We've been contacted by a number of players familiar with Accelerant games, with a concern about the amount of Stricken in War Accelerant. And while we're new to this, here is our thought on the subject.
Stricken is very dangerous, and when coupled with other attacks can easily mean the death of someone. Since many NPCs who end up in engagements die anyways, this isn't a huge deal when used on NPCs. It's what they're there for.
Now, the big concern comes up when it comes to PvP with skills that cause the Stricken effect. In these cases, it's very easy for someone to hit their death count, as Healing and Stabilize (except from First Aid) don't work. You actually have to fix the Stricken first.
Here is the thought that we had behind the large number of Stricken skills that are in play in WAR Accelerant.
1. We Have a Ton of Cure Death Effects
I know a lot of Accelerant games make these few and far between. We opted for having many different ways to Cure Death, and while it may be expensive, it's not particularly hard to find something or someone who can do it. Stricken falls off when you hit dead, so Cure Death will work perfectly fine.
2. We Have a Number of Ways to Cure Stricken
They might not be as prevalent as Cure Death, but there's still plenty of ways to Cure Stricken in WAR Accelerant (Major Mending, Trait-based Cures, Empathic Healing, Alchemy). It's fairly easy to remove (but still I hope that players prepare for it!)
3. It's Hard to Get Away With Murder
We specifically designed the game to make it difficult to get away with PvP. The only hope you'll have of not being fingered by your victim is to take them out and hope they don't recognize your voice. People will always come back for more. This means that PvP will most likely need to be motivated by player conflict, and not from random greed or griefing.
It could be that we're new, and it's possible that we'll need to scale it back a bit. But this is the reasoning behind the high number of Stricken effects in WAR Accelerant.
And that's what's great about the Accelerant system in general! Even though games use the same rules and the same traits, what's easy to get rid of and what's hard to get rid of can change from game to game.
Stricken is very dangerous, and when coupled with other attacks can easily mean the death of someone. Since many NPCs who end up in engagements die anyways, this isn't a huge deal when used on NPCs. It's what they're there for.
Now, the big concern comes up when it comes to PvP with skills that cause the Stricken effect. In these cases, it's very easy for someone to hit their death count, as Healing and Stabilize (except from First Aid) don't work. You actually have to fix the Stricken first.
Here is the thought that we had behind the large number of Stricken skills that are in play in WAR Accelerant.
1. We Have a Ton of Cure Death Effects
I know a lot of Accelerant games make these few and far between. We opted for having many different ways to Cure Death, and while it may be expensive, it's not particularly hard to find something or someone who can do it. Stricken falls off when you hit dead, so Cure Death will work perfectly fine.
2. We Have a Number of Ways to Cure Stricken
They might not be as prevalent as Cure Death, but there's still plenty of ways to Cure Stricken in WAR Accelerant (Major Mending, Trait-based Cures, Empathic Healing, Alchemy). It's fairly easy to remove (but still I hope that players prepare for it!)
3. It's Hard to Get Away With Murder
We specifically designed the game to make it difficult to get away with PvP. The only hope you'll have of not being fingered by your victim is to take them out and hope they don't recognize your voice. People will always come back for more. This means that PvP will most likely need to be motivated by player conflict, and not from random greed or griefing.
It could be that we're new, and it's possible that we'll need to scale it back a bit. But this is the reasoning behind the high number of Stricken effects in WAR Accelerant.
And that's what's great about the Accelerant system in general! Even though games use the same rules and the same traits, what's easy to get rid of and what's hard to get rid of can change from game to game.
My primary concern with Stricken (because PvP isn't seen much in Accelerant) was its usefulness against your average NPCs. This of course could change depending on how plot runs their games. If more of your "monsters" have more PC like stat cards, then it becomes significantly more useful, especially if "monsters" that can heal are on a particular encounter. It's just being aware of what your PC's can do and how to make their skills useful in the game you've created. :)
ReplyDeleteValerie
In general, I think it's going to be much like it is at NERO. It's not extremely useful against squishy enemies, but it's going to be pretty awesome against strong enemies. In our game, it was designed to fill the role of the NERO Curse spell.
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