From: Malcolm Smith (malcolm.smith@alcatel.no)
Date: Fri 17 Jan 1992 - 09:56:33 EET
Robert J McArthur has, in my opinion, just opened a whole can
of worms with his Dragon Pass query. I've been playing Dragon
Pass off and on (mostly off) since I left college in '82.
I've played a few games face to face, but my real enjoyment
has been (attempting) to run the game postally.
It all started at an games convention in Eindhoven back in '85
when I met two other players (okay, I met hundreds more - but
you get my drift) one Henke Langeveld (a recipient of this
magazine) and a Neil Mason. It was Neil, I think, who had
bought himself a copy of Dragon Pass at the exhibition and I
foolishly (i.e. after devouring my body weight in Grolsch Pils
and pancakes soaked in rocket fuel) volunteered to run the
game postally. We chose "Hearts and Minds" as the scenario
(possibly the weakest of them all?) and we started. If I
honestly knew what I was getting myself into I don't think I
would have bothered. If nothing else it actually forced me
to sit down and study the rules and try to learn the damned
game; something I wasn't able to do so since '82.
Anyway, that's my credentials as a Dragon Pass player/GM. Oh,
by the way, the game folded after a few Turns as the
discussions over the rules became more important than the game
itself. I did run another game, "The Marathon Game" (yes, I
am a masochist!) but that too folded when the players
discovered that they couldn't cope!! I should further add
that neither player now returns my calls nor replies to my
letters!!!
Robert's problem, I think, is mostly caused by the fact that
the rules are written badly. When you think you've grasped
them then somewhere else you think you've read something else
and then doubt and confusion creep in. I should know, I've
been in long discussions by mail with the Chaosium trying to
get the various rules sorted out.
Let's see if I can clear up Robert's problem.
Stacking can be important. It, first of all, determines which
of the stacked units are within a structure (see rule [3.1]),
if the stack is on a hex marked such. The rulebook [5.2] also
states when the order of the stack may be altered.
As a reminder, "During each movement phase, the active player
can freely rearrange his units within their stacks. During
the combat phase, the players can rearrange their units that
are involved in combat. The only other time that a player can
rearrange the units in one of his stacks is during the rally
phase in which a hero, superhero, or dragonewt reappears in
the hex that the stack occupies."
The first two are rather obvious, and I feel that the third
is when a hero or superhero has made an heroic escape. I
don't think that I've ever seen this happen in a game. Also
it's been so long since I saw a dragonewt being played so I
daren't pass comment or judgement on that.
Mostly, the stacking order's importance is when a huge stack
is sitting on a structure and the player may want to keep some
of the units inside, and therefore, 'safe' from attack or,
more importantly, from having to attack. The only other
important time to have some of your better units inside a
structure is when the stack is liable to be attacked by
physical magic ([7.7.5] "Terrain and Physical Magic").
Otherwise it's of no great importance, as when the stack moves
it can shuffle itself about and also when lining itself up for
battle.
Battle and casulties. For the selection of casulties of
magical attacks the attacker selects the casulties ([7.6.3]
"Applying Chaotic magic", [7.7.2] "Resolving Physical Magic
Attacks", and, [7.8.4.1] "Applying the Result of a Spirit
Magic Attack"). For selecting the casulties of missile fire
and melee then the task falls to the defender ([7.9.8]
"Applying a Missile Fire Result", and, [7.10.7.2] "Stacks and
Casulties").
This is the source of Robert's confusion. The rule [7.10.7]
"Taking Casulties" states clearly that "The attacking unit's
casulties are selected by the defender, and the defending
unit's casulties are selected by the attacker". The ruling in
[7.10.7.2] says quite clearly that "casulties taken from a
stack must be chosen from the top down", which is,
essentially, the choice of the person who set up the stack in
the first place. This, I agree, appears to be a
contradiction, but look closer at [7.10.7.2] and you'll see in
the second paragraph the phrase "Only a few types of units can
be bypassed. Herds and units with zero MFs [movement
factors] can be bypassed, but they can also be selected as
casulties. No other types of units can be bypassed."
This clears everything up. Basically, when an attacker has
destroyed some units in a melee he then can go down the stack
removing the units until he can do no more. If he comes to a
herd and a unit with a zero MF then he can choose to bypass
that unit so that another unit can take the result.
Okay, so the next question I know you're going to ask is: what
are these herds and units with zero MFs? Aha, if you read
the Introduction you will see the immortal words, "Dragon Pass
is the centrepiece of a series of games....". Basically, what
you see in the Dragon Pass rulebook is a generic set of rules
for all of the games. The herds simply don't appear in Dragon
Pass, but do so in Nomad Gods. As for the units with zero MFs
you're looking for The Cloak of Darkness, Hungry Jack and a
disrupted Spirit of Movement. If you have the Avalon Hill
version of the game then the unit listings at the back of the
rulebook makes a quick reference chart. I presume that the
zero MFs units make a more prominent appearance in one of the
other games. But, for all intents and purposes, in Dragon
Pass the attacker has no choice over which units gets
eliminated in a melee.
If we want more information on the other games in the series
then in the Chaosium version of the rulebook, in the section
before the introduction, marked "Apologia and Explanatia", it
mentions that Dragon Pass is the first of three games. The
other two being "Nomad Gods" (which I have and find the
rulebook to be a mess and unreadable, and the map hopeless)
and "the third game, LORDS OF FATE". Incidentally, if anyone
has any information, or indeed, a spare copy of LORDS OF FATE
then I'm willing to spend good money!
Back to Robert. Yes, the Superhero can protect three other
units from spirit or chaotic magic. The defender does select
which three units are to be protected ([8.4] "Superheroes and
Magic"). Note that with magical attacks the ordering of the
defending stack isn't important (except if the individual
target in sheltering in a structure), so if the Superhero is
on the top of the stack and protects three directly under him
there is nothing to prevent the attacker selecting the fifth
unit, and below, in the stack. In fact, this would be a good
idea to do so as if the bottom units were in a structure then
the whole stack would be fairly well protected.
The rules here aren't adequate but I would rule that the
defending player must select the protected units before the
attacking player rolls the die. What do other players think
about this? Would they have the defender choose his three
protected units before the attacker selects the stack as a
target, or wait until the attacker declares his intent? There
is quite a difference between the two as in the former case
the attacker can decide not to attack that stack knowing that
the choicest units are definitely protected. This is
something, thank goodness, that doesn't crop up in a postal
game with a third party as GM. But, I'd like to know your
views.
That's seemed to have cleared up Robert's problems. Now can
anyone help me with mine? I've always had problems with
combat [7.4.2], [7.4.3] and [7.4.4] as in; what happens when
one active stack ends it's movement phase adjacent to two
inactive stacks and there's no other active stacks nearby?
Who fights whom, how and why? Similarly, if two active stacks
end up adjacent to a single stack, how does the single stack
go about it's defense? I have a few ideas on this second
aspect,but desperately need someone to point out the correct
solution. I'd like to have this clarified as it's caused me
and my players no end of headaches.
By the way; are there many Dragon Pass players out there? If
so, I'd like to hear from you, especially since there's every
chance of me being masochistic again and starting another
postal game of Dragon Pass sometime in the near future
(starting with the smallest scenario and slowly building up!)
Malc Smith
November 1991
(Sorry about the delay, Malc...)
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