Re: 'Simulationist' Wound/Combat system for HW?

From: philippe_sigaud <sigaud_at_...>
Date: Sun, 03 Nov 2002 12:00:51 -0000

Good morning all,

> David Dunham :
>
> > Does your group use the Wounds rule(s)? I came up with the "trade
-7
> > AP loss for a -1 wound) precisely to simulate combats where the
victor
> > ends up wounded.

> > And a narrator is always free to apply a similar
> > penalty for an AP loss of 15 or more (p. 151).
>
> Wow, never really noticed that rule : buried in the truly awful
> layout of HW:RiG ... Like it !

There is something that annoys me with these two rules : they feel too 'inefficient'.

I don't think I would trade a 7-AP loss for a foe for a malus of -1. A 7 AP loss is not too bad (not too hard either, somewhat a 'middle range' wound between two normal fighters), but -1 is truly nothing...

As for the automatic -1 given by the Narrator every time 15 AP are lost, why not, but it still seems something that can be shrugged off by anyone, too.

IMG, dramatic fights are mostly between 10W-5W2 PCs and NPCs . If for 5 rounds, each time causing a 7 AP loss, the player decides to go for the '-1', at the end we have a quite grateful foe : losing 35 AP would almost have defeated him, whereas -5 to his CC doesn't count _that_ much (it's important, but not as much as losing 90% of his AP). And he still have all of his AP... So, when would a player choose to 'wound' someone ? Never, he would go straight to his gaol : a 0 AP foe.

HQ seems to go for a more 'proportionnal' approach : you do not bid so much 5 or 10 or 50 AP, but rather a tenth, a third, and so on, depending on the risk you take.

I suppose a similar approach to the wound problem would be "Do you want him to loss half his AP or to loss half his CC ?" (or third/third, whatever). Er, having calculated that, that means a -1/1 lost AP, for a character without follower _and_ the possibility to cumulate wounds in one go (someting forbidden by the HW rules, in which a 14 AP loss can become a '-1'+'- 7AP' but not a '-2').

That way, a 7 AP loss for a low-level fighter (Close Combat 15) would be a truly demoralising blow or a truly griveous wound (-7 to his CC). For a more classical warrior PC, (say 10W in CC), losing 7 AP isn't that much (and more so with 1-2 followers giving him 20+ AP each). That way, followers protect their chief against wounds : alone, 7 AP is about 1/4 of his AP, which may be translated into a -1/4 malus to his abiliy (ie -7). With three times as much AP due to followers helping, the trade-off would be only -1/10 (ie -3).

Any other factor (even '-1' for 2 AP and cumulating) doesn't seem a good trade : go for the AP loss, it's this way you can defeat him...

That being said, my players are quite happy with the 'pure' AP-system and we do not want to calculate ratio and relative loss at every round, so we will probably never apply my musings :)

Philippe

Powered by hypermail