Something occurred to me while I was reading the 'oposed' (sic) skill test thread.
There have been several posters who have mentioned concerns with the scenario that arises when an opposed skill test wherein both parties fail their skill checks. (pertinent text is located on p.20, MRQ Corebook)
Mathematically, as has been pointed out elswhere, this scenario favors the person with the lower skill percentage. However, what noone seems to be taking into account (unless I've missed it) is the overall probability of this scenario arising in the first place; having both parties fail their skill checks assumes that even the more highly skilled of the two participants also failed their initial roll-which would, logically, favor the participant with the higher skill. I am more than willing to let the lesser skilled person have a fighting chance against there more highly-skilled opponent in the event that both parties fail their initial checks; part of the charm of RQ was always the chance that Jippy the Cripple would take out Arpellius the Runelord with a rock. A small chance, but luck sometimes favors the foolish...
It seems to me that certain parties are intent on "breaking" the system by myopically isolating one element of an integrated whole, and I'm beginning to wonder about the reasons why some of these criticisms are being levelled, other than MRQ isn't RQ 2...
No game I've ever played-and I've been gaming since the late 70's folks-has been devoid of quirks or design flaws. If I were to take the same scrutiny that MRQ has been subjected to, and apply that same scrutiny to other game systems, I'd place a pretty wager that I could find you islands of mathematical wonkiness.
I have found plenty to like about MRQ, and am looking forward to seeing how the overall system looks/runs/feels with the Companion, Glorantha, Magic of Glorantha, etc., in my hands.
There have been several posters who have mentioned concerns with the scenario that arises when an opposed skill test wherein both parties fail their skill checks. (pertinent text is located on p.20, MRQ Corebook)
Mathematically, as has been pointed out elswhere, this scenario favors the person with the lower skill percentage. However, what noone seems to be taking into account (unless I've missed it) is the overall probability of this scenario arising in the first place; having both parties fail their skill checks assumes that even the more highly skilled of the two participants also failed their initial roll-which would, logically, favor the participant with the higher skill. I am more than willing to let the lesser skilled person have a fighting chance against there more highly-skilled opponent in the event that both parties fail their initial checks; part of the charm of RQ was always the chance that Jippy the Cripple would take out Arpellius the Runelord with a rock. A small chance, but luck sometimes favors the foolish...
It seems to me that certain parties are intent on "breaking" the system by myopically isolating one element of an integrated whole, and I'm beginning to wonder about the reasons why some of these criticisms are being levelled, other than MRQ isn't RQ 2...
No game I've ever played-and I've been gaming since the late 70's folks-has been devoid of quirks or design flaws. If I were to take the same scrutiny that MRQ has been subjected to, and apply that same scrutiny to other game systems, I'd place a pretty wager that I could find you islands of mathematical wonkiness.
I have found plenty to like about MRQ, and am looking forward to seeing how the overall system looks/runs/feels with the Companion, Glorantha, Magic of Glorantha, etc., in my hands.