| From: | WILDCARD@******* |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: SR:Condition Manitors and damage |
| Date: | Tue, 7 Apr 92 11:40:38 -0700 |
>in SR is pretty slow. One of the ways I have found to speed things up is to
>have people stage damage down by the _box_ on the condition monitor and not by
>the damage level. I haven't run a game yet using the autofire rules in the
>Rigger's Black Book yet, so I don't know how deadly they make combat, (i.e.
>how fast.)I myself much prefer to get combat out of the way and get right into
>the role-playing. Anybody have any other suggestions that might sit better?
Experience, my friend, experience. Experience is the *only* thing next to
munchkin-hood that will speed up combat. When I first started GMing, combat
took forever and was boring. But now! It goes pretty fast. Here are some
things that will help:
1) Keep in mind the target number mods, if you can't remeber just give the
player a target number according to your judgement. This cuts down on
the "uh...hmmm...well, you're 12m away...it's dark... do you have
lowlight or thermo?...well then...he's moving....your target number is..."
2) Keep your players informed. This cuts down on "So now what do I roll?"
If there is a new player, have the other players help him/her along.
The players have to know as much about the mechanics as you so that
they can tell you when they shoot, "I'm using a Mag-3 and a laser sight
that puts my base target at 3 before your modifications, GM."
3) Have the players roll what I call "resist dice" It's there Body+Dermal,
applicable amount of defense/dodge pool. *ALL AT THE SAME TIME* But
make them different colors so you can tell a clean miss from a graze.
When they tell you the amount of successes have them mentally add in
the armor successes
4) This one is my favorite. I saw a friend of mine use the idea and I've
taken it and modified it and used it. Get a piece of paper from a
legal pad. Write, from the bottom up, numbers from 3 to 38(?) with a
marker. Make a line between the numbers where extra actions are
determined (ie 10 and 11, etc). Next to the number write in pen
the letters "a" through "g." (put number 3 as "c"). Get
it laminated.
invest in an overhead or dry-erase pen.
When starting combat. Call for initative. When the platers are rolling
theirs up, you roll the NPCs or just make up a number for the NPCs.
Have the players tell you their intiative. Write their name on the
laminated sheet at the number that they called. For every player and
NPC, check to see how many actions they get (based on where you put
the lines). Check what *letter* they are on. Now put their name at
the number where that letter is for each of the actions (ie if a
samurai gets 3 actions his name should be on the sheet 3 times).
Now just go down the list (from highest number to lowest) and resolve
actions. This is shorter than it sounds.:)
4) use autofire often.
5) refrain from having to ask people twicw what they want to do. give them
5 seconds real time to tell you or they give up their action. Cruel
but it gets them to think fast (and make mistakes! [evil grin])
Combining all these makes for fast and furious combat. The system is a
bit clunky but if everone has a good grasp of it, it should run quickly.
- WildCard !!
+ "Touch my deck and I ventilate your thorax..." +
| - WildCard !! |
| [ "Plex Personalities" Shadowland BBS ] |
+ wildcard@*******.nevada.edu +
