In getting ready for running the latest Near Miss event at GenCon, I
familiarized myself with the new combat system. After about five minutes of
reading, I came up with the following:
SCENARIO 1:
Hiram Trilby, a con artist, is being pounded into steakumms by Thor Phangle of
the Imperial Marines. Thor is wearing full Battle Dress, Hi Stellar design,
with an armor value of 18 over his entire body, and Thor's life force is about
18, giving him 3 damage points to unconsciousness. (For the purposes of this
explanation, Hiram's stats and armor are unimportant.) As he frantically
attempts to save his own worthless life, Hiram manages to get his gun hand up
between Thor's arms as Thor is attempting to twist his head off, places the
muzzle of his Gauss Pistol against Thor's eyeslit, and fires.
Hiram's player, a decent kid who's never learned to be crafty and to take
advantage of gaping holes in rules systems, is doing what appears to be the
sensible thing: he makes his task to hit one level harder (from simple to
routine, a safe bet) and allows himself a pinpoint attack, thus halving the
armor value of Thor's Battle Dress and maximizing his chances to escape.
Okay so far?
He rolls an 11 on his attack. The result, according to the rules, is as
follows. The attack is with a penetration-4 weapon, against an armor class of
18 halved or 9. Weapon < Armor, so Zero penetration, and since the armor is
full-body, no damage occurs. But wait! Hiram needed a 7 to hit, and rolled an
11! That's a 4+ exceptional success, so Hiram quadruples his damage (4x0=0) or
takes a minimum of 2 points. Thor can take 3, so the 2-point hit to his face
doesn't knock him out.
The result: the Gauss needles bounce off the armored eyeslit, except for one
which manages to penetrate and do damage. Thor is injured, and really mad now.
Hiram had better hope for an 11 or better on his next roll, assuming he has
any ammo left in his pistol, or he's doomed. (Note that the choice of shot
placement did nothing here: only the high roll did.)
SCENARIO 2:
As above, except Hiram has only a 5mm body pistol (with a Penetration value of
0 at any range!), and Hiram's being played by a different player, say for
example, me. (Thor's doomed. |-> ) He calmly places the pistol's muzzle
against Thor's chest, where the thickest armor plating is located, and pulls
the trigger, once. He rolls an 11.
We now consult the rules again. Hiram didn't try anything fancy to maximize
his chances of getting through the impossibly thick armor Thor was wearing: he
just fired. At this range, that's a Simple task. He hits, and his weapon
obviously does no damage (it didn't last time, and 0 vs. 18 is a lot worse
than 4 vs. 9). But wait! he needed a 3, and rolled an 11, so that's an 8+
exceptional success, for octuple damage (8x0=0) or a minimum of 4 points!
The result: Thor's knocked unconscious by the tiny bullet expending its energy
against his chest. Hiram removes Thor's limp hands from his thoat, places the
pistol over Thor's heart, and fires until he rolls two 7s or an 11, at which
point Thor is dead. (Note that he does not declare a coup de grace, as this is
an automatic zero-penetration hit and hence does no damage. He states he is in
combat, and thus must roll for his hits, risking a miss but also allowing for
the exceptional success that knocked Thor out in the first place.)
Neat, huh? I'm leaving this glitch in my rules set. Every player needs a break
every now and then! |->
dim the lights,
******
metlay | "What'd you hit him for, Hug?" "I asked him
| what the wallet was made of, and he said,
[email removed] | 'Hide, the cow's outside.' Imagine his nerve,
[email removed] | suggesting an Aslan is afraid of a cow!" |->