[HoE] Re: Use of stats (was Revised Edition)

[Gwydion758@aol.com]

In a reply to an earlier post Steve Crow wrote...

<< 
> I would have cited non-combat uses of straight Strength, Cognition, and 
> Quickness Traits, but none exist.  Which is part of the problem.
> 
> The only non-combat Vigor check is for Rad poisoning, which is more 
> appropriate to HoE than Deadlands, so I avoided mentioning it.
> 
> However, combat is again relevant because every player has to make a 
> Quickness check _every round_ of combat.  There are far less Persuasion 
> attempts (involving Mien, unskilled or not) in any given game session that 
> we have ever run or seen run.
> 
> To take another example, even if I felt comfortable with letting a 
character 
> make unskilled Knowledge checks for _every_ Area the character ever 
entered, 
> or wanted information on every Area he might choose to ask me about, there 
> are far less rolls required or wanted by the characters then there are for 
> Quickness in combat.>>

If you can't cite examples of stat usage out of combat, maybe you should 
stress the roleplaying more.  Strength is used for things like carrying heavy 
loads, lifting wagons off of people, arm wrestling, and bending horseshoes.  
Cognition is used to spot things as you walk by such as that mysterious 
figure who seems to be always watching you, or to note that the symbol worked 
into the bricks of that building match the one on the rings of those cultists 
who tried to kill you last night.  Quickness is used anytime you need to do 
something in a hurry, like some complex sleight of hand that the normal skill 
doesn't cover by itself or rigging a deadfall to catch that *thing* that's 
been chasing you all night.

Vigor is used for resisting poisons and disease, as well as representing 
endurance.  Someone with a 3d12 in Vigor can go without food for a lot longer 
than someone with 3d4.  Vigor is also used in figuring Wind and Strain.  Mien 
is a general indication of your character's appearance and demeanor -- even 
without persuasion, having a high Mien is better than a low one.  Someone 
with a high Mien stat may stutter and fumble over themselves when talking to 
a pretty girl, but someone with a low Mien is going to need a Persuasion roll 
just to get her to talk to them.  Knowledge could be used to allow a 
character to remember some obscure fact or some bit of history the character 
would know but the player might not.
 
 
 >>A double barrel shotgun CAN rip hell at close range, that's why the U.S.
 >>Marines use it every chance they can.
  
 >Which is interesting, and I wasn't disputing it's power vis a vis a 
 >real-life comparison.  That doesn't necessarily make it desirable in a 
 >role-playing game.  A weapon that is substantially more powerful than many 
 >others will become the weapon of choice, denying variety.
 
 >You can, of course, impose artificial limits on the use of a superior 
 >weapon, but it would be better if the game system addresses this.  Which 
 >they had (by making a DB Shotgun a ROF 2 Speed _2_ weapon in HoE), I 
 >thought...
 
In HOE, having a shotgun and having *shells* for the shotgun are two 
different things.  Also, a double barrelled (DB) shotgun is hell-on-wheels 
*once* and then has to be reloaded.  Even with the weapon speeds being 
eliminated, you still have the problem of putting fresh shells in the gun --  
and that's assuming the target is affected by it.  And even if you take down 
one zombie with it his thirty buddies are still there.  An overpowering 
weapon is only overpowering in the circumstances it is designed for.  If 
someone is standing on the cliff above you dropping rocks, that shotgun isn't 
going to help much.  Lastly, smart foes will recognize the danger of a 
shotgun and target that character first.  I've heard that in WWII the bazooka 
was frequently given to the new guys because the veterans knew it drew extra 
fire.

Jeff