My son has been ill recently, and was unable to sleep last night except in my arms...which meant I was unable to sleep last night, except for the occasional dozing.
Which is fine because it gave me a good excuse to call in sick to work today.
; )
So other than some napping today, I had the opportunity to revisit a couple episodes of Firefly and check my ideas on removing wounds from the game I'm currently writing. And what do you know...even when you take out the blasters and arm people with standard guns & ammo, the rule remains the same: one shot = one kill (except for the heroic Player Character equivalents).
Again, this seems perfectly fine for a cinematic-style RPG...which is what I'm attempting to design. Doesn't matter whether one is shot with a pistol or a rifle or a grenade; if the "attack roll" succeeds, the target goes down. Which helps keep the pace of the action lively AND allows the story to move forward to the next scene.
I was talking with the Doc about this the other day (yesterday) and he wasn't a fan of the idea. 'What if someone gets shot in the leg?' No one gets shot in the leg, except possibly a protagonist. 'Then you need to do hit location charts and such.'
No, I don't.
Because it IS a space opera game, there is armor (from low-tech ballistic cloth to hi-tech, environmentally-sealed power suits) that needs to be accounted. And so weapons do different amounts of damage in order to determine their armor penetration (armor reduces damage in this particular game). For the most part, though, this just means PCs need the right tool for the job...a thrown rock isn't going to do much against a stormtrooper, but a blaster will burn a hole right through a chest plate.
Anyway, I need to get back to my writing right now (before I take a nap). Just wanted to give a quick update.
Actually, a thrown rock WILL do WONDERS against a stormtrooper....
ReplyDeleteBut only if you're an Ewok.
Sorry your son's been ill.
ReplyDelete@ Whisk: Me, too! Baby AND Mom...I'm the only one in perfect health (which is weird, since usually it's the opposite).
ReplyDeleteYou know I can't help but think of the Mook rules from Feng Shui. It's been a while but I think that basically if you hit a bystander/unnamed character, a "mook" in the parlance of the the system, you took them down however you felt like describing. Important characters have names and something hit points so they survive longer.
ReplyDeleteI own fang shui, but it's been a long time since I've read it. I do know I've seen simar 'mook' rules before (maybe in WW's Adventure!) and am using something similar to what you are describing.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out Don Bisdorf's brief & potent Cinematic Combat for Fudge. I try to adapt it for all games... good for what ails ya.
ReplyDeleteSending healing wishes to Mom as well and YOU, stay healthy. Can't have all three of you sick.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to Feng Shui (above), it reminds me of Savage Worlds, where PCs are "Wild Cards" with extra wound points, and the "extras" are mooks that drop with one wound. Characters (either kind) can also be "Shaken" by an inconclusive hit, allowing for some granularity.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall, there is an episode where Book demonstrates his less-than-stellar background when revealing how good of a shot he is by shooting the bad guys in the leg and they still went down after one shot (though presumably still alive). So even when Doc's scenario happens on screen, the one shot = one kill rule still applies in practice.
ReplyDelete@ Fr. Dave: Right; that's exactly what I'm thinking.
ReplyDelete