Re: Skirmishes

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 09:02:00 -0800


> <<When it comes to hurling a dozen underlings at the players - I would
> actually do it like this if I were worried about AP carry overs.
> I'd assign all five trollkin per player a single rating and then use
> that rating as the basis for the extended contest.>>
> Eg
> Trollkin mob 3w2
> or
> Pack of dogs 12w2
> or
> Trusty hencemen squad 10w3

Just to pick a nit here...
when creating "composite" groups like this, the Ability ratings *are not* added together, but the APs *are*:
Trollkin mob 12 (60AP) - the mob won't hit any better, but it can make larger bids, and absorb more "hits". Also note that this slightly favors the Player hero, since the entire mob makes 1 attack, thus the trollkin *do not* get the multiple attacker benefits. This is good for those scenes of heroes wading through foes & slaughtering them right & left. If you want to show the heroes getting plowed under by a mob of enraged trollkin, then roll seperate attacks & apply the multiple attacker effect. Each individual trollkin is now easier to kill, but they just keep coming and biting and stabbing and biting and clubbing...

RR-as-Rulehack

I'm hoping that as people play and familiarize themselves with the rules, narrator tips will start to appear - "I did *this* and it worked like *that*." One thing I do now is look at fight scenes in movies (Indiana Jones has been playing on the Sci Fi channel here in the states, it's a good example of the genre) and think "okay, how would I stage that in a game? What is the end of one contest and the beginning of another?"

As an example - in the first Indiana Jones movie - the scene where Indiana & the girl are attacked by the street thugs. I'd do the entire scene as a long, extended contest against a composite group and a single individual opponent (the swordsman). Why? Indiana does not really face too many people at one time, and when he does they end up doing each other in (not really a MA penalty going on there). By the time he faces the swordsman, he looks exhausted & beat up, but he obviously has gotten a couple transfers, because he takes out the swordsman in one shot! (bringing in the "getting stronger by beating up flunkies" problem). At the end of the scene, he is knocked about a bit, but not injured in the least (the girl, on the other hand, has been reduced to complete defeat & captured).

RR-as-narrator

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