Re: help for a beginner on extended rules

From: BEThexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 15:00:42 -0000

I think Hero Quest explains them much more clearly, with more and better examples too.

With regard to your examples:

Therefore:

  1. Charging archers. This can be run in different ways. If they are not a major point of the session, probably a simple contest will suffice, and with a success the heroes reach the archers unscathed and defeat them in some manner depending on the success level. With a loss they may still disperse the archers, but take some level of wound in the process. If the archers are supposed to be a major challenge then an extended contest is in order. You could potentially still start with a simple contest representing the charge, if all the heroes do it together, then go to an extended hand to hand contest. Probably it would be better to start the extended contest right away. The heroes can try and charge, shoot back, or whatever. It is somewhat up to the narrator to decide at what point they have closed to within hand to hand combat range. The archers will probably have to take an unrelated action at some point to draw melee weapons (or may choose to skirmish, running back, turning to shoot, etc).
  2. How do they have them on the run? If the result of an extended contest has the villain successfully fleeing, then the heroes should not have another shot at him. If he starts to run when he sees them and they try to shoot him down, it is up to you to run it as a simple contest ("You get one shot, your archery versus his dodge, then he'll be out of range. Roll") or as an extended contest ("OK, he is trying to run away, your goal is to cripple or kill him so he won't get away? OK, Your starting AP is based on your archery skill plus modifiers, and….")
  3. In a normal extended contest you can and often should change skills, as I stated above. The examples of taunting or throwing sand in the opponents face are no different. They are part of the extended contest, not nested within it. "This round I try and taunt him, so that he'll attack me recklessly" "OK, you can do that, what skill are you using? Note that depending on the characters involved and the taunt this might be confined to a small bid (you are trying to gain a bit of an advantage "All of you Tarshite warriors fight like women!") or very large ("Hey Storm Bull berserker, I saw your mother sleeping with broo."). However if the bid could potentially end the contest the description probably has to be a little more complex, like "I taunt him so that he'll charge and impale himself on my spear." In the case of throwing sand that is a simple use of some other skill (say "combat tricks" or "street fighting" or perhaps even a close combat skill with an improvisational modifier, but the defender may either have to switch their defending skill to something less favorable, or also take an improvisational penalty in defending against it.

I hope this helped a little.

--Bryan

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