The Book of the Glyph of Darkfield

[tcglkn]

I would prefer a simpler tagline. It doesn't need to tell you everything the Glyph is doing.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by tcglkn

I would prefer a simpler tagline. It doesn't need to tell you everything the Glyph is doing.

If you're writing a paragraph, that's pretty far removed from the established glyph aesthetic. It should convey the theme of the main mechanic.

[Lazy Orang]

Cleared

[A3n]

how about for the effect description just: Negative Combat Attributes

[tcglkn]

Originally Posted by A3n

how about for the effect description just: Negative Combat Attributes

Sounds great to me!

[IAmBatman]

Clear Sight Denial seems to be the bigger deal and bigger theme to me. If we're truly trying to be inclusive, I might go with Negative Combat Attributes and Clear Sight Denial.

[A3n]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Clear Sight Denial seems to be the bigger deal and bigger theme to me. If we're truly trying to be inclusive, I might go with Negative Combat Attributes and Clear Sight Denial.

That's not much shorter than: "Negative Attack & Defense & No Clear Sight Targeting".

The objective is to shorten the description. It is supposed to be a reminder of the effect it has. That's why I didn't think "Unnatural Darkness" would be suitable. I believe that (maybe with a stretch of understanding) the "Clear Sight Denial" is covered by "Negative Combat Attributes" as it is part of the combat.

[Lazy Orang]

Negative Combat Attributes feels ungainly and tells me almost nothing about the actual effects. Unnatural Darkness actually sounds better to me on almost every level - it gives more of an indication of what the effect might be, IMO (a debuff and clear sight denial, whereas NCA just sounds like a debuff), is more elegant, thematically richer, etc. - I'd be massively in favour of that.

[A3n]

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

Negative Combat Attributes feels ungainly and tells me almost nothing about the actual effects. Unnatural Darkness actually sounds better to me on almost every level - it gives more of an indication of what the effect might be, IMO (a debuff and clear sight denial, whereas NCA just sounds like a debuff), is more elegant, thematically richer, etc. - I'd be massively in favour of that.

That has just confused the total $#%@ out of me. How does Unnatural Darkness indicate any effect in the game? The subtitle on a glyph is about game effects not theme or elegance. Darkness has no bearing on any game mechanics & deriving "clear sight denial" from that is a large stretch.

What we are trying to convey here is:

• Negative attack attribute
• Negative defense attribute
• No clear sight (& this is were I said stretch of understanding) attribute
• Shadow spaces that don't provide defense boost

As mentioned we don't have to list all of the effects but we do need to convey the bulk of them.
In HS combat you have to check for line of sight (if they aren't adjacent). You roll attack dice up to your attack value. And you roll defense dice up to your defense value. So "Combat" basically covers the first 3 points. So if you want to come up with something else with combat in it then you might have a solution.

Negative Combat Effects
Combat Debuff
Combat Weakness

If it's short like those last 2 we could possibly add "Shadow Space &..." as a prefix.

[Lazy Orang]

I don't see how Negative Combat Attributes conveys that any more clearly. At least Unnatural Darkness feels like it has more connection to what's going on. It may not state an in-game effect, but neither does NCE, and Unnatural Darkness gives me more of an idea of what to expect. Either way, it's honestly a poor reference, but you're not really getting around that.

[quozl]

Just wanted to remind everyone that 1st Heroscape master set had two complicated glyphs that they simply wrote "wind" and "thorian" on.

[MrNobody]

I have to agree that “negative combat attributes” feels kind of meaningless to me, mainly because I don’t think the term “combat attribute” is really intuitive or explanatory.