Re: [HOE] Yet another Unity review... (Shane)

["Kai Tave" <kaitave@harborside.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Grand Master Nilus of the Dark Angel Chapter
<grandmasternilus@hotmail.com>
To: hoe@gamerz.net <hoe@gamerz.net>
Date: Friday, April 19, 2002 6:42 AM
Subject: Re: [HOE] Yet another Unity review... (Shane)


>spoiler space
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>Justification.  Hellstromme flys down, proclaims himself the harbinger and
>stops the Convoy from being wiped out, allowing them to head back and
assist
>the rest of the alliance against the Denver. Then right before death kills
>the posse,  He swoops down again, Zaps him into the box and saves them.  So
>as far as I see it the Posse owes him a little trust since he has essential
>saved them twice in a matter of a few days.


That ALMOST kinda works for me.  The Harbinger thing I can see alright
(although I must admit I had something VASTLY different in mind), but the
problem I guess I have with the Box is that it just seems too EASY.  I mean,
he just sucks Death, like the ambulatory, anthropomorphic Death ('bout yea
big, bony, big scythe, horse) like he/she/it's nothing big.  It feels a
bit...  I dunno, like I'd expect it to be more work.

I think the idea of including the posse in the capture of the Reckoners
makes a heck of a lot of sense, and would work better, in my mind, to
convince doubtful players that this is the real deal.

>As for the Standard HOE model.  I have said this several times.  I've
always
>interrepeted HOE as a game about Heroic People fighting against all odds to
>save a doomed world.  I'm not saying they are all happy cheerful people,
who
>help old ladies cross the street.  But the adventures and such seem to
>really focus on the fact that your PC want to help people and the world in
>general.


I've always viewed HOE as more morally ambiguous than the Weird West.  Not
VASTLY so; there are still some very clear-cut bad guys and good guys, but
I've always viewed it as a much harsher, much more unforgiving setting, the
kind of place where folks don't always trust strange people or things just
because they happen to say that they can save the world.  Think Fallout or
Fallout 2.  Yeah, you do save humanity a couple times, but you don't always
have to be a selfless hero in the process.

--Kai Tave