Re: [BNW] Combat tips?

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

>     Just finished our second BNW session.  (Yes, the first was a month
> ago, damnit.  Two players were tied up with rehearsals; the other two
> have been jaunting about to Sydney and Melbourne.)

Don't feel bad, my Deadlands game got put on hold for over a month cause I
went to england for one week and then everyone else got busy. Holidays are
bad times to, so don't get frustrated if your next one isn't for a month.

>     One problem, I've realized, is that BNW has a different style of
> combat than I thought.  I had visualized a John Woo style, running
> battle sort of feel; fights rolling through rooms in a cascade of
> bullets and broken glass, acrobatic moves and rapid fire stunts.  But
> that's not the style that BNW's rules and lethality seem to fit.  
> Instead, our combats have ended up as quick, gritty affairs, with more
> realism than I thought.  Fight scenes don't move about, they stay in
> one place; people hide behind cover and trade shots; fistfights are
> less Jet Li and more Dolph Lundgren.

Our combats in BNW were always fairly exciting and John Woo-ish. But that
is probably a lot because we inject that feel. 

Ex: Decker (the scrapper) is facing off against Wesker (the bouncer) in a
parking garage. This is how it played out. The scene opens up in a Matrix
style, Wesker makes a few snide comments about Decker (he obviously knows
Decker, but Decker has amnesia so doesn't remember). When Decker makes no
reply Wesker asks "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" A paper
flutters between them and sirens go off up above (Decker has just broken
out of a prison-hospital). The action kicks in with Decker drawing and
Wesker charging at him.

Decker gets his shot off which Wesker dodges with a forward roll and ends
up in HtH. Wesker uses first move to get off a punch to the gut (as he
comes out of the roll) followed by a spin kick to the head. Then Wesker
turns around and jumps behind a row of cars (getting into cover).

Decker gets his action and runs and leaps over the cars firing his
submachinegun in a spray, tagging Wesker once and then again (but Wesker's
vest stops most of the damage).

The round ends as the sirens get closer.

The next round Wesker goes first and makes a sneak roll to duck into a
car. Decker looks under the cars, but (making search roll) doesn't see
Wesker. He moves between the cars and Wesker manages to kick a car door at
him and knock the gun out of his hand. The two go back into HtH combat and
Decker winds up beating the snot out of Wesker. But just as he's about to
question Wesker as to who he is or what's going on two cops on bikes come
down the parking garage ramp.

Decker turns and fires on them, but doesn't want to kill any cops, so he
intentionally aims high, missing. The cops don't know this though and both
fail their spirit rolls, twisting their bikes and falling off (no serious
damage, just a little road-rash. I could have rolled to see if they took
wounds using the driving rules, but it wouldn't add anything to the scene
so I don't bother).
Decker jumps on one of the downed bikes and discovers that he knows how to
drive a motorcycle. 
As he peels up the exit ramp he turns to look at Wesker who mouths the
words "Be seeing you."

I think the key here is that both the player (playing Decker) and I were
on the same wave-length. Decker could have just run around the car, but it
was cooler to jump over them, and him being a scrapper I didn't worry
about any damage he would have taken from the fall.
Likewise Wesker could have just made a sneak roll and tried to attack
Decker from behind, but on the fly I thought climbing into a car and
kicking the door into Decker would have been cooler.

One mechanic that I think helped is that we adopted the "phased
initiative" system from Hero. There are 12 phases to combat (or 10, or
however many work for you) and depending on how many action you got, that
determines when you go:
one action goes on 6
two actions go on 12 and 6
three actions go on 12, 8 and 4
four actions go on 12, 9, 6, and 3
etc.
This stops you from having to either jot down everyone's init. (a pain in
larger groups) or count down from 30 because Al got a really good roll
that time.

>     I'm also looking at the movement/scale system and wondering.  I
> never use miniatures and maps, because I don't like them; I like the
> freedom to change things to fit the flow of the scene, and I find the
> 'wargaming' feel of miniatures irritating or boring.  But now I'm
> wondering if perhaps I need to use such things for the game.  The way
> combat is structured, order of action is important - who goes first,
> who goes second, what they can do at that exact point in the round -
> and so is location/position, exact ranges, movement and so on.
>     How do those who use maps/figures keep it fast and simple?  How do
> those who _don't_ keep things structured and organized?

I like using miniatures, but often find them impractical (super-hero
minis are hard to find). Most of the time we use a white board. People's
positions are marked with the letter of their first name. Bad guys are
usually numbered unless the players know them, then initials are used.
This is fun because you can keep track of things and also do fun things
like erase a wall when it gets blown out by a bomber or scratch a bunch of
crazy lines through a loft that's been knocked over by the goliath.

We also play the movement rules pretty fast and loose, mostly estimating
distances a lot of the time. 
But we also have one white board that my friend actually scored (cut lines
into) a 1" x 1" grid on. This is great because we can get specific about
distances and such without the pain of rulers or the like.
If the movement rules are holding things up this is the best suggestion I
can make.

> I want to eat a swan.  Is that wrong of me?  I can't anyone who'll sell
> me a swanburger.

I think you're missing the word "find" in your .sig file there slick.

 Theo McGuckin
	"Putting the Mentor back in Tormentor"