A flaw in the system

[pawsplay]

Heroism is taking a chance, knowing the consequences of failure are dire. If your daily always works, you might as well call it "Kill The Big Bad" and be done with it.

Unless, of course, you accept the premise that heroes win because they are on the side of right and evil never prospers, or that the deck should be tilted in favor of the protagonists, etc. etc.

It is acceptable to not have these powers. It is acceptable to have this powers and view the game as an action movie or graphic novel.

What is dissonant to me is that these special moves are supposed to represent cool moments, or at least potentially cool moments, but are treated in the game instead as a special kind of ammunition. Instead of the Rule of Cool, you have, basically, a limited number of Turbo Attacks.

Certainly, players can avoid metagaming. But I think it's better design if the metagame and the in-game context generally point to the same choice being appropriate. If you accept that characters sometimes just go for the awesome and miss, however anticlimactic that may be, then you are setting aside certain aspects of genre emulation.

If special moves are just a power up attack... well, I think that's basically what they are, and that's one of the aesthetics I don't like about 4e.

Torg used to have a card in the Drama Deck called something like Heroic Martyrdom. You could play it, and succeed at any one task, killing your character. Now that was pretty awesome.

 

[Intense_Interest]

Unless, of course, you accept the premise that heroes win because they are on the side of right and evil never prospers, or that the deck should be tilted in favor of the protagonists, etc. etc.

Why roll the dice then? Diceless RPGs are better for getting the specific flavor you want if you are going to be hard-hitched to a "Good Wins" trope.

What is dissonant to me is that these special moves are supposed to represent cool moments, or at least potentially cool moments, but are treated in the game instead as a special kind of ammunition. Instead of the Rule of Cool, you have, basically, a limited number of Turbo Attacks.

Worf Barrage called, wants its respect back; sometimes using the Turbo Attack that the BBEG survives from is the cool moment. Missing the Awesome Attack and having to persevire through that is the heroic arc.

 

[AllisterH]

Heh, missing with your big gun attack can be just as "interesting" as connecting

I've seen a fair number of anime where the hero misses with his ultimate attack (or the villain just plain laughs it off or is immune to it) and that's when the plot really starts to get fun.

 

[Flatus Maximus]

100% chance of getting $20, regardless of your choice, plus an additional 1% chance of $2000. Unless I'm getting this wrong, B really is the clear winner.

...Did you mean 99% chance of $20?

Expected winnings = sum( outcome * probability of the outcome). So...

Expected winnings for a) = 0 * 0.00 + 20 * 1.00 = 20.
Expected winnings for b) = 0 * 0.99 + 2000 * 0.01 = 20.

 

[lutecius]

Heh, missing with your big gun attack can be just as "interesting" as connecting

I've seen a fair number of anime where the hero misses with his ultimate attack (or the villain just plain laughs it off or is immune to it) and that's when the plot really starts to get fun.

yeah, then the hero goes to the Training Tower Lookout and achieves the 7th super-cosmo-chakra-bankai, then he comes back and the villain goes all "NO! this can't be!" for one full episode and gets his ass kicked... :yawns:

I don't mind unpredictable results in a game but i'm not sure the anime example is appropriate. These plot devices aren't exactly unpredictable or very interesting (to me)

I noticed this too; our warlord made sure we "saved a minion" for him so he could hit it with his daily that would trigger a buff.

Now that's a flaw.

This is a consequence of the pervasive [hits = completely unrelated bonus] mechanic and one of the ugliest things since killing helpless foes to get xps.

 

[pawsplay]

Why roll the dice then? Diceless RPGs are better for getting the specific flavor you want if you are going to be hard-hitched to a "Good Wins" trope.

Because dice are fun. Diceless games tend to devolve on contract-making, gamesmanship, adn even competitive elements, drizzled with narrative control.

On the other hand, if you take a traditional, dice-driven game and include some other kinds of mechanics, interesting things happen. Star Wars (WEG), Torg, Vampire, lots of games have this kind of mechanic. In fact, with 4e, D&D has jumped onto this bandwagon with abstract, limited use bonuses, action points, and healing surges.

I don't think most people play D&D with the idea that if a group of plucky adventurers goes up against the forces of an evil and terrible lich, the adventurers are pretty much doomed before they started.