RE: [HOE] Running perfect HoE Campaign

["Jodi and Clint Black" <cblack@abts.net>]

>>And they make the silly mistake of giving interesting people with no
powers (Librarians), really stupid powers.

>Actually, read the piece by Clint Black that PEG put on their website.  It
>sort of overhauled Librarians and make them work in a manner sort of akin
to
>Junkers.  The way the Librarian AB was done in Shattered Coast seems just
>plain pointless to me, but I actually liked the way Clint retooled them.
If
>my players decide to play arcane Librarians, I've decided that they're
going
>to work that way or they'll just have to settle for mundane Librarians.
>I'll probably have to run a Librarian or two and see how it works before
>making any final decisions, but I think they could work that way.  I like
>the idea of information spirits.


Thanks, Dr. Nick!  I wasn't going to say anything...  Ah, who am I kidding,
sure I was!  :)  BTW, any time you want to let me down from the Satellite of
Love would be great.  :)

I think we can all agree that the perfect HOE campaign has only one defining
characteristic, the gamers have fun!  Everything else is just frosting on
the cake.

The point is that every game system can lend itself to munchkinism somehow.
But blaming the system or the genre is just wrong.  I hate to tell you, but
it just means your players have a little munchkin hiding in them somewhere.
But heck, who doesn't (I personally, have a drooling, carnivorous munchkin
in the back of my head that slightly resembles Cornholio.  :)).

Look, if you don't like a high level of magic in your game, increase the
costs for AB's and their associated skills.  But it has been written that
the power level in HOE is greater because the Reckoners have come to Earth
and the walls to the Hunting Grounds are thinner.  Does it mean Doomies and
Sykers can walk through thugs?  Oh yeah.  Does that mean mundanes don't have
the same combat ability as the AB's?  Yes, sorry, but it does.  But I think
these are things any Marshall can handle.

If the players are getting too much of a walk through, well, remember the
magical background count works both ways.  Give your next road gang a
tainted junker ally.  Give them armor and a super gun that uses home made
ammo (can't buy it at a settlement) or have the junker take a hint from the
black hats, the equipment explodes after 1 round of losing contact with the
person's bioelectric field (how surprised will the posse be when the gangers
run out of ammo and throw their guns like the villains in Superman, only to
have those guns be grenades).

Or maybe the next road gang is all sykers (motorcycle helmets easily hide
the lack of hair).  Or Anti-Templars?

Of course, my all time favorite is waiting when they hit 5 Grit.  My HOE
version of Los Diablos... La Cucaracha!  A giant, mutant, radioactive
cockroach followed by the Devil's Own Swarm.  Any arcane energy heals it or
can be used to power up its own nuclear blast from its antennae.  Scares the
bejeezus out of a Doomsayer, I tell you.  :)

One other option I use (since the magical background count is so high),
after a mundane character has been through 5 ghost storms, I roll some dice
and tell them they've picked up an odd mutation.  They get one Tempest
ability like Kentucky Windage, Penny Ante, or Raisin' the Pot, but they can
never pick up an AB.  This gives them an advantage with their mundane
skills, but doesn't make them "obviously" magical.  I don't draw for bad
effects when they use the ability, but they can never use it on others.

Anyway, just a few thoughts.  Remember the most important thing is just to
tailor the game to you and your players' own enjoyment.  Have fun, game
responsibly.


Clint Black