[Runequest] Advice Sought re Damage & HP

[Robert Hoffman]

In general the entry level position into one of my campaigns does find most
players with some form of leather armor (1 or 2 points) but only basic skill
with weapons.  On the other hand though these same not-so-hardy adventurers
are not going to walk out and face a dark troll with a battle axe, more
likely they will start with the stray single stick wielding trollkin (no
nasty special damage and no strength bonus).  When the lucky trollkin does
land a blow the 3-4 average damage versus 1-2 points of armor makes for a
perfectly balanced battle.  

Of course you are free to up the starting level of the character by
dispensing armor, spells and weapon skills to make the encounter with the
dark troll more balanced as well.

Cheers,
Bert  

-----Original Message-----
From: runequest-bounces at rpgreview.net
[mailto:runequest-bounces at rpgreview.net] On Behalf Of royce at efn.org
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2008 9:59 AM
To: runequest at rpgreview.net
Subject: [Runequest] Advice Sought re Damage & HP

Greetings, All,

Disclaimer:
   I've been failing to keep up on all but job-or-family-essential
correspondence, and have not made a diligent Internet search, so this
question may well leave me looking pretty clueless.  If so, my
apologies ahead of time.

Situation:
   This summer, I hope to introduce some roleplayers to RQ.  These players
are not mindless hack-&-slashers, but they do need action every two
hours of seat time, or they'll get restless & dissatisfied.

Worry:
   People in RQ are, well, delicate.  Take an arm, with its measly 3 HP. 
Even average damage with average weapons -- say, a roll of 4 on a D8
weapon, plus a roll of 3 on a D6 strength bonus -- will leave my
character carrying his arm home in a bag.
   Most of the players I know will get themselves dismembered or dead in
fairly short order.
   On the other hand, if I, as GM, double location hit points, then a
strong hit to the chest (with say, 5 HP doubled to 10) is merely
inconvenient.  That's even worse.
   I exaggerate, of course, but...

Request:
   But I'd like to know how other RuneQuesters deal with horrid menace of
melee.  Do you make sure that PC's always start with some decent armor?
 Start with high shield & weapon parry skills?  Both?  Is there another
approach?  Start with two or three characters?  What do you do?

   Wisdom, advice, insights, relevant experiences, old war stories -- all
feedback is welcome.  Many thanks ahead of time.
   Sincerely,
Asher




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