Dragon Warriors

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:55 am 
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Depends on how much detail you want in your combat. I like star wars d6 where higher shooting rolls go first if I recall correctly. Seems to reflect weapon skill but not sure how that would work in dragwars since you're trying to roll a smaller number. I think initiative rules would be good.

I'd be more into the storyline, trust, lust, betrayal and getting a piece of looks 18 female npcs....

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:28 am 
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wimlach wrote:
Though to be fair, attacking someone with zero defence shouldn't even require a roll.

I observe a difference between zero Defence, in which the combatant is an active participant in a combat but unable or unwilling to offer an active defence against one or more of his opponents, and prone, where the target is physically unable to move or defend in any way and may not even be aware of his surroundings. In the former case, an attacker must roll to hit without any penalty to his Attack score but, in the latter case, no roll would be required.

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:24 pm 
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Hm, sometimes I interpret this as a failed blow. Like, trying to behead someone. He's sitting there, but unfortunately the executioner cuts into the shoulder blades. Not quite what you want to achieve. Theres no damage variable in dragwars except for spells so I might interpret it as an 'annoying' bruise or cut but with little consequences.

I suppose in the case of throwing a javelin at a static target there is a higher chance of failure despite there being no 'evasion'.

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:31 pm 
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Hm, sometimes I interpret this as a failed blow. Like, trying to behead someone. He's sitting there, but unfortunately the executioner cuts into the shoulder blades. Not quite what you want to achieve. Theres no damage variable in dragwars except for spells so I might interpret it as an 'annoying' bruise or cut but with little consequences.

That's a possibility... But if the character delivering the coup de grace is not rushed or under pressure, then the chance of failing should be rather slim. It would be a way of avoiding having monsters "finishing off" fallen characters, of course (if you're feeling kind)...

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I suppose in the case of throwing a javelin at a static target there is a higher chance of failure despite there being no 'evasion'.

Or, indeed, any missile weapon. There's always the chance to miss - even the most skilled archer cannot guarantee a perfect hit...*
* Although they might be ashamed/embarrassed if they missed.

For this reason, I think a coup de grace could never be done with a missile weapon. It would just be a normal hit for damage.


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 11:58 am 
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One problem I've puzzled over on many a cold and rainy night is that why the eff does a normal person only have a 55% chance of hitting a human opponent who is offering no resistance in combat? I hate to come across as an internet tough guy, but I reckon if you gave me a sword and told me to hit a department store mannequin that you'd placed next to me I'd be able to do it every single time. I can't even visualise a situation (barring excessive alcohol consumption) in which I would miss just about every other swing.

Does anybody have any way to rationalise this discrepancy?

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-Kyle


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 12:46 pm 
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I hate to come across as an internet tough guy, but I reckon if you gave me a sword and told me to hit a department store mannequin that you'd placed next to me I'd be able to do it every single time.

Yes, but would it be an effective swing/hit every single time? ;)

Offering no resistance doesn't mean they're standing still. It doesn't take more than a step for the opponent to miss (that can happen even when you might not be aware the opponent was even there)...

Regarding the mannequin analogy; I allow the hitting of an inanimate or an otherwise immobile, helpless target if the attacker is not distracted (i.e. still in combat with others) and has plenty of time to aim their strike properly. That leads towards the coup de grace idea...


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 2:59 pm 
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One way to look at it, if you look at gun ballistics, only shots in a 'T' section, lungs, heart, major arteries will disable right away. You could pump 50 rounds into the guys forearm and he'd still survive a while before bleeding to death. In the same way, only a good solid blow will take someone out of action. You could cut him 20 times, remove all his fingers and toes and he'd still be alive for some time. The wounds might even close by themselves.


Now I'm thinking about adnd 1ed explanation. Health points are a measure of luck as well as damage capacity. Maybe that might work.

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 4:34 pm 
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Kharille wrote:
Now I'm thinking about adnd 1ed explanation. Health points are a measure of luck as well as damage capacity. Maybe that might work.

I never liked that explanation because it doesn't take into account healing. Presumably, all physical wounds heal at approximately the same rate for all humans, so why would some characters be restored back to full health before others? Does some people's "luck" recover at different rates? For luck to be a meaningful factor (rather than just a wave of the designer's wand to explain away a weakness in the mechanic), you'd probably want healing to be based on a percentage of total health (although, even then, I'm unconvinced...). It also, of course, begs the question whether luck can be used for anything else Can I, for example, lose hit points to be "lucky" in a non-combat situation? So long as I don't go below my first-level hit points (which is, presumably, when my hit points represented just my base physical health), then that would be consistent with that design decision. In short, the can is open and the worms are everywhere...

DW does have a stab at making HP a meaningful (and scarce) resource in that it varies only a little between the different professions and increases only slowly with rank but a better approach is just to narrate combat - don't just roll dice and tick off numbers, describe how a combatant gets more desperate as they lose health, how they start to favour their other leg from the one that got slashed by a sword in the previous round, etc. If you want to make the numbers mean something, you'll need to get creative!

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 5:22 pm 
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Crossed my mind, a system which could be implemented on an excel file. Every time your health goes down your strength goes down in the same proportion. And as you get to '90%' wounded you become weaker in combat. Its accurate, involved book keeping (excel) but I figure it works. And wounds really do make everything so much more difficult. Try fighting after taking a spear wound. I'd say strength and reflexes would go down. Tough luck if they're already low.

It would be accurate. And so if someone is down to strength 1-2 they'd have -2 armour bypass and damage. Strength 3-5 -1 armour bypass and damage. If they're 0 strength, assume they can still whistle or scream in pain or cast spells but they'll be on the floor.

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PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:22 pm 
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Crossed my mind, a system which could be implemented on an excel file...

Doesn't have to be Excel. You could simplify that by saying that penalties occur when a character drops 1/4, then 1/2, then 3/4 of their Health Points. The penalties could be a proportion of Attributes (as you suggest), or a penalty to dice rolls (either in Combat or checking a skill).

While it's realistic, I'm not sure I'm so keen on the idea. I find that one of the strengths of DW is its simplicity. You can pick up the book learn the basic rules in about 10 minutes and then you're playing. (It's simplicity means you can even run and play games when suitably... lubricated. Not that I've every tried this, of course. Ahem.) I'm not too keen on adding every more rules, so that DW becomes one of those games where every combat results in players flicking through rulebooks (or consulting rules online) to see how a particular situation is resolved...

It may not be particularly realistic, but combat is already pretty dangerous in DW. No character ever gets many Health Points and it doesn't take many blows from an ogre's maul to see even the stoutest of knights fall over... Adding penalties makes the combat even more dangerous.

You may also want to consider this: every rule you make that increases danger is invariably a disadvantage to the characters. The monsters might be affected too,* but they only fight once: your characters will have to fight repeatedly to complete an adventure - so penalties accrued in one combat will affect them over several combats. Making wounds worse (and similar "realistic" rules) makes those adventures harder to complete... It depends what you and your players want out of the game.
* Except the undead, presumably?


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