[HoE] assorted [Hopler]

[Matthew Steflik <grifflik@stny.rr.com>]

A few days ago B.D. Flory wrote:

> >My posse started character creation last night for "From the Ashes", and it
> >gave me time to isolate and analyze some big concerns I have with the DL:
> >HoE game world.
>
    I was going to talk about this earlier when the "unbalanced AB"
discussion started up but didn't get around to it.  At the risk of
rambling and sounding a bit repetitive, I'll throw my hat in on this
now.  Yes, I'll allow that if you get decent draws during creation and
you're familiar with the system, one can generate some abusive effects
with the psyker and doomsayer backgrounds.  And, of course, as the
bounty builds up it just gets worse, partly because psykers and
doomsayers don't have as strict a set of checks and balances as those of
AB's in Weird West.  As a marshal whose posse is dominated by very
experienced role-players (in most cases more, so than myself) who enjoy
ripping a rules system apart to see how it can be abused, this has
created some interesting challenges, but nothing insurmountable -
nothing that leads me to think that doomsayers and psykers are
"unbalanced" in terms of game play.
    For example, usually a "stand and fight until everything is dead"
kind of group, I've gotten pretty adept at making them run.  I've only
thrown something REALLY scary at them once or twice, but constantly keep
them primed with a load of rumors and false information, letting them
jump to their own conclusions.  As a result, their own paranoia, rather
than brute force, seems to work best in keeping them in check  Once the
whole posse lost a night of sleep and wasted strain and ammo because
they thought their campsite was being stalked by a nasty beast they had
heard rumors about in a nearby ville.  In fact, there was nothing at all
there - the two guys posted on watch both busted on their search rolls
and another in the group had bad luck. The area had a high fear level
and I allowed them to jump to the conclusion that the noises they heard
was the beast that was rumored to be around.  I've also put them under
"forced march" conditions and have subjected the whole posse to
"nightmares" (it was adventure related) that inhibited the AB boys from
getting their strain back as fast if at all.  I like to enforce the
concept of well rounded, rather than specialized characters as well.  In
my mind, you can't be too specialized in the HoE setting and survive -
survivors have to be adaptable to any situation.  As a result, I like to
put the combat boys into situations where they have to reason their way
out of a problem, or give them cause to want to spend bounty on specific
skills they don't have.  Not every problem can be dealt with by brute
force.  Contrariwise, I also allow enough opportunities to those with
weak combat skills to realize that one can survive on charm and a
winning smile alone.  Referring to a later comment by Mr. Flory,
"Marshal caveat" does indeed go a long way toward balancing out
perceived "unbalancing factors" in a posse.  If an individual player is
becoming too dominant or unnecessarily power crazy at the expense of the
fun of the rest of the posse (or the rest of the posse is depending too
much on his/her power), I come up with something to balance it out
without hosing the rest of the posse at the same time.

Later, John Goff wrote:

> Besides, I don't get the fascination with Doomsayers. I'm running a Syker now, and
> I'm pretty darn sure they're the most versatile/powerful of the ABs myself.
>
    I'm probably in the minority here, but putting my Marshal hat aside
and looking at this issue as a player, I don't find either the Doomsayer
or the Psyker types very intriguing to play.  I'm not a big "blow 'em
up" kind of role player I guess.  The idea of a "Joe Normal" that has
survived in HoE is just far more interesting a concept to explore for
me.  What did they do before the world fell apart?  How have they
survived?  How has it changed them - what have they lost and what have
they had to sacrifice along the way?  Yes, you can argue that this
applies to psykers and doomsayers as well, but both of these backgrounds
eventually wind down to "and then I came back from Banshee" or "and then
I met Joan and it changed my life" or something similar.  I don't mean
to hurt anyone's feelings here and this isn't intended as a flame.
It's just my personal preference.  Individual, interesting and different
backgrounds (and of course nightmares) for my characters are an
important part of the role-playing experience for me.  Add the fact that
you DON'T have wacky powers and it makes for an intriguing and
challenging character to play.  Grapes (doomsayers) and baldies
(psykers) are just too prevalent to be an interesting consideration.
    The two characters I've played in HoE to date are a mutie savage kid
(curious, all thumbs, illiterate, bollixed and nothing close to
resembling a gun skill) and a dumb as a post, handsome, horny, stuck on
himself deputy type (law dog at 1, clueless, randy, purty, habit -
immaculate personal hygiene).  Both of these have been a blast to play
and have had detailed pasts and their own specific personalities. No
glowing or brainblasting here - no siree.  But again, that's just my
preference and personal opinion.

And finally, in response to B.D. Flory, John Hopler wrote:

> As far as tone and atmosphere go, I'm with you on the Killer Tomatoes. They
> don't exist in my game. Obviously, Marshals can selectively edit the material
> however they want, but as a company Pinnacle has a responsibility to try to
> cater to what the audience wants. As the third, and hopefully last for
> awhile, HOE line editor, one of my goals is try to establish a more
> consistent mood for the line. I want to keep the humor, but make the world a
> little darker and grittier.
>
    Regarding killer tomatoes and other "campy" silliness in HoE:

    My campaign is predominantly dark, gritty and serious, but I'm a
sucker for bad puns, black humor, bad craziness and (I've said it before
and I'll say it again) a serious amount of "wahoo" factor for both the
players and myself.  Personally, I believe that in any truly scary,
painful, tragic or horrifying situation, there is always some underlying
element of irony, humor or absurdity.  I just luuuv mining that element
for material in my campaigns.  Now, although killer tomatoes might not
be my first choice, if the appropriate situation presented itself, I
would probably use them.  But hey, I can respect the opposing view here
- "you say tomato, and I say tomatoe" - and we can agree to disagree.
Just let it be noted that this particular member of the "audience"
didn't hate them and think they out-and-out didn't belong in the HoE
setting.

"A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men."

Matt "WAHOO!" Steflik