From: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: GURPS: Quick Melee Combat for High Defense Characters
Date: 27 Jan 93 04:47:56 GMT
Reply-To: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Organization: Columbia University

BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com writes:
>jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>|> 	However, I would like to comment that I find running combat as a 
>|> mindless exchange of simple blows *BORING*!  If these people are the 
>|> expert fighters that their defense rolls suggest, their fights should be 
>|> at least as interesting as the fast-paced second-to-second fights of 
>|> the less skilled. 
>
>Me too.  And I think it is a result of boring players who are too reliant
>on the combat rules. Anyone can spice up a combat by doing things outside 
>of their normal skills.  GMs should have the "bad guys" do it too!

	Agreed totally. Alot of people think of combat as 'hack-and-slash', 
both the elitists who consider it beneath 'true role-playing' and those who 
consider it good only for their bloodlust, or as a tactical wargame. 

	There is plenty of potential for role-playing and interesting, fun 
stuff in combat. The important things are: 

1) 	Make it seem real. Encourage describing things in real-world terms 
instead of rules and numbers. Try to make the players understand and feel 
that their characters are in a tense, life-or-death situation - and not 
just another plot event. 
	Too many times I hear: "OK, well who should I attack this round?", 
followed by a chorus of suggestions from the other players. 

2)	Try to set your fights in interesting places, and have some 
suprises around if possible. Enforce the idea of fight as a chaotic mess. 
If the fight takes place on a street, consider passing cars getting caught 
in the line of fire, maybe crashing, etc. 

3) 	Always *role-play* your enemies. This is the most important part. 
If the enemies act like combat machines, never being afraid or hesitating, 
then the players will act the same way. If, on the other hand, the enemies 
act like people, then maybe the players will consider the reality of their 
own actions. 
	This applies equally to cinematic genres as well. The enemies 
should have motivations and personality. Maybe the enemy group have 
different goals among them. In a cinematic fight, there should be a 
number of real 'character' enemies who are good fighters, and whose 
actions should reflect an interesting character. 

----
>Now then the actions I took WERE (in many cases) less effective than
>just hacking and stabbing away.  But they were LOTS more fun and fit in
>the genre (during duels they ALWAYS throw stuff at each other and jump
>around on the furniture in the movies). 

	Amen to that. One of my favorite campaigns was a Ninja Hero game 
set in T'ang dynasty China. Alot of the time was spent in fights, but 
they were *fun* martial arts fights. Even an arena duel my character (a 
drunken style kung fu artist) was in was interesting. I was suprised 
when the Tiger stylist I was facing switched styles; then I made a last 
ditch attack at him, and he got me cold and was about to finish me when 
the round ended. Boy was he mad! 
	(A shameless plug for Ninja Hero for being able to support these 
kinds of dynamics in a fight.) 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Kim                    | "You're on the cutting room floor, Chaplin.
jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu | Not a good place to be."
Columbia University         |                  (from the movie 'Chaplin')
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc