Re: [HoE] Ambush Ethics

[Thomas Mayfield <dragonboyblue@mindspring.com>]

At 06:10 AM 5/23/00 PDT, you wrote:
>>I've got hypothetical situation that I've been pondering, and need you
>>guys' input.  Say that the posse is fighting a group of bad guys who are
>>smart enough to have good knowledge of tatics.  They manage to set up a
>>fairly well-done ambush.  The posse missing clues and/or Cognition rolls,
>
>What kind of TNs did they miss for the Cognition checks?  Theoretically, the 
>rules only say that you have to make a TN of 5 to avoid surprise.  You can, 
>of course, modify that TN taking into account preceeding Stealth and 
>Cognition and Search rolls and all (John Goff does in Boise Horror, Chapter 
>3).
>
>Sounds like tinkering with the TN of the Cognition rolls you required would 
>be your best bet.
>

It actually was a hypothetical situation- my mind wanders sometimes and
I've been pondering this for a few days.

>>walks right into it.  The bad guys get the drop on the heros, letting
>>flying with big nasty ranged weapons (snipers, rockets, etc) from cover.
>>The dice, and common sense dictate that the heros are smeared like a fine
>>red jelly- all without getting a good look at the enmey or a chance to
>>fight back.  Realistic, yes, but hardly fair.  How do I do realistic ambush
>>type situations that show the bad guys' prowess but aren't unfair to the
>>players?
>>
>
>You may not be able to.  *shrug* I always take the "theatrical" view of such 
>things.  If you were watching a movie with the posse as the good guys, how 
>interesting would it be to watch the on-screen heroes get smeared to a fine 
>red jelly without a chance to put up a fight?  :)
>
>You might have to forego "realism" to some degree in this case...

Yeh- I put a good deal of cinematics into my campaign.  I was just trying
to find a way to make ambushs challenging with giving huge, obvious clues
or obviously fudging things in the posse's favor.

>Steve Crow

-Evil Marshal Mayfield

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