3. Terrain definitions?

[soygreen]

Terrain definitions?

[Corbon Loughnan]

Background:
Like RtL, the new props in SoB are not actually defined. Which
props (if any) are obstacles?

Anchor, Barrel, Cage, Captains Wheel, Cavern Entrance,
Forecastle, Hold, Mast, Pipe Organ, Railing, Reef, Rope, Sandbar,
Scrub, Statue, Water (Deep), Water (Shallow), Weapon Mount (empty),
Weapon Mount (w Cannon), Whirlpool

My Guess is that Anchor, Rope and Captains Wheel might not be
obstacles since they have no discernible effects of obstacle type
(they do not affect movement or have affects upon figures occupying
them in any way at all).
Forecastle is likely just a prop since it too has no discernible
effects of obstacle type, even though it counts as elevated terrain (a
subtle difference).
Railing is unlikely to be an obstacle because it is not a space
type - it fits between the spaces like a wall really.
Scrub might not be an obstacle because again, it has no effect on
figures entering it or occupying it - its affect is on the attacks of
figures not in the scrub itself (this is different from the
shadowcloak given by trees, for example, because the trees give the
shadowcloak to the figure in them rather than affecting the attacks of
another figure directly).
The Cavern Entrance is probably not an obstacle because it is
analogous to a portal space - similarly the Hold. The skull spaces may
or may not be obstacles -in at least one island level they are
impassable, though usually they have no effect.

Everything else (Barrel, Cage, Mast, Pipe Organ, Reef, Sandbar,
Water (both), Weapon mount (both) and Whirlpool) seem likely to be
obstacles.

The main reason for this coming up is the ability to ignore the
effects of obstacles - fly, mostly (there is no acrobat), but also
large monsters!
Thematically, probably only the cage is dubious as being
'ignorable' for flyers. Since it blocks movement*, I don't think it is
an issue with large monsters (Mahkra's unease notwithstanding).

As an interesting aside, since a cage blocks movement can a (small)
figure move around inside the cage? Perhaps the cage actually needs
new rules entirely and 'blocks movement' is insufficient. Perhaps...
"Figures may not enter or exit the cage prop unless they fulfill
scenario rules. Figure inside a cage may move around inside the cage
freely. The cage is not an obstacle."
... which would solve all potential cage movement issues
'thematically', and reasonably, I think.

Question 1: What new props in SoB qualify as obstacles?

Answers: Choose any from the list. Maybe add explanations for some
that are not on the list?

Question 2: Can small figures move inside a cage since it blocks
movement?

Answer: A1. No. Since the cage blocks movement figures in a cage may
not move at all.
A2. Yes, small figures may move inside the cage, but may not enter or
exit the cage.
A3. "Figures may not enter or exit the cage prop unless they fulfill
scenario rules. Figure inside a cage may move around inside the cage
freely. The cage is not an obstacle."

Please note that answer 3 is much preferable to answer 2 because it
completely defines the cage and solves several issues while being
fundamentally the same - unless the cage is an obstacle which flyers
(and Soar-ers) can ignore.


On Sep 9, 10:37 pm, soygreen <esch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Terrain definitions?

[jorge medina]

at this point, it may be worth cataloging what game elements care about obstacles.  It may be easier to errata those elements than it is to keep re-working terrain.

[Corbon Loughnan]

Just a note - Deep water is explicitly faq-ed to be ignored by flyers
already. The question remains unchanged I think, at this stage.

[Corbon Loughnan]

I (strongly) don't agree. I think there is a strong, established, system of 'obstacles' and 'other props' which takes very little effort to continue with. I think it is better to keep that system than mess around a variety of other random effects. It means that any new releases continue to have a coherent whole to meld into.

Corbon

[jorge medina]

So we're advocating a revoking of the RtL System then.  If we're all on board, few things would make me happier.

[Corbon Loughnan]

Well, the RtL system isn't a system. Its a lack of a system!
All they would need to do to fix that would be to add subsections and place the 'obstacles' all together (possibly also with a 'Traps' subsection (eg Scything Blade, Dart Field, Crushing Wall, Rolling Boulder etc). Anything not in those sections remains 'other props' as the original staircases were, for example.

[Corbon Loughnan]

POSTED