Combat with all the switches turned on

[AlCook]

Just wanted to see if anyone here plays out HERO combats with all of the options listed in Volume 2, and if so, what they thought of playing that way.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

My Fantasy / Star HERO games frequently use a lot of the bells and whistles available in 5E (Hit Location Rules, Knockback, Wounding and Disabling, etc.) and it can slow things down quite a bit if you aren't "on task" about things. Once everyone knows the whole order of events, it isn't so bad.

[randian]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

Who doesn't play a supers game with knockback?

 

We've always used hit locations in "normals" games (where the PCs are normal humans rather than superheroes). I've played in Champions games with hit locations, it's not a huge change but the variance can really alter the end result of combats. An inopportune hit to a hand or head can really ruin your day, be you villain or hero. With the right character concept we'd let you buy No Hit Locations for double cost (20 points).

 

I've never used Wounding, Disabling, or Limb Loss. It's annoying to keep track of between games and punitive to players.

 

Criticals are meaningless when you have hit locations, any hit to 3-5,13 is effectively a critical hit anyway.

[AlCook]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

Sounds good. Thank you.

 

Al

[Tasha]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

Just wanted to see if anyone here plays out HERO combats with all of the options listed in Volume 2' date=' and if so, what they thought of playing that way.[/quote']

 

I have played with all of the options turned on in my Heroic Games. Critical Hits + Hit Locations can make for a VERY deadly game. Also it increases the amount of book keeping and adds another roll to the combat that will slow stuff down (esp if your players use a lot of multiple attacks).

 

Using those in a Superheroic game just seems silly. Supers just aren't that realistic.

[prestidigitator]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

I don't play any games where all the optional rules are used all of the time, but I do occasionally use all the optional rules for increased dramatic effect. For example, I often roll for Hit Location and check for Impairing/Disabling in my Heroic fantasy games when a "critical" is rolled. For nasty wounds caused in extreme circumstances I might track Bleeding until things calm down a bit and some Paramedics can be applied, but it's a pretty rare event. I love the flavor the optional rules can provide, but they're usually a bit much for the normal diet.

[Escafarc]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

I don't play any games where all the optional rules are used all of the time' date=' but I [i']do[/i] occasionally use all the optional rules for increased dramatic effect. For example, I often roll for Hit Location and check for Impairing/Disabling in my Heroic fantasy games when a "critical" is rolled. For nasty wounds caused in extreme circumstances I might track Bleeding until things calm down a bit and some Paramedics can be applied, but it's a pretty rare event. I love the flavor the optional rules can provide, but they're usually a bit much for the normal diet.

 

This sounds a lot like what my group does. But my group isn't to anal about "realism" so it works for us:)

[Susano]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

I recommend using Hit Locations (at least) in any Kazei 5 game. Thus, if you lose a limb, you now have the perfect reason to acquire some cyberware.

[pinecone]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

Just wanted to see if anyone here plays out HERO combats with all of the options listed in Volume 2' date=' and if so, what they thought of playing that way.[/quote']

 

I've done it...I Like it...but your players need to be on board, no goofing off, otherwise long combats become "too long" combats. The extra lethality is a bit of a shock to Hero gamers though. People kinda get used to the "hard to kill a hero" part of the game.

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

Nearly all of my games, because I run Heroic games, use all of these optional rules. Hit Location, Critical Hits, Bleeding, Impairing/Disabling, Knockdown, etc. I run games that tend to have gritty combat, whether swords, sorcery, or guns, and this brings a deadlier element to the game. We even consider hits to anything but the head or torso to be flesh wounds (contributes to bleeding but not death directly). While the detail does require extra time, it isn't much if everyone gets it. It's far more dramatic to have an impaired arm and be suffering 2d6 Bleeding every turn while trying to hold off a horde of badlands raiders in Fallout, but you have to like that kind of game.

 

That's the beauty of Hero - if you want the crunch, it's there. If you want to take your 6 BODY and move along, you can do that too, and the game works great either way.

 

Time overall? In a 4-5 hour convention game I will have 1 big fight, 1-2 smaller fights, and 1 climactic fight. At GenCon in my Fallout game I actually had the party split up and we had a 1 vs 5 robot fight (player favored), a 2 vs 1 robot fight (robot favored), a 1 vs 1 robot "encounter", and a player (the best gunslinger in the group and NOT the hacker) attempting to hack a security terminal (all at the same time). We had crits, and all sorts of craziness going on and that sequence took about 45 min to resolve.

[Ragitsu]

Re: Combat with all the switches turned on

 

Once I got used to Hit Locations, it became hard for me to without them.