I think it's a matter of mechanic. I would allow hard dice to reflect massive damage while just checking the "head" boxes (which might be another location anyway) in a game I ran. The effect is the same -- he's dead, Jim. I would, however, require extras/flaws to meet the flavor text, including Horrifying, I can see the case for requiring Engulf for a "squish a victim into jelly" power, but to me it's just getting bogged down in the details; dead is dead, and the flavor text is the flavor text.
Now, the advantage to the player in taking Engulf would be the effect on a target with enough armor (or other defense) to survive the experience. But that (along with lighting the victim on fire or any number of other hilarious notions) would be a matter of taste for me.
Of course, that's what I like about ORE, and why I use it to run other games: it's a wonderfully flexible and customizable system.
Religion, or the duty which we owe our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force and violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.
-- James Madison
-- James Madison
On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 3:09 AM, Matt <moeheid@gmail.com> wrote:
Horrifying, but you'd need engulf as an extra or some kind of "scattered damage" flaw, otherwise you're hitting that brainpan.I'm not against finding ways to make your preferred method work, I accept this as a "limitation" of the system, but feel there are plenty of (sometimes points intensive) ways to work around it in the rules without necessarily allowing players to use narrative license to water down their murder powers.The example Greg provides with the Hulk I think would be better using Engulf, but he says HD, the fact both ways exist is a testament to the flexibility of the system.
-Matt ConlonVisit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cult-of-ore.Well, a brute HD attack could also be massive harm rather than precise harm -- dropping a car on someone, crushing them to jelly, a force wave that damages organs and breaks bones, etc. I'm AFB, but it does seem like massive damage, instead of precise damage, might call for a mental stability roll from people who see it (what's that called? Gruesome?).--
On Thursday, June 6, 2013, Matt wrote:--I'd accept that as readily workable, what The issue I run into with the use of HD to represent something other than precision on Attacks is that these powers defined as Brute, Clumsy, Wild, reckless etc. never strike glancing blows, they never take off a hand, or a few toes, they always unerringly strike head, heart, carotid artery, aorta, femoral artery (and even that is being generous with hit location narrative license).There are other extant ways to better represent a power that does overwhelming offense than a bunch of HD, but that's just me in "I'm thinkin of running a game" mode, 3 sessions in if a new player wanted a character that was practically a pacifist because he always killed people with his hands I might just go with a bunch of HD to save time and get him into the game ASAP.
-Matt ConlonSide note: I personally consider the "head" location to include other vital parts like heart and lungs. A 5x10 can be an unerring thrust to the heart as plausibly as a literal headshot.-- Daniel
On Sun, Jun 2, 2013 at 10:26 PM, Matt Conlon <moeheid@gmail.com> wrote:
"Four Color" settings are becoming a thing of the past (or cater explicitly to younger readers) and those "dubious" reasons for low body counts aren't really dubious in context (a reality in which radiation grants super powers rather than cancer or a grisly death) so that sword cuts both ways. If the campaign is not 4 color, the Black Widow might still survive if she has a metric buttload of Willpower on her (unless the rules are tweaked to make a gritty game full-on grimdark), further she might not even register as a target to something that she literally cannot affect in any significant way, If she didn't trigger the transformation or the Hulk wasn't being compelled to attack her with hoodoo he may just ignore her and everything else that doesn't hit like a freight train. Rules and narrative lawyering aside that doesn't really have anything to do with the choice of Hard Dice over a Vicious/Deadly extra, additional Attacks qualities, booster Mass, Full Power Only Flaws and so on.In general Hard dice are chosen for a power to reliably produce the same effect at optimum quality (hence the set of 10s and their prevalence in defensive and "mental" effects, 10s trump all other numbers except more 10s, the option is direct comparison so a pair of 10s would fail to dodge a pair of 5s, you got your head out of the way of an attack to your arm). Numerous recommendations are made to make them more flexible or functional for different kinds of games (like assigning a number other than 10 that they achieve without fail, I'm a fan of 9 so attacks are center mass every time and still hard to dodge) and there's also Expert or Master Dice.I don't think they don't make sense for the Hulk because he generally doesn't take head shots or attack vitals, he hits things so hard they fall to pieces, in ORE that's best represented by extra attacks qualities and maybe armor piercing, so if he clips an Arm with a pair of 5s it's coming off or being driven into the torso so violently it comes out somewhere else.For a "clumsy TK" that is mostly brute force, a combination of high-capacity Mass and Full power only are a better fit (my opinion) because such a power should not really reliably head shot or demolish critical areas (again my opinion). Explosive might even be a better fit since the brute force is so great damage is guaranteed but it's scattered because the power lacks accuracy.Not that it's particularly relevant to this exchange but I'm not the OP so I didn't ask for any input.On Sun, Jun 2, 2013 at 4:29 PM, Marco Subias <arkhamalum@gmail.com> wrote:
Hulk in the comics is generally in a four-color setting in which he somehow seldom if ever kills anyone with a punch. In a four-color setting authors may come up with dubious reasons for this fact. If a campaign is not four-color and more Avengers movie or Ultimates comic in style, the Hulk is truly terrifying and if the Hulk lands a solid punch on the Black Widow, she'd die. How may people did Hulk kill in The Ultimates?Hotjets
Wild Talents, unless tweaked, lends itself to a gritty style in which major injuries or death are much more likely. You can see this by looking at the sources that most inspired WT, or reading campaign books like Progenitor. Obviously, one can do anything with the rules that one's fellow players will go along with. You did write to ask for observations about the powers that you constructed though.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cult of ORE" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cult-of-ore+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cult-of-ore@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cult-of-ore?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cult of ORE" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cult-of-ore+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cult-of-ore@googlegroups.com.--Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cult-of-ore.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cult of ORE" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cult-of-ore+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cult-of-ore@googlegroups.com.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cult of ORE" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cult-of-ore+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cult-of-ore@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cult-of-ore.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment