Here's a question up for discussion: How do you handle Dodge when it comes to dodging bullets? Is there a distance where you simply cannot see if someone is shooting at you? Is it possible to dodge when on horseback?

That's likely to end up being scenario specific.  GURPS Basic assumption is that you Dodge from where the gunmen is aiming, not the bullet itself exactly.

There are more realistic rules which prohibit Dodging bullets, but those are optional.


Yes.  That's not likely to come up in the Cowboys and Indians scenario though as it's far enough away that you cannot see the shooter.  Or, if the shooter is clearly behind you and started there, making it an Attack from the Back, thus denying defenses (but that happens in melee as well).


Yeeesss....   hmmm.  Let me double check.


Ah here's the relevant rule:

At what distance would you be able to see the shooter and therefore be able to dodge where he is aiming at?

It's pretty clear that something like Billy Dixon's lucky shot at the 2nd battle of Adobe Walls (he shot a Comanche over almost a mile of distance, look it up) would not warrant a Dodge. What distance would?

In reply to Mari (msg # 4):

Its all about awareness. The Comanche could have dodged, but didn't bother to. In this scenario, you get a dodge if you are aware of the shot. Hearing the shot won't count because of distance. You must be aware of the shooter's actions. And given that rule, I don't mind giving a dodge to anyone watching their enemy.

In reply to Derrick (msg # 5):

Alright, understood.

eeyore, are you waiting for something?

Yeah, for my brain to get in order.  It's been a long week without AC (it got fixed yesterday).  I'll try to attended to this game tonight.

Does anyone have a preference on the second scenario? This first one is taking a while to get off the ground. Either a new idea or one of the ones I've listed in brainstorming.

Can we get the dice roller switched to 3d6 by default?

done

The fight is over.  Pistolier drops and the Rifleman will flee.  We can play out the next handful of rounds, but the archers and musketeers are likely to miss (no Aiming) and Rifleman has no reason to hang around.

If this were a bigger scenario (IE the Rifleman has a serious stake in sticking around and was a 'real' Character), there might be some long range combat as Rifleman takes shots from cover and uses guerrilla tactics with the Comanches trying to drive them off...  but I don't see any reason.

a few more rounds to check out the escape would be ideal.

Any opinions on the next fight? I'm interested in Knight vs. Dragon, personally...

Yeah, Dragon versus George would be fun.

Ok. I'm just on vacation and unable to do much with the computer at the moment. Sorry for the delay.

No worries.

I have to say the Knight vs. Dragon scenario is not that interesting to me, since I am interested in seeing firearms in action. While a dragon has fire, it's not the same...

And since Evileeyore isn't really happy with how the Cowboys vs. Indians scenario went (I did not expect to hit with the musket either), I would propose a second Old West scenario. Maybe including a bit of roleplaying (but be careful with racial slurs in a non-adult game). I'd like to see good rifles and revolvers in effect, maybe with a simple open charge done by the Indians. It could even be against rifles and a Gatling Gun if you like.

Less 'unhappy', more 'ceases to be interesting' once a scenario becomes extremely lopsided.

Sometimes it's fun to play out the "hold the line until you die" situation, but that's not what we have here.


Honestly, I think the original scenario would have worked fine with 4 archers and multiple chargers.  It was that musket hit that turned tipped the scales immediately.

The battle was really decided by three rolls:

1) The successful stealth roll. This might have been weighted to the Comanche side.
2) The successful ranged hits. Not one, not two, but all three hit. And they could have easily all missed.
3) The failed HT rolls.

We may want to institute a rule where a very pivotal roll may be waived to go the other way if its success ends the scenario in a way we feel is unsatisfying. maybe call it a "fateful wound".

Of course, the take-aways here are:

1) numbers matter, even against technology
2) technology needs good conditions to operate
3) a party of two is very vulnerable to failure
4) tactics and skills other than weapon skills matter
5) the initiative in combat is really nice.
6) don't camp out with just you and a buddy in hostile country with 30 head of cattle.

We do not have to run only one combat at a time, and all players don't have to join all combats. If you want to see how a pure mounted charge goes against the two cowboys, we can run that as well. It should be pretty darn quick.

Both of you feel free to suggest scenarios, or bring up ones you'd like to see next.

I agree with the assessment. Those rolls went quite bad for the cowboys.

My suggestion would be to do something where they have more of an advantage. Daylight, open charge, maybe a few more cowboys, maybe a gatling gun, no firearms for the Indians. The challenge to evileeyore would be to determine how many archers and melee warriors he could hold off with his force, so that it would become a close call but still a victory. We would test that theory then.

Eh.  If all four ranged ambushers were archers, Pistol would probably still be up, even if they all hit (baring a multiple damage crit).


Nah.  Combat turns on the die roll.


I was hoping more people would get interested.  You should probably advertise this in the "Seeking Players" forum.

Does rpol have one? or are you talking about the sjgames forum?

link to another game

There's an index of 'non-game' forums somewhere...

This has most of the 'non-game' games:
/?sa=1&si=1&genre%5B%5D=1&search=search

I think the ones that are missing (like the GURPS Community and such) are missing because they are still considered 'games'.

Thankyou. Notices played on both rpol and sjgames

Just sticking it here for ease of finding it for 'bumping' once a week.

link to a message in another game


(I need to double check the forum rules and see if non-GM are allowed to bump those threads)