Re: [BNW] Combat tips?

[The White Crow <whytcrow@io.com>]

>Keep in mind that a dodge isn't just stepping to the side. You can move on
>a dodge (like jumping into cover) so that would consolidate two actions
>into one. Also you can move and fire, you just take a small penalty to
>your roll (actually if you walk you take no penalty IIRC, only if you run
>do you take minuses).

Yeah, that's what I thought.

>Well if you think about it, if you get hit by a bullet it ought to give
>you pause for at least a second. But no, it isn't very cinematic, so you
>can just save stun checks for tension builders and such.

I think that is the best solution.  Not cinematic enough for ya with?  Get 
rid of.  Simple enough.

>Again this is more of a realism thing. Very few people actually die from a
>single gun shot. A lot go into shock (failing that infamous stun check)
>and bleed to death. Or they get shot multiple times. Still even with a 4d6
>str. you should be able to knock them out with 2 shots (avg. of two wounds
>per shot).

Yes, that's realistic.  However, the original poster wanted a more 
cinematic possibility.

>Again I'm of the opinion that getting shot should have its consequences.
>Sorry but that's life (in my world anyway). The one thing I always LOATHED
>about D&D (and still do) is that there was absolutely no difference in the
>offensive capabilites of a fighter with 100HP and that same fighter after
>he'd lost 99 of those HPs.

I agree it should have consequences, but I have found that wound penalties 
are more of a detriment than a help.  In real life, people back off when 
injured.  While we may want our games to reflect that, sometimes that isn't 
possible, and/or that would mean one player would be out of the game for a 
while.

Also, there have been studies done (by the FBI, I think) that show that 
generally speaking, people either drop out from shock, die, or keep 
fighting without hinderance when wounded.  I'd have to do some digging to 
find references, but this was hashed about on the fudge-l a while back and 
someone posted data gotten from teh FBI website.

>That's what things like the tough edge and delta points are for.
>What about a rule that says if you spend a delta point you can ignore all
>wound mods. for the remainder of the battle (or one level per success on
>an easy str. roll...)

The rules say that the delta points erase the wound as if they never 
happened.  I like your interpertation better--it is closer to the way I 
would run it anyway.  (In my Fudge game, I noticed that the ability to 
negate wounds with Fudge Points meant that chars were *never* 
injured....which took out some of the danger and long-term effects.  So I 
changed it.)

>Chalk it up to the chaos of combat. You could adopt a champions system
>where everyone gets a set number of actions (one per speed die or
>something). Personally I never liked the fixed action system of champions,
>it made the combat seem a little too predictable and planned out to me.

I don't like it either.  But for someone who *doesn't* like the chaos of 
combat, a set number would work better.  It would be as easy as everyone 
gets one per Speed point.  Or something, since that doesn't take into 
account bonuses.

I'm leaving init the way it is for my game.  I might some day roll better 
inits for my villians without fudging the dice.  Maybe.  ;)

Jennifer