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On 8/11/2010 10:51 PM, Bruce Mason wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTi=KiXtwc3xuAu0dGR37Qso-dFMZ3amoJPPNmOD-@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div class="gmail_quote">On 8 November 2010 12:09, Phil Hibbs <span
dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:snarks@gmail.com">snarks@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;"> For my player, it was a way to<br>
use up that POW without going down the "magic user" route.<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
Straw man? Perhaps. But so's saying that Hero Points mean "er god
did it."<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
I use Hero points (Action Points, Luck Points, Fate Points, etc...)
as a meta-rule that sits outside the mechanics of the world being
simulated, and at a story-telling level.<br>
<br>
This helps our heroes, our Indiana's, and so forth, survive a story
that should statistically have killed them (even with good
roleplaying, good tactics (do they need to roll their Tactics skill
or INT role or do the tactics belong to the story telling players?)
and smart decisions). Good role playing can describe a "Hero save"
result in a reasonable way to fit the circumstances.<br>
<br>
Heroes in historical, or recounted stories of past events always
survive, because noone would tell a saga of the 99% who failed.
Admittedly, the intelligent actions of a smart hero, budding
companions obtained via charismatic influence and smattering of luck
helps against the odds. Survivable heroism is hindsight in this
respect (compared to an RPG starting at the beginning of a story).<br>
<br>
On the story telling side, Eragon could not fight so well to begin
with but survived due to graceful saves, Luke Skywalker made it
through. They would be boring stories if we had to re-read/watch
every ten minutes due to a statistically bad dice roll. (Even if the
help from the Force treated as POW is "the will of the force", it is
still a percentile luck role).<br>
<br>
The trick is a balance; having Hero points to save the day (in a
story telling kind of way), but not take the edge of danger away
from play. Naturally, the choice for this type of play depends on
the game style preferences of players and the GM.<br>
<br>
If we take purely simulationist roleplaying, we would also need to
consider removing the smart input from players, the good results
derived from role-playing and other similar factors. These elements
also operate at the same "story telling" level as Hero points, but
Hero points do it in a measured mechanical way, that can also be
used to complement those elements.<br>
<br>
Dale.<br>
<br>
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