Re: mechanics of surprise

Mere moments before death, Erol K. Bayburt <ErolB1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
hastily scrawled:

>On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:19:39 -0600, Ed Chauvin IV <edcfour@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>wrote:
>
>>Mere moments before death, mkkuhner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Mary K.
>>Kuhner) hastily scrawled:
>>
>>>My GM, reading over my shoulder, says "In a match between even and
>>>roughly similar forces, should surprise determine the victor
completely?"
>>
>>Yes, it should.  This is true in real life and there's no reason it
>>shouldn't be true in the game.
>
>True in real life, I'll grant, but there are good reasons why one
>might not want it to be true in a game.

Outside of assumption clash, I can't really think of any good ones.

>>Surprise is a hefty weapon and can level the playing field for a
>>weaker foe.  As a GM, you should use it cautiously, typically to make
>>an encounter with a weaker foe more interesting.  As players you
>>should be prepared for it and try to be the ones using it to your
>>advantage, not the other way around.
>
>Well, in some styles of play the GM *can't* "use it cautiously" - the
>GM doesn't have that kind of storytelling control, but instead is
>obligated to play the foes as competently as possible. Which means
>that if surprise is a hefty weapon, the foes will try to exploit it as
>best they can.

I would submit that in those styles of play, this is "Not a Problem".

>And as a player it can get unpleasant to always have to play
>characters who are obsessed over surprise; over gaining suprise over
>their opponents and over not being surprised themselves.
>
>So in a game, it might well be a good thing to depower surprise,
>making it unrealisticly weak as a weapon in order to promote in-game
>fun. 

Which would be just as unacceptable to me in a game where the GM
wasn't allowed to use surprise cautiously.



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