The other day I ran a simple ship to ship, pirates vs. navy swashbuckling sort of affair using the new HQ rules. I found that typically, a player is going to stick to their top 2 or 3 skills throughout the contest, which while realistic on some levels, also meant some important, "just a couple points shy" skills got left out...reducing the action to mere color, and almost devolving into "I go, you go" syndrome.
For example, we had a naval captain with Sword fighting 3W, Agile 17, Seamanship 17, Pirate Tactics 20, and a pirate with Sword Fighting 2W, Strong 19, Intimidate 1W, etc.
Basically, it turned into a swordfight, with different abilities serving as augments as best, depending on the actual action.
It was actually harder to succeed, pulling out nifty tactics like getting the mast to swing into your foes, dropping the sail on them, etc, etc, that usually occur in action movies, and make things cool.
So here's my simple house rule for that. If you undertake any action that makes tactical sense or is especially cinematically appropriate during an extended contest, you can receive a +5 to +10 bonus for that roll only.
For example,
"I want to swing the mast into the group of pirates!",
"Ok, Seamanship +10!"
"I'm going to yell, 'hit the deck!' so my men avoid it, and it swings
instead into his guys!"
"Ok, Command Pirates +5!"
"Can I get Intimidate as an augment?"
"Yeah, makes sense!"
Etc.
+5 to +10 makes a significant difference, but doesn't break the system, plus it also makes it feasible to start using the top 5 to 10 skills instead of simply the top 3. While people will still want to always use their highest rated ones, they'll find variety pays off with the bonus more often.
Chris
Powered by hypermail