Re: Clarifying Combat/Extended Contests

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 11:31:50 -0700


D'oh! I told you to go to the website, then didn't give the URL. Here you are: http://www.glorantha.com/hw/

> c.) combat/extended contests
>
> 1.)- i remember there being suggestions what to do with the edges in
simple
> contests, but cannot find the relevant messages. some rule all agreed at,
or
> any official statements (roderick/robin)?

You might be remembering reading that edges and handicaps often cancel out. Some people are of the opinion that Weapon & Armor Ranks are superfluous & just added complexity, others like them.

> 2.)- i still have problems with extended contests. for example, imagine a
> scene (for simplicities sake, let's take a combat...) with the party (3
> heroes) being attacked by 5 trolls (t1-5).
> narrator announces trolls attack. characters (c1-3)augment with magic
or
> performing a feat (btw, could they still do, if the extended contest had
> begun?).

Yes, to augment you'd usually use an Unrelated action.

> (c1) is engaged by (t1), (c2) by (t2) and (t3), (c3) by (t4). (t5) is
> firing sling stones into the resulting melees.
> (c1) uses his sword and shield ability, but after one exchange decides
> to do some light feat to scare the troll off. ability switch o.k.(page
137),
> but only the ability value would change. that does not sound right to me.
> switching to simple contest (troll rolls for blinding?)???

No, he'd bid AP and roll against the troll in the extended contest using his Light affinity, rather than his Sword & Shield. Note that his AP would not "reset" just because he switched abilities.

> having got rid off the troll (somehow, just an example), (c1) wants to
> help (c2) versus his two opponents. he enters the melee and (c2) leaves
> combat one round later, he re-enter. is there no penalty for having lost
AP
> in the first place. who then prevents characters from leaving and
> re-entering extended contests as they wish (if they have someone to guard
> their rear of course)???

C2 would not get to "reset" his AP just because he stepped out & back in. He'd re-enter the contest with the same AP as when he left unless he got loaned AP ("healed") or some such.

> (t5) fires his sling against (c1) and (c2) while engaged to (t2) and
> (t3). does he lend his trollmates AP? and what if meanwhile (c3)

It can be, or it can just be an attack on either C1 or C2. because fireing into melee is a pretty dumb thing to do, I'd give him a chance to hurt his buddy...

> had the chance to overwhelm (t4) and is now engaging (t5). are the AP
> (t5) gave (t2+3) lost, even if the melee still goes on?

not necessarily - if you run it as a AP loan, then he distracts C1&2 and gives T273 time to get up (assuming that the AP loan is sufficient to get them to positive AP).

> what if a character leaves an extended contest to do a feat. how long does
> it take him to do this? one exchange?

Yes. Using a feat stand-alone to attack (like the Light feat in the example above) is a normal action and not an unrelated one. Augmenting an ability is usually an unrelated action. Most feats take one action (one exchange) to perform.

> 3.)- there has been a lot of discussion about missile combat and the lack
of
> rules for it. but an extended contest has, for example, two opponents, one
> with a bow, the other one has only melee weapon. so the bowman uses his
> range combat ability rating for the exchange and the swordman can choose
> (1.) to come near to him, using his running ability; or (2) tries to get
> cover, using dodge or hide; or some other action, the player comes up
with.
> but basically it is like"i would like to do (x) and therefore i use
ability
> (y) and if i win the contest, i did what i wanted to do"(depending on the
> success rate), so if the bowman wins,he hurts or kills the swordman, and
> otherwise, the swordman found safe cover or reached him and engages him
in
> melee, resulting in a new contest(?). did i get this right or did i miss
> something importent?

Basically, yes.

However, Archery need not be an extended contest. If it makes more sense to run it as a Simple Contest (Archery vrs Dodge or whatever), then use the simple contest rules. Don't feel constrained to useing only one mechanic, we provide several so that you can choose among them as the situation warrents.

Roderick

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