[Heroquest 2] Pass/Fail and Setting-Heavy Story Now
Erik Weissengruber:
These and other posts are largely archival. Before the closure of the site I will try to post crosslinks to other Heroquest, and Setting-Heavy AP posts to improve its archival value.
This was emailed to players after a session where I introduced more formal turn-taking.
Heroquest Update 1)
Or; How Random Creativity Becomes Gamed.
Here is how players and GM interact in each session of our game:
Colour > Fictional Position > Resolution > Long and Short Term Changes to the Setting
The first two parts of the process can occur in different orders. I might create a fictional position (terrible winds are coming to the plains) and you might respond with colour (describe your character huddling in an ancestral cave). You followed my Fictional Positioning (activating a pre-existing part of the setting) with a piece of pure color with you in extreme closeup, no conflict with other named characters. You might even bring in a bit of mechanics to finish the Colour Scene (use an ability to try for a bonus on a possible future action like "survive poison gasses of the storm). But creative responses to the setting -- a.k.a. Colour -- are were EVERYTHING in this game begins. Colour is the necessary precursor to all other activities in this game.
What Happened;
A festival of the exiles was attacked by Dog Demons in the service of the Lunar occupation. The heroes were able to resist the attack on their clan's magic. One fought off an attack on a brood of alynx kittens. Another summoned alynxes and other cats from around the city. One simply swatted wildly but managed by luck or fate to smack a few. One threw daggers into demons he alone could see. Two were caught flat footed: one was guarded by a faithful hyena. The other, given his cowardly cringing nature, was lucky enough to be hidden when a dog attacked him unawares.
How it Happened:
a) Determining the Scale of the Threat
Peter's Connecting Scene: He spoke to his brother Davydd about the coming threat to the clan's festival. In the course of that scene the GM had the alynx provide some information about how many demons were there: 21. No roll revealed that. The discussion provided some ideas about how to confront the threat.
My thinking: a MOB of LEADERS (characters who are more competent than the Player Characters) was coming to cause trouble.
b) Determinig the Scale of Resistance
Lita managed to corall a bunch of bravos from the Sun Dome to come to the festival and compete in the feats of strength. The roll did not win full participation from their boss, but the fiction was established: 16 tough teens would be there. This, in addition to a general attendance from the Garhound clan.
My thinking: a MOB of MUNDANES (the Sun Domers) was joining a CLAN of MUNDANES (the Golden Arrows plus a load of Garhounds), under the leadership of SEVERAL EXPERTS (the PCs). That is enough for your side to have a reasonable chance of beating the agenda of your opposition. Individually, you would not be facing penalties. Preceding role-played decisions allowed this to come about.
c) Saving the Kittens:
Mike stepped in, and Kate and Kole backed him. Which means that they weren't confronting the opposition directly. Their assistance allowed Mike to save the brood. (A fictional group that only came into being when Iniskiss was contributing to the clan meeting).
d) Fighting the Demons:
Mike was taking direct action against the threat. So was Davydd, once the throwing daggers came out. Peter summoned forces capable of dealing with the overall threat. James managed to smack a few around. But Kole contributed his action to assisting another. Nice move, but it meant he was exposed. It was a STRETCH to assume that a character occupied helping another could be concentrating on protecting his rear end. That meant a STRETCH: -6 to the Target Number, and a maximum result of Marginal Victory (this is a rule, but I flubbed it). He rolled allright, suffered no personal losses, but didn't really contribute to the clan's overall result. Kate's pet Hyena did have her back.
So, individually you all escaped unscathed. Collectively you creamed the opposition (even if Kole and Kate were busy keeping their characters alive)
So: the color scenes and your interaction with NPCs and each other set up both the fictional and mechanical conditions for victory in the large-scale conflict which is to be the culminating point of every session. Make those scenes count when you frame them. Also, if you listen to what is being said by characters in those scenes, you can pick up on it and work it into your own scenes.
Further updates may be found here: http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/glor_hq_tag
Erik Weissengruber:
Running a Setting-Heavy Game
- I speculated on such a Heroquest game years ago. When I discovered Burning Empires I didn't need it. But when I came back to Glorantha, this was the way I wanted to play.
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=8448.0
- Initial attempt to do it was a little clunky:
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=17251.msg182681#msg182681
- Ron's use of Glorantha as a theme-heavy setting, albeit with a different version of Hero Quest (Hero Wars) was and remains an inspiration.
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=8448.0
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=1093.0
GM-ing Examples to Follow
- what I am trying to take from sucessful experiences as a player, not GM:
- "[W]e ended up playing a pretty tricky scenario that had a pretty fine narrative resolution wherein a character discovered that he was not being cursed, but rather his true magical nature was making itself apparent and that he had to deal with the attendant social complications." This is a great way for the GM to create bangs.
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?action=profile;u=56;sa=showPosts;start=240
Tying Setting to Character w. Bangs
- I have not addressed the Bang technique. I used it very frequently in all of my sessions at the game. But all of my Colour Scenes and the Connecting Scenes are setting up fictional positions that the players cannot ignore. Or ignore at their peril. Or deliberately ignore 'cause they have different fish to fry. But direct authoring of Bangs I didn't do in the recent game.
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=27722.0
Augments (using one ability to assist another)
- Generally thought of positivley. Latest iteration of the rules limits you to one augment: my players are always straining to add more
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=9175.0
Dealing with the Depth of the Setting
- always a very touchy topic
- the problem of setting overload have been addressed in the most recent iteration of the game
- generating a character-centered sub-set of the broad setting has been mechanized in the form of clan questionaires in the Gloranthan material and the generalized community questionaires in the main rule books.
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=9417.0
I need to start implementing more complete Extended Contests
- The early advice is still good, even if the most recent version of the game uses a simple "score 5 points" scale to determine victory rather than the large Action Point bids.
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8326
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8329
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8332
Christopher's Kubasic's Comments on Glorantha
- any relevance to his Play Sorcerer ideas?
- what does he think of the setting now?
http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=15188.0
Erik Weissengruber:
stupit html code!
Advice on Introducing Newbies to the Game:
- http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=31598.0
The Pass Fail Rhythm
- http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=32632.0
Relating Stretches and Obstacles and Theme
- This discussion was the start of my attempt to get the pass/fail rhythm to work. Looking back, it was a lot of sound and fury. The act of defining a stretch is part and parcel of all the fictional positioning in the game. The pass/fail rhythm has some interesting effects in modifying player expectations, behaviour, and use of currrency, but it is not really an obstacle to functional setting-heavy story-now play.
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=28304.0
- a discussion of Heroquest and the role of bringing chance into resolving fictional positioning and intentions
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=31269.0
Comments on the 'Thing' of Enduring Interest
- On the meta-PC in several games (Freemarket, Poison'd, Heroquest, Warhammer)
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=30173.0
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