From: johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu (John Carlos White)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Re: Duelmasters: Need help with first roll-ups.
Date: 7 Oct 1992 06:08:27 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Distribution: US
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu
Keywords: Duelmasters

jas@rdii.com (Jim Smith) writes:

>After reading all the interesting discussions on the net about Duelmasters, 
>I had to find out for myself if it is really as fun as it appears to be.

I'm so glad!  I wish more people would do this!

>I called up RSI and within 3 days I had a set of roll-ups in my hands, but 
>I am not really sure how to handle them. 

Wow.  I think it took me like a month.  Lucky!

> I've read the FAQ, watched the DM
>posts for about a month and have asked RSI for a copy of the Red Book, (which 
>I thought I would get with my roll-ups and didn't, :-( ) so I thought I'd
>post the roll-ups and see what the net had to say.  

The Red Book gives a pretty good game overview, but most managers with a bit of
experience pretty much ignore it (well, at least _I_ do).  The Net is probably
your best bet for information, unless you make some really strong contacts very
quickly, as some have done.  Of course, you can do that on the net, too!

>I would prefer designing my characters for the long term, but none of these 
>really have the right combination of WT & WL for a long term character 
>(assuming my understanding about the importance of WT & WL for long term 
>characters is correct.)  Any suggestions, however, would be much appreciated.

I looked at your warriors, and I think you're pretty much correct in your
assesment, except for one warrior, which I'll get to.

>Here are the roll-ups:

>17-15-5-7-14-6-6
>This one looks like it would make a Basher at 17-15-5-13-15-7-12,
>or should I not worry about the DF and make increase the ST?

Good call in some respects, but not in others.  Bashers are probably the only
style that I've dealt with that don't require huge amounts of deft from the
beginning.  On the other hand, you probably don't want a basher that's much
smaller than size 9.  A bit higher might even be better, since size is the stat
that most "solidly" affects your damage rating (damage is the physical characteristic which may be most important to a basher).

On the other hand, you may be holding the Mail-In Tournament Champion for the Rookies division.  What I mean is make an Ultra-Scum: 17-21-5-7-20-6-8.  Total Parry.  No question.  I would say that you have an excellent chance of at least getting a Tournament Victor (warrior who is uneliminated after 10 rounds) (the tourney is triple elimination).  That's a great way to start out your DM career!  Afterwards, you have a scum that's good for 13-2-0 or better.  Don't just DA this guy!

>10-4-9-10-13-15-9
>Since the CN was so low, I was thinking a PR with 10-4-9-16-15-15-15,
>but I don't think he would last long.

The very problem with PR's is that the good ones die easily due to their low
con, so I wouldn't make one unless the danger of a low con induced death was
worth the risk.

On the other hand, I'm fighting a lunger right now with the following stats:
11(1)-4-10-15-15-15-15.  He started expert attack, and got expert init in two
skills (which spells excellent long-term success).

As Todd Thompson and Dick Brown put it to me, "That's a warrior who will be
very, very good, in a very, very long time."  Well, he's 3-1-2 now, which is
what I'd pray for any of my short term warriors to do, so he's doing pretty
well right now! :-)

The point is that I'd go 11-4-9-15-15-15-15.  If you want, you can train wit to 16 with no penalty.  There really won't be much of a difference, though.  Other than that, I wouldn't do much else besides train up con 1-2 times, then go skills all the way.

Keep him.  No question about it.

>5-10-12-5-16-9-13
>Great WL but horrible WT.  Maybe a PS at 5-11-12-11-19-9-17?

Mistakes that most beginning managers make:
1) Add to con to make the warrior more "survivable." i.e. I don't want any of MYwarriors to DIE!!!
2) Try to make up for the warrior's weaknesses instead of adding to the strengths.

Things you should do with this warrior:
1) Recognize that a warrior starting with 5 will can only get to an 11 wit,
which is something you wouldn't do anyway (see #2 above).
2) Realize that an 11 wit (which is something you wouldn't do... oh, you get it) isn't good enough to run as a "long-term" warrior.  This implies that you'll be
running a short-term guy.
3) A high will is a GREAT thing to have for a short-term guy, and you can get it
with this one.  So do it.
4) Deftness increases accuracy, attack, initiative, and does a lot of good things for most of the styles in general.  You can get a 17, which is the best you
can do, except for 21 deft (having higher deft than 17 doesn't really do much
for you except when you have 21).  Do get yourself a 17 deft.
5) With a 12 size, you can do decent damage, and you won't get "does little
damage, but a 5 strength limits the weapons you can use.  Of course, with a 5
wit, you won't be well suited to much, but it's better to have the ST than not
to.  You MIGHT pull good damage with enought ST, so add as much as you can
(damage rating has a fairly large effect on a short-term warrior's record).  Add the rest of your points here...
6) You don't add to con, because points used here are much better used ANYwhere
else.  You don't care if he happens to die, because then you get to bloodfeud.  
Also, He's only good for 10 turns on the very outside anyway...


So, you end up with something like 10-10-12-5-21-9-17.  Train 1 point of ST on
his first fight, and you're set!  Could also go 11-10-12-5-21-10-15 and train
two points of dft.  Nah, I'd do the first.  LUNGER!!!

>8-10-7-13-7-15-10

Someone I knew was doing experiments with low will PL's.  You could try:
11-10-7-17-7-17-15.  I'd make him a short-term striker with those stats, though.

Could also try 12-10-7-13-7-21-15 striker too.

The second guy might be interesting, but I wouldn't keep either for more than 5 wins, and DA at the first kill, unless no warriors will be bloodfeuding from
higher than the Challenger Inits.

>6-10-12-9-12-10-11

That same lunger idea:
9-10-12-17-10-17

Your four additional warriors are all excellent in the short-term sense.

Post if you need any help running them.  Like, from the first fight.

Let me put it this way, do you have any ideas about how you would fight these
guys?

Don't just let this die.  Ask me why I did things, why I said things... When
you're on the inside, it's hard to have a feel for what people just learning
are thinking.

>Also, should I request a specific arena, or just let fate take it's course?
>Are some arena's better for beginners than others, or are they pretty much
>all the same?  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanx in advance and I hope
>to see you all in battle soon.

My home arena is 18, and you don't really want to be there.  Most of the managers have a severe clue on how the game works, so have a fairly big advantage over
the beginning manager such as yourself.  I do run in arena 58, and it seems to
have a fair number of managers who are inexperienced.  In addition, you'd know
at least one person there (me!), and we could trade info on warriors.  Drop me a
line if you come to game #58!

Like I said, don't let this die out.  I can clarify, and rather do that than my
EE14 homework!!!

John White
-still minus a DM sig

-- 
John White
johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu
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