From:	"Will Hartung - Master Rallyeist" <villy@*****.UU.NET>
Subject:	Re: Supressing Fire.
Date:	Mon, 14 Dec 92 09:14:58 PST

> Things I've seen have all said that suppression fire is real, and that
> its effects are real. I see no reason to doubt them, and good reason to
> want something to mimic that effect in a game, if only so that the PCs
> can use it on the NPCs.

To put this is a little more perspective with some "real life"
experience.

A first hint to anyone who has never done it, go out and play a few
games of Paintball. Paintball gives you a real reality check about how
people work "under fire". Granted, it's not lethal, but it is in game
terms and it gives you a lot to think about.

In last game I played, I had a gun that would do nothing but jam. The
gun would fire maybe 3 balls before it would get gummed up. I played
with that gun for an entire day. Yet, the gun was still effective for
one reason: It still made noise. It always sounded like it was firing,
but hardly anything came out the business end. Now, of course, I
wasn't going around screaming "Hey everybody, my gun doesn't work!".

On the other side of the coin, I was stuck behind several different
barricades with nothing but the sound of paintballs slamming into my
general area. Your motivation to pop-up and "Charge" go way down when
the bad guys are knocking on your door.

I think some folks once mentioned playing Photon, the Laser Game.
That's a game with totally different tactics and technique. The true
difference between Photon and Paintball: There is no "fear" in Photon.
The game is not "lethal" in the sense that Paintball is. Getting hit
in Photon means it's time to regroup.

Thats why I think that when under suppresive fire, it should be some
kind of Willpower check versus target numbers for the shooters. The
logic is that if somebody is going to get in the bullets way, the
generic modifiers will apply like normal. The trick is getting the PC
convinced to go out.

Will