Re: [HoE] Is HoE too lethal?

[Sean Gore <sgore@midlink.com>]

Yes, HoE is incredibly lethal.  In the posse that I run through the
wastelands, we've had three party deaths (four if you count one of them
as Harrowed and getting a shotgun blast to the base of the
skull...thusly dying /again/) and we have gone through some fifteen or
so sessions.  However, one thing you have got to remember as the Marshal
is that, while it is your job to provide a setting and a challenging
story, it is also your job to cheat.

Players will min-max, they are supposed to.  Their characters are meant
to be heroes, one in a million kind of folks, the kind that solve the
problems facing the world.  And sometimes, no matter how you try and
balance things; the dice, the cards, or the Chips just work against
you.  That's why you have that screen.  Sure the charts are handy, but
it is really there to hide what you are doing...namely cheating.

Fudge dice rolls, modify penalties.  There is no reason to tell the
posse ahead of time what their target number is...therefore you can
adjust and rule that the highest roll makes it, easily enough.  You can
lower rolled damage, disallow random NPC rolled 'head hits' on PCs from
time to time.  As a Marshal your job is to provide a fun, challenging
environment.  And yes, that means that sometimes you cheat.

One of my players (who recently brought in another) was describing my
Marshalling techniques to this new player and said, "Sean
cheats...constantly."  For my game, the story and the characters take
center stage, with the rules there as /guidelines/, not biblical
references.  And so long as things are consistant, cheating is okay.  If
its good for the goose, its good for the gander.   But always remember,
without your players, you have no game.  Cheating, if its done for the
players as much as it is for your big baddies, no one should care.

No Marshal likes to see their carefully created big bad Mojo Jojo go
down in the first round.  So, you cheat.  Keep them up, heighten the
drama, make things exciting, pummel the posse (but don't kill them), and
just when it seems like they are about to fall, let that next hit weaken
the baddy, or take him down.  Tension, drama, and the story are
paramount...and that necessitates cheating.

And the same goes for the players.  If they had a great plan, RPed
beautifully, did all the right things, and then the dice go against
them...cheat.  Allow their plans to succeed, or make them scramble to
keep the plan on target.  I'm not saying make it known that you cheat,
or that death never occurs, just that you, as the Marshal, need to keep
your focus on your job.  And that isn't reinforcing the rules, its
providing a good game for you and your players.  Remember, that my
players know I cheat, and we have still had multiple deaths.  Its a fine
level of balance that takes a lot of work.

Just my two cents worth.

Sean "Grym" Gore