Re: Duelmasters: a short discussion! From: johnjohn@roo Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1991 07:06:36 +0000 _Please_ _note_: I got a request to repost this with a wider distribution, so here it is. By the way, I manage the Deathknights in DM - 18 Talcama Arena. In article <8NOV199109264040@crvax.sri.com> hlavaty@crvax.sri.com ("James Hlavaty") writes: > Question: Do you own a copy of the "Duelmasters Handbook" and if so, what do > you think of it - particularly the description of starting stats for each > style? I've been playing the game for about eleven months now, so I don't pretend to >know anything about the game except from what I've heard from the experienced >managers in my arena and the Sponsors who wrote back to me (Scott Stortzum! >why didn't you?!). The handbook is a resource that is extremely useful in making a beginning manager feel better about his/herself as a manager. It pushes away that feeling of "I don't know what the heck I'm doing." As for the information, the tables for damage (taking), weapons, etc, are pretty good, but from _all_ the people who I know with Primus warriors, the designs presented are seriously out of date. The version that I have has a release date of 1989, before Primus. I don't think that there are any further refinements forthcoming, and if there were, I wouldn't bother buying them. The best resource that I recommend are the Sponsors who write back (Scott) (email me for the ones who wrote back to me), and _general discussion_. This last reason is the one that I'm happy to see posts on Duelmasters. (I did try last week, but no one responded) On this discussion about styles, my undersatnding is that the styles which dominate upper Primus are Lunging, PLunging, and Parry Rip. Bashers and slashers don't do that well. I also understand that a good Aimed Blow (like, ohhh, NECRON 99) can do well. But then, AB's are arguably the most luck based style in the game... About PR's... I used to follow the guideline for getting expert Riposte on the rollup - 15-13-13 Wit/Speed/Deftness (this guide has been known for years, despite what you may have read in recent articles and ads-for-all-arenas). However, I feel that speed may have more of an adverse effect in the long term than what one might think. Right now, I try to design PR's with low speed (7-9) and pump up Wt/Wl/Df to 17/17/17. I don't get starting Ex riposte, but I do get it within two trains on the outside, which means you can still make Advanced Master on skills alone, and have the wit to get there reasonably quickly (15 fights for the really lucky). I have to admit that you lose initiative skills at the beginning, but you can train your speed _after_ you max out on stats. On strategy, I've seen 2-3-3-P and the like work, but I think that this type of strategy should be limited to early in a fighters carreer in order to avoid early death. A good strategy that I've seen is 4-5-4-NT (no tactic). I have an example of an exciting slasher-pr fight going entirely at 4-5-4 with critical attacks and dodges. This was with a 6 fight warrior. Maybe I'll just stop there and ask for people's responses ... Information that I need: I'm need some confirmation on some rumors that I've heard. For those of you who've played the game for a while, you know that every once in a while, you see and ariticle by Deke Young (Doc Le'Grande) about some huge striker. Has anyone tried out this design? I understand that Phido had the top Primus warrior for a while: a size 16 striker. Is this true? Items that perhaps we should discuss: Training stats can hurt long term skill learning The importance of stats in relation to skill areas Lastly, I've seen about four or five people ask people to email responses, however, unless the response is something trivial, I would ask people to have conversations on the general net. In this way, perhaps all of us can share in the knowlege that is had by the few. After all, isn't that what the Net is for? By the way, if all you want to do is flame or discuss this post in a general way, then email me and I'll summarize on the Net... C-ya later! John White aka Thanatos johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu snail mail: John White Mail Box 105 CalTech Pasadena, CA 91126 Up