Re: (TFT) Dragons/Lords of the Underearth and the TFT system

[kohr@aeon.mti.sgi.com (Dave Kohr)]

> Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 10:38:22 -0600 (MDT)
> From: Daniel Tulloh <daniel@jaws.greatwhite.com>
> Subject: Re: (TFT) Dragons/Lords of the Underearth and the TFT system
> 
> This leads into another topic:  Lets suppose I have a Dwarven hero
> leading a company of 20 dwarves versus 100 Orc raiders.  Does
> anyone know of a good system to use that doesnt leave the life
> of the hero to the workings of chance?  Or should one be concerned
> about that, ie: is the workings of chance something you just have
> to "live with" when performing such feats?

I think combat should always be dangerous in an RPG, so that the best thing
to do in most situations is to find a way to defeat or avoid your opponents
without having to fight them.  In this case, orcs being orcs, you should be
able to scare them away or make a boulder fall on them or some such thing.
But if you decide to fight them head-on you're taking a risk, so there
should be some chance you'll get maimed or killed by a critical hit.

For all that I like in TFT, this is unfortunately one of the places where I
think the system falls down: the dwarves will maximize their experience
points by slaughtering every last orc (including hurling axes into the
backs of fleeing ones) instead of doing something clever to make them go
away.  Although it does present a nice tradeoff between danger and XP's.
Still I think the way GURPS rewards experience is better.

Dave
====
Dave Kohr     Silicon Graphics, Inc.    Mail Stop 41U-178     (650)933-8694
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