with a 30
>point bet. Poor Dan McClusky's Uroxi was atomized by taking a 90 point
>hit.

Steve:
>>Egad, it's THAT easy? Well, I'm sure that's a relief for all the people
>>who would normally die from such mundane things as being stabbed by a
>>pitchfork, fall off a horse, childbirth, drowning, falling from a haymow,
>>being burned, freezing etc. etc. As long as they're not facing a hero,
>>they're safe! Now apparently they will all only end up (to paraphase an
>>earlier poster) "bruised and tired."

I too dislike this aspect of Hero Wars combat *intensely*. As I said back
in v6 #146:

>I like the way Hero Wars places a much greater emphasis on non-combat
>interactions, but I still want a game system that, like RQ, meant - just as
>in real life (and not necessarily in "Xena") - even the mighty could fall
>from a jab by the third spear carrier on the left, a lucky blow from the
>meanest peasant, or a knife in the arras*

In RQ, just about any fight could be your last, and in the campaigns I
played this encouraged us to find clever, cunning and sometimes (gasp) even
*non-violent* solutions to conflict. Yeah, sort of like Xena at el don't
have to...

> Eric - "...why waste a bunch of time with dozens of rolls to defeat
> the town beggar?
> Darvall - "Ruric Runespear: 'It's only a trollkin.'"

I can't see Rurik's demise possible using the HW rules (unless the said
trollkin is a ZZ death lord in disguise, or has surruptitiously slipped the
very handy "Unexpectedly Off Major Character" skill into his 100 word
essay). I dunno, maybe most people think this is desirable, but to me, a
game where you're effectively invulnerable most of the time (or risk a
severe bruising and shortness of breath if you lose) is kinda pointless, the
sort of thing I might have got a kick out of when I was 13. Maybe a clue as
to which end of the market HW is aimed at?

This, and the fact that (from what I've heard) the gane is pitched so that
the Lunar Coders would only be of slightly greater ability than a beginning
character, are the things that disturb me most about Hero Wars.

Cheers,

MOB

    *"even more painful than the rotunda", so I hear.

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