Dune

[GB Steve]

Just a quickie really to note that we are playing Dune at the moment using the Hero Wars rules.

It works OK, except of course where we have to fudge missile fire.

The betting procedure leads to fairly cinematic action but it is very hard to actually kill someone during a fight. You have to reduce them to 0APs and then kill them. The one blow assassination is not so easy under these rules.

Steve

[Ron Edwards]

Hey GB,

In my Glorantha game, one-blow killing against NPCs works fine as a Simple Contest. Granted, it's not trivially easy, requiring a Complete Victory at least. If it's during an Extended Contest fight, that works OK too, because you can always nest a Simple Context inside an Extended One.

What doesn't work so well, of course, is killing someone instantly through the Extended Contest alone, and I'd suggest that that is exactly what the EC is for ... contests in which such outcomes are NOT going to happen, narratively, because the foes in question are too emotionally "connected" to be disposed of in so little screen time.

Those are my thoughts anyway ... part of it is my interpretation of Simple Contests as being "about anything you want," using the statement/intent of the player as the measure of the possible meanings of Complete, Partial, Marginal Success or Defeat.

Best,
Ron

[Blake Hutchins]

I think that's right. Save the extended contests for moments where the emotional impact of the scene requires a more drawn out resolution. We discussed a related concern in an earlier thread here, and I think the general guideline that emerged was that if a movie scene would go on for awhile to build suspense, then go ahead and use the extended contest rules. If it's a throwaway scene, use the simple contest stuff.

Come to think of it, I'd almost never use a simple contest against a player character with the stakes being instant death, as I feel doing so deprotagonizes the character. The only way I'd feel comfortable using that abrupt a resolution would be if the character attempted something where the stakes were that cut and dried: the "You want to leap the volcanic chasm in full armor? OK... it's your funeral" kind of thing.

In regards to the one-blow assassination, though, an extended contest could work quite well, depending on how the scene is framed. In that earlier thread, we used a "Day of the Jackal" scenario as an example. If the players are gendarmes trying to stop the Jackal before he pops DeGaulle, the scene is about the cops searching apartments, scanning windows, running down last minute informants, while the Jackal is putting his rifle together, setting up his tripod, and waiting for DeGaulle to ride into the crosshairs. If the cops go to zero first, DeGaulle dies. If the Jackal goes to zero first, the gendarmes burst into his roost and either another contest ensues or the Jackal goes down in a hail of gunfire.

Best,

Blake