I am also glad to see lots of questions, thanks RSJ! I will have a Designers Notes article in the #0 issue of The Cauldron. At the same time I don't want you to think I am just going to leave you hanging and waiting. As long as your happy to re-read parts of this in The Cauldron, I am happy to do a bit of elaboration now.
Endurance...WHY?
Endurance is what sets the Heroes (and arch enemies) apart from the normal terrors or opponents. Its their ability to absorb (or through spell casting cause) extra damage without resorting to a Hit Points stat or other odd calculations. Fatigue in some systems mirrors this for Wizards, but if you are going to go that route, why not just make it an attribute that any Hero can benefit from!
Remember unlike d20 games, there are no levels and no increases in HP (or attributes as in TFT) you build it...and that's it for the life of your Hero. Yet as EN recharges quickly it aids Heroes in giving them additional spell casting power as well as letting the Heroes continue to adventure after a set back in battle.
Now how to equate (or balance) Heroes and Terrors in battle if the Terrors have no EN? Well if you are shooting to balance encounters, just compare ST value total of Heroes vs. the ST value total of the Terrors. The total for the terrors should be equal to or higher than the Heroes. I usually add 1 or two extra terrors. Now that's just a rule of thumb and it allows the Heroes to cut through larger numbers of enemies across a longer adventure.
And some news...
Issue #0 of The Cauldron will come out in December, I am hoping to include some unique spells from a contributor, a refereed adventure, and a sample solo programmed adventure playable with an included NPC. It will give the curious a taste for the system if you want to try it before you buy. Second it will be provide a good taste for what's to come overall as future issues will be for sale.
A dialog has started about a potential well known setting made for HOW. Hopefully the stars will align and some good news can be shared soon.
Lastly, if you are looking to kick off an adventure, I highly recommend checking out the adventures at Dark City Games. Each include battle map, counters, and is programmed so you can play it solo or in a group!
Looking forward to seeing a review!
Review(s) are coming... :)
ReplyDeleteFirst, my apologies on the question of "balance". You did actually address this on page 59. I think when I was thinking about it earlier today, I was thinking of arena-style combat ala Melee/Wizard. Although I could use HOW for that, I rarely play those scenarios any longer. If I did, I might still use M/W as-is. But I'm into adventuring, and the entirety of HOW is well-focused on that.
(Aside: I think that HOW has shown me, after 30 years, why DoU never worked for me. I always thought it was too skimpy. But I see now that the real issue -- for me -- is that it isn't well-designed for *adventuring*. It's overkill for arena combat, it's fine for *scenarios* like "Not the Bridge of Khazad-dum", it's a handy pocket reference for TFT. But in terms of its design, it doesn't address the needs of longer term adventuring as well as HOW does.)
Your considerations for EN seem right on target. I had not even considered your approach to XP as providing an important balance to it. I was concerned that 42 points could be easily abused, munchkin-style, but in running the numbers, I'm not seeing it. BTW, although some may balk about the limits of spending XP (some do with Traveller, for instance), I love it, absolutely love it. It's seems like a much more grounded approach, and I think it's going to lead to a different style of adventuring than is generally seen in anything newer than OD&D (for instance). No Levels, no "a human cannot have ST of more than 30". If your party wants to take on that Ancient 14-hex Dragon in the lowest levels of the caverns, you better turn to page 54 and be prepared to rent some hirelings (a concept that has practically disappeared from Ye Olde Game).
Really looking forward to The Cauldron and more for HOW. I pimped it today on the Facebook TFT group, and will be doing some reviews once I play some this weekend. I haven't really been this excited about a new game in 2 or 3 years. I never got the TFT game that I thought I was going to get in 1979, but I gotta hand it to you Chris... this is pretty damned close. So close that I think I'm gonna build myself that boxed set I was never able to buy. :D
RSJ-I can't thank you enough for the kind words and support. I just tried to make the game I always wanted as well using my homebrew notes/rules and applying it to a game I gladly would have bought myself back in the day. As the OSR seems to be overly early D&D-ified, I've no expectation that this little game will have any impact outside the gaming tables of my family and a few other kind souls it been my pleasure to meet through DCG and the blogoverse.
DeleteI am happy to see all the work is paying off as it seems to have some fans already. I am glad to be working with DCG as I am a big fan of their adventures. Now the harder work begins, keeping it worth your interest and time!