Re: [HoE] assorted [HOPLER]

["Kirt A. Dankmyer" <loki@triadntr.net>]

> Overall, I agree, and its pretty annoying.
> Strain seems to have been included for such a purpose for those
> backgrounds, but the HoE I play in has gone about 6 or 7 sessions (I think)
> and my game I run has gone 3.  One game has two Doomsayers, one Syker. the
> other has one Doomsayer, one Syker.  Neither the Doomsayers nor the Sykers,
> as of yet, have EVER had to check for Brain Burn/get Mutated. In either
> game.  No one has yet run out of Strain (I don't think, last game someone
> came very close tho).  This compared to the Weird West folks problem, makes
> them have almost no problem.  People rarely go bust on 5 dice, esp when
> they are d12s or d10s (which is inevitable for the stats rolled).  Those
> charts may as well exist soly for Greenies and Initiates.

Hmmm, well, the last game of HOE I played in, I nearly brainburned my Syker on
three seperate occasions during the same scene. Remember, one risks Brainburn
every time one dips into the Strain for Fortitude (or that's how we play it,
at least). In this particularly intense scene (in which I used no combat
powers, just Chameleon, Predator, Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Peace of Mind and simple
mind reading), I ended up blowing 24 Strain!

In fact, if I hadn't had chips, I would have surely brainburned myself at
least once.

> I have come to see HoE as a place where only the best of the norms are not
> DOA.  unfortunately, with those ABs around, why play a norm?

For a challenge? Because it's fun? Addmittedly, all my HOE characters so far
have have had an AB, but I'm only in 2 HOE games...
 
> Don't forget Fortitude.  Makes CoA seem like nothing. and Steel trap mind
> or whatever gives more strain (in addition to Fortitude).  I have seen two
> Sykers, one in each game. both have, effectively, 34 Strain and no chance
> of going Bust on their roll.

You might want to look at Fortitude again. The description is ambiguous, but
the way we're playing it, "going negative" means dipping into the Fortitude
strain that goes beyond your base level of Strain. That makes the chance of
Brainburn very, very real. In the case of your basic "d12 Vigor, 5 Steel Trap
Mind" character, that means once they go past 17, they're risking Brainburn.
Remember it's only a one-point Edge -- it can't be that cool.

There are a couple things to remember here, kids. In my opinion, ABs aren't
*supposed* (IMHO) to be as rare in the Wasted West. Remember, there is MUCH
more supernatural energy out there, now that the GR bombs have dropped and the
Reckoners are engaged in their World Tour. That same supernatural energy that
gives us all those zombies y'all love should also benefit the PCs as well.

Also, one doesn't have to run a game where ABs are needed. Sometimes nuking a
group of people before talking to them is a bad idea. Sometimes people relate
better to someone who isn't supernatural. The PCs can go against road gangs
rather than say, sea monsters. One can play a Syker that isn't a walking death
machine. (It's tougher to play a Doomie who isn't a walking death machine,
but...) If most of the PCs are mundanes or near-mundanes (Templars), the game
can reflect that...
 
> Da Baron "likes Zombies" Samedi

Jesus, Jason! That's you! How can you say that Sykers never risk Brainburn
after watching me struggle last game at George's game?! I burned through my
entire stack of chips during that scene!

And considering you're playing a Harrowed Doomsayer, which is like having TWO
Arcane backgrounds, and were talking about trying to learn to be a Witch from
Grimly until the GM disallowed it, you hardly have room to talk... All those
chips you *didn't* spend while I was burning all that Strain went into
Harrowed powers, IIRC...