SPOILERS FOR DREAM AWAY THE TIME
So, my players and I just finished up Dream Away the Time, and noticed something regarding Harm. In AW and DW, a 10+ on the Kick Some Ass equivalent results in dealing harm but not taking it. This is not true in MotW.
This makes certain characters interesting, especially those that kind of center on hand-to-hand combat. The Divine was a particular sticking point here. If a lot of what you do is get into close combat, and close combat is a generally risky maneuver at best, then there’s a bit of a tension there, especially when dealing with Redcaps that are slinging around 3 harm with a giant poleaxe.
So I’m kind of wondering what the intent is here. I can think of a few things.
1) MotW is somewhat gritty. Success is bought at a dear price. It’s heroic, not superheroic.
2) Use ranged weaponry and fictional positioning. Getting into hand-to-hand combat is typically a failure state.
3) It’s deliberate. The death spiral of lost Luck is an integral part of the game. You’re in a race against the inevitable.
4) Yeah, it doesn’t actually emulate the genre well and is pretty consistently houseruled.
5) The Redcap is really, really tough and most things aren’t nearly as big of a deal.
6) Other playbooks are better at lasting in a toe-to-toe fight (though we were dealing with the Monstrous and the Divine, which seem pretty well geared for that).
So, thoughts?
Ron Frazier Frank Falkenberg Jacob Possin Travis Keating John Jessop