Classic Cinematic Battles in Hero

[Christopher R Taylor]

As I showed, though, it doesn't have to be any special maneuver, just cinematic timing of a held phase

[TheDarkness]

Someone brought up Harry Potter. The big one would be the duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore at the Ministry of Magic.

 

A smaller one that would showcase some interesting powers is the brief duel from the book between Snape and Harry after Dumbledore's death, as Snape spends the duel countering everything Harry does because Snape can read Harry's mind and knows what spells he will use before he uses them.

 

For zero-grav, the best example I can think of is in Inception, don't remember who is fighting whom.

 

Also, for grittier fencing, the Michael York Musketeer movies have several good examples.

[Kesedrith]

A couple other classics to me would be the final fight between Violet and Daxus in "Ultraviolet". (Yes, I know that overall that was a craptastic movie, but that last fight was pretty intense, as was the fighting leading up to it.) Another is Neo's fight with the Merovingian's henchmen in "The Matrix: Reloaded". One for you to play imaginative license with is the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog. Sure it looked boring in the movie, but when you consider that this was a battle between two deity level beings, the real fight was likely not on the same plane as the poor mortal characters, so it looks like they just stood there staring at each other, when in the overall reality....all hell was breaking loose.

[whitekeys]

One for you to play imaginative license with is the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog. Sure it looked boring in the movie, but when you consider that this was a battle between two deity level beings, the real fight was likely not on the same plane as the poor mortal characters, so it looks like they just stood there staring at each other, when in the overall reality....all hell was breaking loose.

True, and then there was the whole falling down to [that place under middle earth] which wasn't depicted in great detail, but we're to understand that they fought each other the whole way down.

[Christopher R Taylor]

We have too little info on the Balrog fight to really even try to game it out.

[Sean Waters]

Any of the chase scenes from Benny Hill?

[bluesguy]

Any of the chase scenes from Benny Hill?

 

Well if we are going there then how about

• Black Knight vs. King Arthur
• And fighting a very dangerous monster....

[Scott Baker]

The duel between Inigo Montoya and the Dread Pirate Roberts in Princess Bride

 

https://youtu.be/lC6dgtBU6Gs

[Christopher R Taylor]

One of my favorite fight scenes is Indiana Jones vs the hulking German Sergeant in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Never mind that the flying wing couldn't carry any cargo, never mind that it has trucks the size of a volkswagon that clearly cannot retract anywhere, the faux Li P.04-107 looked great and added a nice pulp feel to the film.  After a short fight where Indy shows off his superior skills, speed, and endurance against a couple of mooks, a huge shirtless german mechanic strides up and challenges the "junge" (young man) to a fist fight.

 

Indiana Jones is an athletic guy with some combat training plus he's the main character, so I give him speed 4 and a decent OCV and DCV, 5 each.  He has a few levels in hand to hand combat.  INdy is heroic so his CON, END, and STN are pretty good but not superhuman -- his recovery and endurance are nearly so, though.

The Mechanic is huge, but not very fast, so I give him speed 3 and OCV of 5 and DCV of 3, but a few hand to hand levels to demonstrate his boxing skill.  He has enormous stun, endurance, and constitution, plus high strength.

 

Phase 12; Indy and the Mechanic square off.  Indiana Jones tries a persuasion roll to fool the Mechanic that something interesting is on the ground (a snake?).  The roll succeeds, and the Mechanic fails his INT roll so he looks.  Indiana takes advantage of this to kick the Mechanic in the furry mangerines. Its a tough roll, but the guy is surprised, so he's at half DCV (which is not very high to begin with) and the hit location penalty of -8 is also halved, so Indy has a pretty good chance using his 2 levels in OCV (7 total) vs 2+5 for 7.  Indy rolls high enough and hits, doing his kick damage of 4d6 for an average of 14 stun and 4 body to the Mechanic, who has 8 PD so he ignores all of the body and all but 6 of the stun, which is x1½ for the location (9 total).  The German reacts but is not significantly harmed due to his 35 stun, and as he has 20 CON he is not and will not be stunned by Indiana Jones this fight.  The German holds, waiting to see what this young fellow has to offer, putting his levels into DCV.

 

Post-12, both recover (indiana Jones his 1 END and the German 8 of his 9 lost Stun.  This will be a tough fight.

 

Phase 3, Indiana Jones tries a haymaker, swinging wildly.  The mechanic holds to be ready to dodge or block, as he's a boxer and its about reacting to openings.  Phase 4, the haymaker goes off and misses completely due to the DCV levels the Mechanic used.

 

Phase 5, the mechanic does a Jab maneuver, for 6d6.  He hits Indiana Jones straight and true, and deals 25 stun and 6 body.  Indiana is tough, he has 6 PD so the body bounces, but he suffers 19 stun, which is 1 more than his 1 Constitution, and is stunned.  Down goes Frazier.

 

Phase 6, the pilot pulls out a pistol and tries to get a shot at Indiana Jones, but the plane body and the Mechanic are in the way.  (I'll omit the rest of this sub fight, since its just Marion getting inexplicably stuck in the cockpit and so on).  Indiana Jones recovers from being stunned.

 

Phase 8, the Mechanic Grabs (to hit roll vs ½ DCV) and yanks (redirect) Indiana Jones to his feet, being an honorable man and boxer, because he wants Indiana on his feet.  For him this isn't about the Nazis or treasure or security, its about a chance for a great fight, and he's bored.

 

Phase 9, Indy bites the Mechanic on the forearm, as he's not strong enough to escape that mighty grasp.  The GM rules this is a killing strike of ½d6 against the Mechanic's half DCV and lack of rPD.  Indy rolls really well, dealing 3 body, and 2 stun.  With 8 PD, the Mechanic takes 3 body, and because of that 3 stun.

 

We miss a bit of combat here as Marion shoots up the place, but presumably Indiana Jones tries to break free, aided by the surprise of the bite, and gets free, rolling away from the Mechanic.

 

Post 12 recoveries; Mechanic gets all of his lost STN and END back, Indy gets back 6 of his lost 19 and all of his used END.

Turn 2 starts

 

Phase 3 Indy makes his perception roll to spot airplane fuel pouring toward them and nearby fires, so he goes to rescue Marion by climbing onto the plane, struggling with the jammed cockpit.

 

Phase 4, the Mechanic climbs onto the plane as well and holds as they square off.  The plan is uneven and moving, turning in place, so the GM rules each character must make a DEX roll to stay standing during combat if struck.

 

Phase 6, Indiana Jones tries to punch the Mechanic, but the Mechanic uses his held phase to block (grabbing Indy's hand).

 

Phase 8, the Mechanic punches Indy, stunning him again. The GM rules that Indy falls over, rolling completely off of the plane.

 

Phase 9, Indiana Jones recovers from being stunned (again)

 

Phase 12, Jones tries to recover since he's pretty low on Stun, but the Mechanic picks him up and punches (grab and exert).  This time it doesn't stun Indy but he's cut and bleeding (took body damage)

Post 12 recovery.  Indy gets some Stun back, both are bleeding from body damage but have full END.

 

Phase 3, Indiana Jones swings and misses

 

Phase 4, Mechanic deals a multiple power attack, punching Indy with both hands in a nasty combo, but dealing less damage than a martial arts (boxing) maneuver.  Indy is very low on stun.

 

Phase 6, Indiana Jones does his own combo, pushing his attacks.  he's in bad shape and desperate and gets in some good hits on the Mechanic, dealing stun damage.

 

Phase 8, Mechanic grabs Jones and deals a crushing cross punch against him, knocking Jones down and stunning him again.

 

Phase 9, Jones has maybe 1-2 stun left and recovers from being stunned

 

Phase 12, The Mechanic demands Indy get back up, because he wants to finish the fight.  Indy starts to stand then spots the propeller approaching as the plane turns.  Indy ducks and covers. The Mechanic makes his perception roll just in time to see the prop.  It hits him dealing 4d6 killing to the head, mincing the poor guy and killing him on the spot.

 

Notes: this was a very difficult fight to Hero out, because it was extra cinematic: lots of other stuff going on, gaps in the battle as we see Marion acting, uncertain time periods, etc.  Plus, there are tons of head shots, but its obvious not every punch is actually a head shot, its just how you do movie battles, so only the really significant hit locations on the really significant hits.  Technically Indy should have been out cold earlier because he kept being stunned over and over, or at least knocked down, which isn't a mechanic really in Hero for ordinary fights.

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Incidentally, this fight shows how to use block and held phases tactically against a faster opponent.  Good fighters aren't all offense, all the time like a lunatic waving fists about.

[whitekeys]

Kung Pow,

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

I might do some of the fights from Kung Fu Hustle but they are so wild I don't know.

[whitekeys]

Ya, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around some of the scenes. 

 

For example, in the Kung Pow scene 0:51, the Cow gets in about 12 kicks in a row, all of which are blocked by the Chosen one. Is that a special effect of a Multiple Attack missing on the first try, so all subsequent kicks also miss? Or does the Cow have some crazy SPD/ Marital maneuvre/ etc? The Chosen one should go first automatically in the next Segment in which both have a Phase. But the Cow gets another kick. Soooo.... The Chosen One's SPD is much lower, correct?

[Sean Waters]

SFX is all: it could just be a single strike mechanically that looks like a whole bunch of strikes that are blocked, or simply missed.  You actually only make one roll, but you can not necessarily map what happens in the game reality to how the rules express that reality.

 

As to why the cow may attack twice, perhaps there is a held action involved somewhere...

[Sean Waters]

One problem with 'cinematic' battles is that Hero can simulate them but it required the right rolls.  You can not 'set them up', at least not without some contrivance.  In a lot of battles, for dramatic reasons, the hero seems to be doing badly then rallies to win, often because they are inspired by something, even if only the thought of being about to lose.

 

The dice COULD roll that way, or not i.e. you can explain the action in terms of Hero combat, but then you could probably explain the action in terms of the combat system of Fudge.

 

There is no mechanic in Hero RAW to allow for increased effort when you are already losing, no 'Hero Points', 'Action Points' or the like.

 

Of course, this is Hero, so you could build a character with a special attack only useable when they are down to 1/2 Body, or 1/4 Stun (what would that be worth) i.e that they can only use when they are on the back foot, but I'm not sure I like that for various game play reasons, not the least of which is that sort of approach will drag combat out.

[Christopher R Taylor]

There is no mechanic in Hero RAW to allow for increased effort when you are already losing, no 'Hero Points', 'Action Points' or the like.

 

There are, actually, its just optional.  However, pushed attacks, better die rolls, presence attacks, etc can all go a long ways to simulate this kind of thing.

[massey]

Generally I figure heroes should buy up Stun and Endurance to help with things like that.  The villain can roll better, do more damage, etc, and the hero can still come out on top.  A hero can lose a fight all the way to victory.

 

 

Extra points for anyone who writes out the final battle from Big Trouble In Little China.

[whitekeys]

SFX is all: it could just be a single strike mechanically that looks like a whole bunch of strikes that are blocked, or simply missed.  You actually only make one roll, but you can not necessarily map what happens in the game reality to how the rules express that reality.

 

As to why the cow may attack twice, perhaps there is a held action involved somewhere...

I respect this answer but I don't like it =P

 

In theory, I totally agree with you: that's how I would play it. But for the task at hand, that leaves too much up to special effects, and takes some of the excitement and the verisimilitude out of casting these has HERO encounters. Of course, they aren't really HERO encounters, but never mind that!

[Sean Waters]

I respect this answer but I don't like it =P

 

In theory, I totally agree with you: that's how I would play it. But for the task at hand, that leaves too much up to special effects, and takes some of the excitement and the verisimilitude out of casting these has HERO encounters. Of course, they aren't really HERO encounters, but never mind that!

 

Bear in mind an average individual has a Speed of 2, meaning that they can attack once every 6 seconds.  I am an average individual and I can hit faster than that.  Hopefully if I was ever in a fight I would be doing a lot more than swinging every 6-count.  

 

Speedsters can do things in fractions of seconds but how many SPD 48 speedsters do you see in Hero?

 

There is only so much verisimilitude a system can manage before becoming unmanageable, then imagination is needed to fill in the gaps.