The Godfather and sticky wood

[Ockham's Spoon]

Remember the scene in The Godfather where Don Corleone's loyal muscle Luca Brasi gets killed? One rival mafia thug pins his hand to the bar with a knife while a second comes up from behind and strangles him.

 

So I am thinking, how would you build an attack in HERO where the goal was pinning someone like that with a knife or stake or something? (For a villain obviously; I think there was also a version of this in the movie Johnny Mnemomic) It seems to me that the critical factor is getting the knife to stick into the wood (or other substance). Which brings me to another common cinema occurance: the hero dodges the villain's sword blow and the sword ends up stuck in a wooden railing or something just long enough for the hero to regain his own weapon or balance or at least make a snappy remark.

 

So I put it to you, how would you (or have you) modelled a weapon getting embedded in something, whether intentional or not? How hard is it to get back out? And how much would it hurt if you did?

 

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"Uh, Joel, what is Ator sitting on?" - Crow from "Cave Dwellers"

[Arkham]

Re: The Godfather and sticky wood

 

Well, for the first part of the question, that is pretty much the definition of Entangle with a Set Effect ( hand )...

[bigdamnhero]

Re: The Godfather and sticky wood

 

So I put it to you' date=' how would you (or have you) modelled a weapon getting embedded in something, whether intentional or not? How hard is it to get back out? And how much would it hurt if you did?[/quote']

Only time I've ever done anything akin to that in a game is with a fumble roll. (Fortunately rolling 18 in Hero is far less common than rolling a 1 in d20!) The pin-his-hand-to-the-table trick, it sounds like either a very specific form of Entangle, or a modified Martial Hold maneuver with weapon focus.

 

As for tricking your opponent into getting his sword stuck in something, I'd probably make it some sort of Weapon Bind maneuver. Or conceivably even a type of PRE Attack, if you wanted it to be based on the character's acting ability rather than his weapon skills.

[prestidigitator]

Re: The Godfather and sticky wood

 

Somewhere between the SFX of a Grab and Strike in a Sweep maneuver and the impaling rules from UMA (see, "Twisting the Blade," on p. 165), probably. I don't know.

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: The Godfather and sticky wood

 

Well' date=' for the first part of the question, that is pretty much the definition of Entangle with a Set Effect ( hand )...[/quote']

 

Yes, I agree, and if I was building a Champions-type character, this is probably the way to go, probably with a Triggered HKA if they try to break free without removing the impaling implement.

 

However, in a heroic level game, a knife is built as a HKA without any Entangle, but under the right circumstances you should still be able to do it. If you want to do it as a part of your combat style, you should pay for some kind of manuever, but logically anyone might pull off this stunt.

 

prestidigitatorSomewhere between the SFX of a Grab and Strike in a Sweep maneuver and the impaling rules from UMA (see, "Twisting the Blade," on p. 165), probably. I don't know

 

Maybe I need a copy of UMA. My only problem here is that the "Grab" part essentially becomes Continuous and Independent after performed, although necessarily the attacker gives up his weapon in the process. And of course you take damage from escaping the Grab if you don't pull out the blade.

 

I think bigdamnhero has the right idea about the Weapon Bind for tricking an opponent into lodging their blade into something. Perhaps only useable with WF: Non-weapon weapons. The PRE-based skill to help pull it off (Acting to sucker them in or Persuasion to incite fury) is a great idea, although I would have to figure out exactly how to work that mechanically. Otherwise it would probably best done through fumble rolls or Luck (or Unluck as the case may be).

 

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"Uh, Joel, what is Ator sitting on?" - Crow from "Cave Dwellers"

[bigdamnhero]

Re: The Godfather and sticky wood

 

Maybe I need a copy of UMA.

Everyone needs a copy of UMA.

[prestidigitator]

Re: The Godfather and sticky wood

 

prestidigitatorSomewhere between the SFX of a Grab and Strike in a Sweep maneuver and the impaling rules from UMA (see' date=' "Twisting the Blade," on p. 165), probably. I don't know[/quote']

I won't post the rules here of course, but the brief synopsis is that they are stuck on the blade unless certain things happen, and they can continue to take damage due to you or some of their own actions.

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: The Godfather and sticky wood

 

Okay, I definitely need to get the UMA. I have its predecessor, Ninja Hero, which I always thought was a pretty good compilation on the genre, but I see there is more. So much more. Thanks for the input.

 

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"Uh, Joel, what is Ator sitting on?" - Crow from "Cave Dwellers"

[Captain Obvious]

Re: The Godfather and sticky wood

 

Make sure you add Backlash, or better yet, a Triggered HKA (based on the target's own STR), so if they struggle, they take damage.