Ask Papa-'Scape

Hello, boys and girls (please forgive me, girls, for not listing you first, but there seem to be so many more boys here that I thought I had better list them first, and, I used to be one, many, many years ago, myself)!

This is the first installment of a new feature of this blog which Revdyer has so kindly allowed me to use. (Yes, for the literary sleuths out there, he and I are one; but that is neither here nor there when it comes to Papa-'Scape. Oh, and I am not blue in color nor in mood.) The purpose of this blog will be to answer the more subtle etiquette questions concerning HeroScape. We will not be dealing with the more intensive rules questions, which can be posted in the Official Rules and FAQ Section. Here we will be treating the gentler niceties of the game.

I begin, today, with two questions from eager readers (very eager, since they read this before it was even thought of!).

Dear Papa-'Scape. When my friend uses Grimnak to chomp one of my figures he makes these awful smacking sounds and pretends to chew up my figures. Is that OK? --Once bitten, twice chewed.


Dear Bitten. It is perfectly allowable for your opponent (friend or foe) to make these dreadful sound effects. It is just something you have to put up with. However, if he (or she) actually chews on your chomped figure, that is not allowed and he (or she) must buy you a whole replacement, even if he (or she) had to go to eBay and pay $734.54 for one. (He (or she} is allowed to keep the rest of the purchase for him (or her) self.

If, however, your opponent goes beyond the sound effects and wants to drool on your figures as they are being chomped...well, that's right out.

[NOTE: I can see right now that typing "(or her)" is going to take a long time and I'm not that good at typing to start with. From now on, if I say "He" I will mean "he or she" and if I happen to type "She" it will stand for "he or she" too.]

Let's just look at our next question:

Dear Papa-'Scape. When I am playing HeroScape and using Braxas, sometimes I will say "he" and my friend always corrects me and says, "No, she is a 'she.'" Who's right? -Gender Bent.

Dear Bent. He (or she) is right, but she (he or) shouldn't make such a big deal about it unless he (or it) has romantic interests in the situation. Sometimes, though, if you look really closely at the sculpts, you can figure this out all on your own. Be careful though, if you turn Charos over to check, you can really hurt yourself.

One final question for this weak week:

Dear Papa-Smurf. When did you start playing HeroScape? --Blue Moon Over Miami.

Dear Moon. I've warned you, already, about the Smurf stuff. As to your question -- I began playing HeroScape when I was just a child, almost sixty years ago. I had to wait for the game to arrive to realize that was what I was doing, but I've been doing it a long time. -P-'S.

So, that's the first installment. If you want to send questions for Papa-'Scape to answer, PM to revdyer and he'll pass them along to himself, uh, I mean, me.

Happy 'Scaping! Keep your cuts clean and infections small. --Papa-'Scape