Re: Clay's Big Ol Combat Thread

From: Wulf Corbett <wulfc_at_...>
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 20:58:41 +0100

On Tue, 20 Jun 2000 14:25:30 -0500, Clay Luther <claycle_at_...> wrote:

>I can think of other combat systems that are simple but exciting purely
>on a mechanical basis, that don't require extensive story-input from the
>players to make it so. And that's what we're talking about, mechanics,
>not the story-telling aspects.

I've also been trying to figure out why HW falls just below my 'acceptable realism' line, while DP9's Silhouette (not a lot more complex, and not a lot more detailed) falls above it. It's about survival. get wounded in Silhouette, and it's a downhill slide. You MUST get the first blow in, or really, ACTIVELY defend (not just 'be cautious' to prolong the fight). I suggest 3 ideas to bring HW up above the line, all house rules applying to wounds...

Wounds are too insignificant, and pointless against skilled opponents. It would take a dozen wounds to put a good starter character (5W) down to the level of an average man, and that takes too damn long. So...

1. Make wounds relative, a -1 per mastery (or part thereof) of the wounded's defensive Ability. So, defend with Sword & Shield 5W, your wounds are -2. With Dodge 17, it's just -1. Reasoning? Physical injuries need not be lessened by higher skills. An Olympic athelete can be put entirely out of a race by stubbing his toe! Also, remember to use Tough, Resist pain, etc. to augment defences! Yes, I know it makes that mastery break even worse, and also means when you change defences it changes Wound effects... I'm not too fond of it either. Maybe take the Wound effects from the initial skill?
2. Make wounds NASTY. If you get a Loss or Transfer x2, you can reduce AP loss by 14 and apply an Injury, if you manage a x3, you can apply 21 points for an instant kill! That would speed up uneven combats, but make even ones even more risky... unless you let the players know that it's a PC-only rule!
3. The lesser change, remember to use that Grievous Wound rule! Any loss of 15 or more points inflict a Wound, with NO reduction in AP (Note: do not combine this with rule 2!).

Also, make that minimum bid relative. Say, 1 AP per 5 Ability in use. For 5W, you must bid at least 5 AP. It would help a little.

>Of course. The player in question is also the one who later said he
>didn't realize how addicted he had become to critical tables in other
>games. I chalked it up to simple frustration between expectation and
>reality when learning a new system.

You can still have 'Critical' tables. Every Wound can be a specific effect. Aim for the sword arm, get a wound, the enemy gets a penalty to his sword use IN ADDITION to the Wound. OK, it gets complex to note, but no more than any hit-location system! Shield Breaker? Get a Wound, the shield is gone, he's down by rank 1 armour. Etc.

>> > the player shot back that having only a
>> > 60% chance of succeeding greatly discouraged them from taking any such
>> > risks (ie, why give your opponent a 40% chance of gaining 14AP!??)

I don't mind this. It's effectively combining the effects of a full RQ turn in one, you-attack-he-defends plus he-attacks-you-defend. The abstraction is that each of you has to chose either an attack or defend skill each time...

Oh, and remember to use Weapon and Armour Rank, and account for all Bonuses and Edges, they can soon rack up a hefty advantage for the Heroes!

Wulf