Re: [HOE] Hucksters in the HOE Setting.

[Darrin Bright <darrin@neobright.net>]

At 02:11 PM 3/11/01 -0500, you wrote:
>I have seen in the Accumulated Rulings that it was recommended at one time
>to drop the 'one card hand higher required'. I am curious on why anyone
>would recommend making it easier to play a Huckster. Hucksters were powered
>up with the Revised Edition so I am concerned about perceived game imbalance
>between players with characters that have to deal with Strain issues and
>Huckster characters that are pretty powerful with no Strain limitations.

The "one hand higher" thing completely ruins any possibility of a Huckster
ever successfully casting a hex that can do something. Even with the new
Huckster rules, the odds of a huckster's hex actually doing something
interesting is pretty rotten. On a five-card draw, for example, there's
roughly a 25-50% chance that the huckster won't even be able to get a pair.

Aslo, Hucksters do use something similar to strain. A failed hex (without
backlash) means the huckster loses 2 wind, I think... sort of like losing 1
strain. I don't recall the particulars, though... been a while since I've
read the rules on hucksters.

Anyway, I'd probably use Hucksters as-is from the Weird West, maybe even
make things easier for them, just so they have a hope of going toe-to-toe
with a Doomsayer and the like. Actually, some of those huckster hexes could
be incredibly powerful in the wasted west... like Trinkets (create a pistol
with ammo) or those Ammo hexes from Law Dogs, given how rare ammo can be in
the wasted west.

>I have noticed that HOE Witches must buy a Belongings edge to use their very
>few powers and have considered making the Huckster character buy a
>Belongings edge as well to have a copy of the Book of Hoyle. Does this sound
>fair and how much do you think the Belongings edge should cost?

eh... no. The book of hoyle should have been through so many printings by
then that I can't imagine it'd be worth spending a point of belongings.
Now, a Book of Hoyle with extra hexes in it... that might be worth
something. =)