iason
Full Member
Posts: 209
|
Post by iason on Oct 23, 2013 19:20:21 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Shaman on Oct 24, 2013 7:08:58 GMT -5
Awesome, thanks!
One thing I'd like to highlight is that it's perfectly possible to combine two skills, or a skill and a power, and add the ratings, if it makes sense to the GM.
So you can use (say): Animal Control (Utility power) + Empathy to establish a mind link with an animal. Or Dodge + Swordsmanship to backflip away in a total defence, deflecting bullets with your sword (good luck).
|
|
|
Post by Shaman on Oct 24, 2013 7:20:19 GMT -5
Also, a few questions for the rules people, if that's okay:
- The "no one hit kills" rule. Does that mean that the only way to kill a character through damage is through a declared Death Blow against someone who's already Unconscious? Or if I take a nick and 1 point of damage, can a massive-damage attack then kill me outright?
- Can you resist a Death Blow by spending Effort?
- For improvised weaponry, it says the penalty is always at least -2, but the example (pool cue) has a penalty of -1. Is this a mistake?
And the standard: is there a good compromise for those of us with skills that would normally require a GM to adjudicate that doesn't involve pestering these good hard-working people all the time?
For a completely random example, say a character named ... "Shemin" wanted to use his "Kitten Empathy" power to send a kitten to eavesdrop on another player. What's the best way to do this?
- Tell a GM and expect the GM to eavesdrop for you? - Walk over, tell the player what you're doing, and hope they don't metagame it? - Use out-of-character sign to eavesdrop, with the GM making a resistance roll for the target?
I'm leaning toward the third as a good solution (kind of like a stealth attack, but you're using it to make a skill roll instead), but a consistent ruling would be appreciated.
|
|
|
Post by Diehard on Oct 24, 2013 8:05:48 GMT -5
Disclaimer: I AM NOT A GM.
For the example above, where the dastardly Shemin was sending a kitten to eavesdrop... if it were me I'd accept that and allow Shemin's player to listen into the conversation. Assuming that I knew what Shemin could do. Which is what gets used for a couple of players in HP that I won't name here.
Of course the problem comes when Shemin doesn't want to admit that those kittens are his, either OOC or IC, or when the target of his eavesdropping (we'll call this guy De-Whore'ed) metagames. It would be nice to have proper proper rules for this sort of thing, but let's not forget that Higher Powers is played at cons and proper rules would introduce a barrier to new players.
There's a spin-off discussion here about "how many rules are good for a pick-up-and-play game at a con?" and where's the sweet spot for that. So if someone were to start yet-another-ongoing-story-set-episodically-at-cons-type-LARP (we'll call this someone Mick Higgins) then the results of that discussion could be used.
For what it's worth, I think HP could do with more rules for this sort of thing. I also think that my own "JumpTech" game could also have done with more rules for that sort of thing.
|
|
|
Post by The Guard on Oct 24, 2013 9:50:40 GMT -5
So some clarification Disclaimer: I am not a GM, merely a player with a strong comprehension of the rules
No One hit Kill rule : A character cannot be killed by an attack if they have not previously received damage during the game.
Once a character has received damage during the game, they are no longer protected by the No One hit Kill rule. (Even if damage is healed during that game)
Death Blow It is assumed that most PCs are not murderers so if the intent of an attack is to kill rather than knock out the target, this must be declared prior to the attack.
(Note: If character was not previously harmed during game the No one hit kill rule prevents the attack from killing in that strike)
-----------
In the Improvised Pool cue example, the maths is Skill (1) minus Improvised weapon penalty (-2) for a total of -1
-1 means he has a penalty to attacking with the cue.
The sample character may add effort and either a power or another skill to attempt to attack successfully
-----------
Eavesdropping
-Idea 1 - ask the Gm to listen : Would require a dedicated GM just to eavesdrop -Idea 3 - Ask the GM to test making a resistance roll for the target - the GMs don't keep all PC stats in hand and asking players for their numbers makes this less than optimal
Idea 2 - "Walk over, tell the player what you're doing, and hope they don't meta-game it?"
The stealth system and the perception skills were added to accommodate this scenario.
If an character/animal/NPC has for example, a stealth of 1 (and is actively using it), they are invisible to anyone with a noticing things skill or power (e.g. Notice, Spot, Investigation, Radar Ears) of 0 or 1. (ties go to the defender in Higher Powers)
If a player pulls effort to spot without good cause (e.g. the APPG just attacked), it may be considered unsportsmanlike or meta-gaming.
--------------
|
|
|
Post by Shaman on Oct 24, 2013 9:57:38 GMT -5
No One hit Kill rule : A character cannot be killed by an attack if they have not previously received damage during the game. Once a character has received damage during the game, they are no longer protected by the No One hit Kill rule. (Even if damage is healed during that game) Innteresting. An official ruling on that would be good, because that's very important if so, and it's not something that can be intuited directly from the rules as written. Are one-hit-kill and deathblow related? I.e. if I take 12 points of damage can it kill me outright if I've taken damage before, even if not declared a deathblow (based on below, I presume not), or is one-hit-kill a slightly dramatic way of saying you can't KO a character in one go? Hmmm. So even if my target's already been hurt in some way, my attack won't (and can't) kill unless I specifically declare it a deathblow? Thanks, I misread that example. Right, but we don't have an "invisible" or "out of character" sign in the rules. So would I have to stand, in character, right beside them to eavesdrop, even if (say) Super Hearing let me do it from across the room. Or can it at least be made clear in some way that I'm not actually there? Thanks for helping me thresh these out!
|
|
|
Post by The Guard on Oct 24, 2013 10:20:46 GMT -5
The rules state "there are no 1 hit kills"
Pretty self explanatory
Example 1: Jimmy the Squishy runs out to hug Dr. Lasers. Dr. Lasers Attacks for 500 against Jimmys defence of 0
Jimmy takes 500 damage and fills all his damage boxes and falls unconscious.
However Jimmy CANNOT die during the first time he is harmed in the game.
Example 2: Later that game, Jimmy once again tries to hug Dr.Laser. Dr. laser feeling merciful and attacks for 500 again. Jimmy is knocked out again.
As Dr.Laser did not want to kill Jimmy, he did not declare a Death blow and Jimmy was knocked unconscious.
If Dr. Laser wanted Jimmy dead, he would have had to declare death blow on the second fight.
--------
Yes.
----------
There are no formal signs described in the Higher Powers rules.
|
|
|
Post by Shaman on Oct 24, 2013 10:26:53 GMT -5
The rules state " there are no 1 hit kills" Pretty self explanatory Example 1: Jimmy the Squishy runs out to hug Dr. Lasers. Dr. Lasers Attacks for 500 against Jimmys defence of 0 Jimmy takes 500 damage and fills all his damage boxes and falls unconscious. However Jimmy CANNOT die during the first time he is harmed in the game. Example 2: Later that game, Jimmy once again tries to hug Dr.Laser. Dr. laser feeling merciful and attacks for 500 again. Jimmy is knocked out again. As Dr.Laser did not want to kill Jimmy, he did not declare a Death blow and Jimmy was knocked unconscious. If Dr. Laser wanted Jimmy dead, he would have had to declare death blow on the second fight. I see. I didn't read it that way; I wonder if I'm the only one? Particularly the "if you've been hurt at least once this game, even if you're healed, you can be one-shotted" part. That is not intuitive. "One hit kill", to my mind, represents taking a character from "Perfect health" to "Dead" in one blow. Which, according to your interpretation, is possible if they've been hurt before in that game (even if on full health now). My interpretation was (and is) along these lines (summarised): "It is NOT possible to kill someone in one blow in the Higher Powers rules, no matter how much damage you do or how few hit points they have remaining. To kill someone, they must be Unconscious and you must declare it as a Death Blow. This always requires a GM." I think that's an ... unwise ruling on the rules on one-hit-kills. I know. I'm just trying to figure out how best to run skill-uses like that in that situation. Presuming I'm standing beside someone who understands that I have a kitten there spying on them but *I* am not there, how do I then react if someone comes over to talk to me? Or if someone stealths and attempts a Surprise Attack? I'm just trying to sort these things out so there's a minimum of headache or suspicions of metagaming in the game sessions proper.
|
|
iason
Full Member
Posts: 209
|
Post by iason on Oct 24, 2013 12:39:44 GMT -5
Regarding eavesdropping I know that IC mobile phones have been used before for someone to go into a scene in another room and talk with the players there
|
|
diana
New Member
Posts: 22
|
Post by diana on Oct 24, 2013 18:35:21 GMT -5
It is late and I need to get some sleep, so I won't get into everything right now. I am, however, going to clarify the no one-hit kill rule as it seems to be causing the most confusion.
If you are at full health, you cannot be killed with one blow (though you can be knocked unconscious). If you are below full health and your opponent states that they wish to kill you (declaring a death blow) - if they do enough damage to eradicate all of your health boxes, you die.
We do potentially have characters who are assassins running around. We don't want to make it impossible for them to (or anybody with a grudge) to kill someone else. And you CAN spend effort on defense to boost it if you are in trouble.
The no one-hit kill rule is primarily to stop people who shouldn't be in a fight getting straight out killed with no chance for others to help them or to run away when an APPG goon gets a lucky shot.
The game is meant to be lethal, but in general, you lot have been playing nice with each other. We haven't expected this many characters to survive this long - it is why we always have spare characters with us at the games.
|
|
|
Post by Shaman on Oct 24, 2013 18:38:52 GMT -5
Cool, thank you. Clarification much appreciated.
The only bit I was having difficulty with was the idea that even if you were healed back up to full health after a minor injury, you had lost your "plot armour" for that game. Based on your explanation, that doesn't seem to be the case: you simply can't go from "full health" to "dead" in one go (though you can be KOd).
|
|
iason
Full Member
Posts: 209
|
Post by iason on Oct 24, 2013 19:01:09 GMT -5
It probably won't come up, I'm the only healer afaik and im stingy with the cures
|
|
|
Post by Shaman on Oct 25, 2013 0:43:44 GMT -5
Fair. Just seemed counterintuitive.
|
|