Fast combat?

[Sire_Cedric]

Re: Fast combat?

 

Well, if all the good points that the forum users did make still don't work out for you (which I doubt, really) then there is always the option of going for FENG SHUI, a Hong-Kong-Action-Move RPG with a very, very, VERY cinematic combat system that expects you to do WAY COOL stunts all the time! You might like it... and the setting background is rather cool, too.

 

Me, I am just starting a Dark Champions campaign and speeding up combat is also an issue for me. The players are all unfamiliar with the system and character creation already proved to be rather mind boggling for them. But we're getting ahead. So, in order to not completey lose them I will try to speed up combat which IMHO is (or rather: can be) a time consuming process in the HERO system. But all the useful hints how to go about speeding it up have already been given here, so I have nothing new to add.

 

In the end it all depends on how you want combat to "feel" for your game and then to keep it consistent. If you're going for the "kick in the door with both guns blazing" approach, be sure to not expect your players to be overtly cautious when it comes to confrontations. On the other hand, if you want to teach them that it's a deadly, unforgiving world out there, don't do away with all the combat minutae - use bleeding rules and hit locations to full effect. Luckily, HERO supports both styles and everything in between.

[Rapier]

Re: Fast combat?

 

- Mooks don't get Recoveries.

 

- Mooks don't go defensive (eg Dodge, etc) unless DESPERATE!

 

- Keep the villains simple (no Martial Arts).

[Guest steamteck]

Re: Fast combat?

 

1) Know The System.

2) Memorize the Speed Chart.

3) Do OCV calculations in your head.

4) Keep everyone focused.

 

If you've got those you've got a fast combat. It took me about six months, but then I was able to run combats in my head and I never looked back. It can help to restrict speeds, but I don't actually do that to speed combats up so much as I do to maintain game scale.

 

Agreed, Last night we played from about sixish to midnight. We had tons of major plot developments, high speed chases, tons of role playing. and also managed several major battles. I actually find hero pretty fast to run as I can do the math in my head. I also find its crunchy system doesn't slow me down figuring out exactly what the effect of an action is. Most everything is pretty well covered and just feels right. My players had respectively seen the Matrix, Bulletproof Monk, Final Fantasy,Advent's Children and Black Mask recently so combat was pretty wild!!

[ghost-angel]

Re: Fast combat?

 

Well, if all the good points that the forum users did make still don't work out for you (which I doubt, really) then there is always the option of going for FENG SHUI, a Hong-Kong-Action-Move RPG with a very, very, VERY cinematic combat system that expects you to do WAY COOL stunts all the time! You might like it... and the setting background is rather cool, too.

 

Me, I am just starting a Dark Champions campaign and speeding up combat is also an issue for me. The players are all unfamiliar with the system and character creation already proved to be rather mind boggling for them. But we're getting ahead. So, in order to not completey lose them I will try to speed up combat which IMHO is (or rather: can be) a time consuming process in the HERO system. But all the useful hints how to go about speeding it up have already been given here, so I have nothing new to add.

 

In the end it all depends on how you want combat to "feel" for your game and then to keep it consistent. If you're going for the "kick in the door with both guns blazing" approach, be sure to not expect your players to be overtly cautious when it comes to confrontations. On the other hand, if you want to teach them that it's a deadly, unforgiving world out there, don't do away with all the combat minutae - use bleeding rules and hit locations to full effect. Luckily, HERO supports both styles and everything in between.

 

Here's another bit of advice: Get the Resource Kit PDF, pring out a few copies of the GMs Screen as individual sheets, laminate and hand out to everyone. Unfamiliar players looking up information is probably one of the main slowdowns for a combat.

 

I've done and seen some extremely fast combats at Conventions with people who've never seen the rules before.

 

Character Creation is by far the most time consuming part, once you've made the character make another sheet with all the abilities done out in plain English:

 

My OCV/DCV/Damage when I do a Martial Strike is: x/y/z

repeat for everything.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Fast combat?

 

I am not at all trying to be snarky, but I've yet to have a really slow combat; and I game using the OpenRPG software. There are some advantages to that route, what with the Hero Initiative tool and such, but I tend to keep combats relatively low-key. I imagine when we get to an epic one, it may take some time.

 

Additional suggestions (Forgive me if I repeat anything. I kinda skimmed the last few messages);

1. If you use Hit Locations, have the player roll a different set of dice at the same time to determine Hit Location. That cuts a die roll out and you already have enough with having to roll damage too. Alternately, you can use the CV dice, but I recommend against this as rolls good enough to hit may always place the Hit Location so as to make it even more lethal. If you have enough dice of different colors, you can roll CV, Hit Location and Damage. I can't imagine a whole lot of high dice EBs running around in Dark Champions so you should have only a few dice of killing attack or a moderate number of normal damage dice to deal with.
   
2. Pre-calculate final CV and Damage for Weapons, Martial Maneuvers and other attacks before combat. That way, you don't have to tally up Weapon +2 DC at combat time. It's already there. Oh, and keep them on a handy chart.
   
3. If you have access to a computer during the game, use the utility at this location to speed things up. Thanks BCHolmes! (practice with this utility before the game, so you can speed up your own responses).
   
4. For combat, forget the character sheet. You can find 3.5 x 5" index cards that would be perfect for placing only quick reference combat information on. See #2 above.

And hopefully that will help.