Re: [HoE] Ok, I gots a problem

[Darrin Bright <darrin@neobright.net>]

Michael wrote:
> 

> Two questions:
> 1) Is it a bad idea to include her in the group? The
> rest o' the posse says to let her try it out for an
> adventure and see how it works. I promised not to give
> her any special attention (during the game) and not to
> let her be elevated in anyway over the rest of the
> posse, etc., but rather use her character to advance
> the plot. She was Ok with this, as was the posse.

Bad idea? Not at all. However, make sure the other players are aware
that you want to avoid showing any favoritism, and ask them to let you
know (discretely) if you go over the line. You don't necessarily have to
listen to them, but they'll probably feel a lot better if you make the
effort to listen to their concerns. 

> 2) Now the confusing part - we dealt up the Syker
> [haven't assigned all the points yet] and she got a
> BlackJoker.
> 
> Spoiler:
> 
> Ok, we dealt a card for mutation and got the queen of
> diamonds. Yeah - the pheromone one. Now, thus far, I
> don't mind this, dealt legit, but my problem is: how
> will the posse react? They *know* I'm going out with
> her and are OK with her joining the posse, put a
> pheromone pull on mutation... I don't know. Do we even
> tell them?

I'm going to assume you have a positive relationship with your players
and they more-or-less trust you. You can't always show them the cards,
but both being harrowed and a powerful mutation could easily make this
character a total UberSyker, or some kind of munchkin powerhouse. A good
player won't abuse such good draws... but it might create friction.

The best thing to do here is to offset such good draws with some
mega-bad GM mojo. You can suggest/force the player to take big
hindrances to offset the good draws, such as Bad Luck, Night Terrors, or
other nasty 5-pointers. This is probably the best way to show the other
players that you don't want the character to overbalance the game...
send a clear message that there are disadvantages to a really good draw.
Other things you can do that aren't necessarily so blatant... when
someone mentions that the character is too powerful, grin evilly and
make cryptic remarks about how only you know the whole story behind how
the character got that way. Strongly hint that the character may have
gotten involved in something nasty enough to come back and make their
life miserable. Develope a background or hidden agenda against the
character to offset the difference in power.

One last thing...


*** SPOILERS ***










The character is also harrowed. This means you have 5 "Blackout"
Hindrance points that the player isn't even aware of. You can use these
to create a 5 point Enemy, or give the character 5 points of Angst, or
other hindrances that might give penalties on Dominion rolls. The
character won't seem so badass if every time they go into combat, the
manitou grabs control and drops a Nuke on the other characters.

One thing I might suggest to balance the character out: Make the
character Dessicated (level 5). I don't have Book of the Dead with me,
so I don't remember exactly what it's called, but the harrowed's body is
so dry and decomposed that it's basically a walking skeleton. Then give
the character the Death Mask power at 3 to 5 so she can appear fresh and
alive... as long as she's consciously maintaining the power, of course.
If the character can't keep up the Death Mask, then this should offset
the Pheremone bonuses. The character might not be aware yet that she's
dead, too... the manitou could be keeping the Death Mask up all the time
so she thinks she's still alive. Could be quite a shock when it decides
to drop the facade.