Contests

[Aprewett]

Does it not seem counterintuitive to have 'high rolls' win when having equal success levels, when the system looking for low dice numbers for success level. Would it break any thing to have it the other way around?

That part of the rules took me awhile to work out sitting where it is in the book, 'high rolls are better than low' pg 59, then the system directly underneath is all about low!!!

[JonL]

Blackjack style is where it's at. If the low roll wins, it priviledge the lower rated ability or resistance, to the extent that a 17v14 matchup is just over 10% more likely for a marginal result to go in favor of the lower rated opponent if you're using low-roll wins ties. Since HQ already has a strong pull to the marginal results thanks to every roll being opposed, high-roll wins ties gives a better spread of results.

 

I take it a step further and have criticals occur when you roll your rating exactly, a la Pendragon. That's not only more consistent with Blackjack style, it lets you resolve tied criticals in favor of the higher roll. In the case of a 20 rating, I ave them keep critting on  19 and have 20 become a regular failure instead of a fumble.

[Steve]

The higher roll breaking the tie favours those with a higher ability rating. So it would change things if you played it the other way around, yes. It does seem counterintuitive when you first read it, but if you think about how it works in practice, it seems "right".

 

[Ian Cooper]

On 08/04/2017 at 5:26 AM, JonL said:

Blackjack style is where it's at. If the low roll wins, it priviledge the lower rated ability or resistance, to the extent that a 17v14 matchup is just over 10% more likely for a marginal result to go in favor of the lower rated opponent if you're using low-roll wins ties. Since HQ already has a strong pull to the marginal results thanks to every roll being opposed, high-roll wins ties gives a better spread of results.

 

I take it a step further and have criticals occur when you roll your rating exactly, a la Pendragon. That's not only more consistent with Blackjack style, it lets you resolve tied criticals in favor of the higher roll. In the case of a 20 rating, I ave them keep critting on  19 and have 20 become a regular failure instead of a fumble.

I agree, I think that Pendragon style for criticals works better.

[Mark Mohrfield]

On ‎4‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 10:52 PM, Aprewett said:

Does it not seem counterintuitive to have 'high rolls' win when having equal success levels, when the system looking for low dice numbers for success level. Would it break any thing to have it the other way around?

This is actually how the system originally worked in HeroQuest 2.0. The high roll wins was mentioned as an optional rule.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Mark Mohrfield