archery and ammo

From: gamartin_at_...
Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2001 19:46:56 -0000

I have another thought on the archery problem. In the last round of discussions we touched on ammo as a rationale for AP loss by the archer, and the more I think about it the more I like it. There are quite a few ways that ammo can be exploited to control archery and other ranged combat type things.

Firstly, you could require that ammo be actually recorded and spent to allow an opportunity to make an AP loan to a friend or a simple test attck on an opponent.

Or, the edge of the ranged weapon could be taken from the amount of ammo available, similar to the way a tap pool works in sorcery. Practical limits will restrict an individual archer to a moderate sized pool of about 20. When an archer makes an attack, they assign an amount of edge to it according to the level of fire they wish to exert.

Or, the ammo is considered a "physical agent" ala the Dragon Pass boardgame, and has a number of AP equal to the number of missiles. It is in fact the physical agent which engages the enemy (with a TN = archers ability), and if destroyed represents running out of ammo. This sidesteps the problem of re-starting a contest, as if the archer is physically engaged they then enter a contest personally for the first time (with the caveat that the physical agent is then removed, but this is quite similar to interrupted concentration for spell casting). It also could represent the way that volley fire is less a question of personal ability than sheer volume of fire.

Anyway, thoughts appreciated as always.