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Faster Combat
You can run extremely detailed fights using Martial Arts and
the Basic Set, but most gamers find quicker combats more fun!
Below are tips on how to speed up battle. They’re advice, not rules
– the GM should use only the suggestions that suit his gaming
group.
• Limit options. Let the players choose only those options that
suit the kind of game you’re running: realistic or cinematic, emphasizing
unarmed martial arts or weapon styles, etc. Politely but firmly
forbid the rest.
• Encourage options that lower defenses. Deceptive Attacks,
feints, Ripostes, and Stop Hits add complexity . . . but reduced
defenses increase the odds that a blow will land and end the fight.
This keeps battles from taking forever because nobody ever fails a
defense roll.
• Make a “cheat sheet.” List modifiers and page numbers for all
the optional rules you intend to use. An index card is ideal for this
– and doubles as a handy bookmark for a page of frequently used
rules.
• Work out everything in advance. Somewhere on the character
sheet of each PC or important NPC, note such things as allowed
movement, modified skill, and damage with attacks; jumping distance;
slam damage at full Move; and crippling thresholds (damage
over HP/2 and HP/3).
• Require speedy decisions. Tell each player to have his actions
ready when his turn comes. If he doesn’t, he must take some
“default” action agreed upon in advance: All-Out Defense, Do
Nothing, repeat his previous action, etc. “My PC is a kung fu master!
He’d know what to do!” doesn’t hold water. A second is still a
second, even for a kung fu master. There’s plenty of time to weigh
options while others are taking their turns.
• Encourage “trademark moves.” Have each player work out a
few “standard operating procedures” in the form of an entire turn’s
worth of actions calculated in advance; e.g., “Committed Attack
(Strong) and Rapid Strike: thrust to the vitals at skill 13, then a
Deceptive swing to the torso for -2 defenses at skill 12.” These are
good “default” actions for the player who can’t make up his mind!
•Hold players responsible for remembering options. If you let the
players use a specialized rule, make it their job to remember its
details and location. If they can’t remember the rule, their characters
decide not to use the tactic.
• Have major wounds end fights. An NPC should flee or surrender
if he takes a major wound (or crippling wound), unless he has
a serious mental problem like Berserk. Don’t keep going until
everyone on one side is unconscious or dead. It takes forever and
isn’t especially realistic or cinematic.
• Rules that make fighters more mobile – especially if
they involve acrobatics! These include Acrobatic Stand
(p. 98), Feints Using Non-Combat Skills (p. 101), Acrobatic
Movement (pp. 105-107), Acrobatic Attack (p. 107), Flying
Attack (p. 107), and Retreat Options (pp. 123-124).
None of these options is absolutely cinematic. Used conservatively,
they might even be realistic. Nevertheless, a
campaign that features a large proportion of these rules will
feel cinematic, while one that omits most of them won’t –
regardless of the GM’s intent!
126 COMBAT
Some optional rules offer additional detail
that doesn’t suit a fast-and-loose cinematic game,
the worst offenders being Postures, Hit
Locations, and Techniques (pp. 89-99), Fast-Draw
from Odd Positions (pp. 103-104), A Matter of
Inches (p. 110), Close Combat and Body
Morphology (pp. 114-117), More Actions After a
Grapple (pp. 117-119), and Fencing Parries
(p. 122). Harsh Realism for Unarmed Fighters
(p. 124) and Limiting Dodges (pp. 122-123) are
meant for realistic characters, and would ruin
the fun of cinematic warriors. Finally, Untrained
Fighters (p. 113) doesn’t suit PCs (even untrained
ones) in a cinematic campaign – although it’s a
good option for “cannon fodder” NPCs!
Below are additional rules that can help build
a cinematic feel. Except for Multiple Attacks,
which appears here because it refers to several
superhuman advantages, most of these are strictly
cinematic. Use them in a realistic campaign at
your peril!
MULTIPLE ATTACKS
Multiple attacks by the same fighter in a single
turn almost define cinematic combat,
although they can occur even in realistic campaigns.
These guidelines help explain how the
many options for multiple attacks interact. They
apply to all attacks, but focus on melee combat;
see Ranged Attack Options (pp. 119-121) for
additional rules for rapid ranged attacks.
Each combatant – however numerous his
limbs and whatever his weaponry – starts with
one attack per All-Out Attack, Attack, Committed
Attack, Defensive Attack, or Move and Attack
maneuver, and many normally select only one of
those maneuvers per turn. Three situations modify
these basic assumptions:
Altered Time Rate (p. B38): Each level of the
Altered Time Rate advantage bestows one additional
maneuver per turn – not just an extra
attack! The remaining rules in this section apply
separately to each All-Out Attack, Attack,
Committed Attack, Defensive Attack, or Move
and Attack maneuver chosen.
Extra Attack (p. B53): Each level of the Extra
Attack advantage gives one additional attack per
All-Out Attack, Attack, Committed Attack,
Defensive Attack, or Move and Attack maneuver.
Extra Attack benefits only those maneuvers. For instance,
someone with Extra Attack 2 could use Attack to make three
attacks instead of one; if he also had Altered Time Rate 1, he
could choose two Attack maneuvers and make three attacks
with each.
All-Out Attack (p. B365): Selecting All-Out Attack
(Double) lets a warrior add one attack to his usual number,
with that maneuver only. If he has Extra Attacks, he still
adds one attack – he doesn’t double his attacks! All-Out
Attack (Determined), (Long), and (Strong) give no extra