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View Full Version : Making traps in Pokéthulhu not imba?



Cyclone231
2007-11-10, 01:31 PM
In the role-playing game Pokéthulhu (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/pokethulhu.htm), there is a specific type of attack called a "trap".

Rule #2: Every score must be at least 1, and no higher than 12.

...

Rule #4: All your scores added together cannot exceed 30.

Power, Speed and Hit Points: Each score can be from 1 to 12. They must total no more than 20

The youngest cultist rolls 3 dice, keeping any which come up equal to or less than his Talking Trash ability, and discarding any others.

His opponent does the same, rolling 3 dice and discarding all failures.

The turn returns to the youngest, and the process continues until one player runs out of dice. When that happens, the player with dice left has won the initiative, and his pokéthulhu will attack first. Each “turn” should be accompanied by more role-played arguments.


The attacker chooses one of his thulhu’s four combat modes: Injure, Trap, Frighten, or Dodge, and rolls the appropriate number of dice [Exception: A thulhu that begins it’s turn Trapped must try to break free; see below]

The attacker chooses a single die out of those rolled to be his result die. It’s successful if it’s equal to or lower than both the Cultist’s Pokéthulhu Lore skill and the thulhu’s Power (for Injure and Frighten attacks) or Speed (for Trap and Dodge). The “best” dice are those which roll high but still succeed (see the results section, below).

The target thulhu cannot attack on it’s next turn. It must try to beat the result die (exceed it) with a 3d test against either Power or Speed (whichever is better). If this is successful, the thulhu is free but it takes up its entire turn, and the thulhu who Trappd him immediately goes again. If the thulhu fails to break free, it remains trapped, and will have to try again on it’s next turn. A trapped thulhu cannot make any attacks, including Dodges, which makes them easy prey! A trapped thulhu which is “double trapped” by a second successful Trap attack is immobilized and immediately loses the fight.

As you can see, you can easily do the following:
• Make a cultist with a 12 in Pokéthulhu Lore and Trash Talking.
• Make a pokéthulhu with a 12 in Speed.

Thus, your pokéthulhu becomes completely unbeatable because it will just keep trapping the enemy until the enemy fails to break free, whereupon it will instantly win.

How would you go about fixing this?

Kurald Galain
2007-11-10, 01:36 PM
How would you go about fixing this?

By having a 17 or 18 on 3d6 count as an automatic success?

MCerberus
2007-11-10, 01:37 PM
poke.. thu...


hurk *brain snaps*

Cyclone231
2007-11-10, 01:38 PM
By having a 17 or 18 on 3d6 count as an automatic success?
Er, I supposed I forgot to mention this.

Pokéthulhu uses only dodecahedrons, aka 12-sided dice.

Aquillion
2007-11-10, 01:50 PM
I don't think you're actually supposed to play Pokéthulhu. It is for looking at and shivering.

Kurald Galain
2007-11-10, 02:00 PM
Pokéthulhu uses only dodecahedrons, aka 12-sided dice.

Fine.

Make a 34-36 count as automatic success, then.

Or, simply disallow having 12 ranks in any skill. Or forcing discards of 12s anyway. Et cetera. The game is a joke it's not written to be balanced.

Cyclone231
2007-11-10, 02:04 PM
I don't think you're actually supposed to play Pokéthulhu. It is for looking at and shivering.How can you shiver at anything that has this in the text?

Pokéthulhu can only say their names, or parts of their names. Their alien language is very subtle and tonal. Or maybe they're just stupid.

It's unwise to get too many Hastursauri in one room!


Fine.

Make a 34-36 count as automatic success, then.I'm unclear as to what exactly this would fix. Plus, the way it works is you try to roll at or just under your skill, so rolling a good distance above it should be discouraged.


Or, simply disallow having 12 ranks in any skill. Or forcing discards of 12s anyway. Et cetera. The game is a joke it's not written to be balanced.That doesn't really work that well either. I mean, if you have Trap 3 and 11 Speed and 11 Pokéthulhu Lore, you're pretty much guaranteed to hit. There's a 1/1728 (1/12 cubed) chance of failure. Oh noes.

Cyclone231
2007-11-10, 06:49 PM
C'mon guys, I really need some help on this!

:smallfrown:

BarroomBard
2008-04-01, 11:17 AM
Remember rule #3 for cultists though: a cultist's pokethulhu lore and sanity combined cannot exceed 13, so a cultist who has 12 lore would be completely insane and unable to even look at a 'thulhu.

Well, the owner should create most 'thulhu, so just don't make any who are that fast. Or give them only 1 hit point. In this kind of power gaming situation, I think the best idea is to use the Owner's omnipotent, horrendous powers to construct a universe that will punish this foolish player for his attempt to break the game. Or use special tactics, like in Episode 523: Unfair in Love and War! when Randy and the gang fought Ellen Zadok, a master cultist who used Dallypoer, a very fast, but weak 'thulhu. The gang couldn't take them down permanently, because Dallypoer kept trapping all the 'thulhu behind walls. So, while Randy and Pikathulhu were distracting them, Titus and Charthugha snuck up behind and scared Ellen out of her mind. See, so even the show has evidence of this kind of thing being overcome.