The Hollow Earth Expedition (HEX) roleplaying game has been in existence for about five months now officially, and there are many elements of the game system that have aspects to them that make the players, and GMs, think a little bit. This Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page is designed to answer some of the commonly asked questions about one of the more basic HEX game elements - Character Generation and the creation of characters and NPCs.
"Motivations and Flaws may be whatever players and Gamemasters agree upon. There are some guidelines, however, and there is an important one that I want to reiterate here.
"To a player, Motivations, like Flaws, represent ways to get Style points. They are not synonymous, however, as Motivations reward you for playing your character in a specific way while Flaws reward you for intentionally (or unintentionally) hurting your character.
"To the Gamemaster, Motivations have a different function. They connect the player character to the game and give him or her a reason to follow the plot. Think of it like a carrot and stick. Style points are the carrot, the Motivation is the stick, and the GM uses them both to keep up the game going in the right direction.
"Okay, you probably knew all of that already, but here is where the subtlety comes in. In order for a Motivation to drive a plot or storyline, it needs to work on a higher level. The Gamemaster should be able to pick a Motivation as a Theme for his game. In fact, one could think of Motivations as personal themes for player characters.
"When looked at through this lens, some Motivations will be more useful than others. Justice, Revenge, or Fame are all universal concepts. Fanaticism, however, is problematic, because I can't just say that "Fanaticism is a Theme of my game." It begs the question, "Fanaticism about what?" To my mind, fanaticism is a modifier for a Motivation, useful for religious zealots and vigilanties, and therefore makes a better Flaw.
"All of this assumes, of course, that you're playing with Themes or using Motivations as a guideline for character generation (such as in the sample adventure in the HEX ruleboo, page 233). If none of this appeals to you, or sounds too much like method acting, then feel free to make up whatever Motivations sound good to you. Forget about the stick and just sink your teeth into the carrot!"
However, with Specialized Skills, each Specialization is treated as its own Skill, so yes, one can buy more than one per Skill during character generation. Thus, a character could have the Science: Biology Skill as well as the Science: Geology Skill. However, because one can defaut from one Specialization to another, one might find it a better deal to buy up one Skill to raise the character's general knowledge, or take the Skill Mastery Talent which will let the character take a Specialized Skill as a general Skill.
As Jeff Combos said, "If the current rules for Mentors don't suit you, feel free to change them as you like (or ignore them completely). I will say, however, that the Mentor rules as written make for some wicked bad guys. Take a look at Eva Klinsmann in the Friends and Enemies chapter of the HEX rulebook. She's one tough customer. I actually had to work to make Von Wartenburg more dangerous than her even though he had more points to spend.
"I think the problem here is that the Mentor rules aren't allowing you to create the style of villain you want. For me, I prefer to make villains who are like PCs, only more powerful. As my favorite author says, "Villains are just heroes for the other side." As a result, my villains have their own strengths and weaknesses and therefore still need friends to get the job done. Why bother having henchmen if you can do the job better yourself?
"Getting back to your comment, however, I think you could reasonably give a villain some appropriate Resources. After all, they can come and go during play for player characters, why not for villains too? Alternately, if you'd like more of a rules approach, I think trading off the +3 Attribute points for an additional Talent or Resource would be an acceptible alternative. I do something similar when creating creatures. Because they don't need as many Skill points, I give the critters an extra +3 Attribute points instead.
"In addition, giving your villains Style points to spend (and spending them) gives your character that "NPC Glow" that tells players that this is no ordinary adversary. My players know they are in trouble when the character they're up against starts playing like a PC: using tactics and spending Style can really make 'em quake in their boots!
"In any case, I hope I've given you some alternatives to be able to play how you want to play. As Shawn Hilton likes to say, "It's all about the FUN FACTOR" and he's absolutely right."
Special thanks to Jeff Combos, Melissa McNally, M. Sechin Tower, and the folks on the Hollow Earth Expedition (HEX) forums for their help in the compiling of this FAQ information.