Combat
From Tazlure Gaming System Wiki
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Contents |
Introduction
This article was written for a medieval based fantasy. However it can easily be stretched to later time periods, or something else entirely.
Combat is the last resort. Or at least should be. As such it has to be dangerous and real. Otherwise, why would people choose to use words at all? As with any other theme, combat takes practice to be done properly. It is never as simple as swing, slash, wound, death. Oh, it can be that simple, but then it gets boring. What we seek to do here is to make something that tends to be short, brutal and deadly into something fun to write. Can it be done? Of course. But, first let us learn a few tricks we need to know about combat.
Value of training
Sure anyone can pick up a sword and swing it. Will he or she kill a person with it? Surprisingly even if the strike lands the wound might be non-existent. Just a slight change of angle and the blade will bounce harmlessly. Sure, there might be a bruise or two, but it won't kill you.
Training teaches you how to handle a weapon; What to watch out for; What to evade; How to grip it. Now, how can we see what happens if we botch it up? Well, use logic. Or a few subtle hints.
- Blades can skitter off harmlessly.
- Blunt weapons will hurt your hand if they strike a hard surface.
- Heavy weapons are danger to you if you miss making you lose your balance. So don't over swing.
- Pole Arms have a good range, but they aren't so useful in close quarters. Don't let the opponent come too close.
- Daggers are fast, but you must be close to use them. Same goes with all other small weapons. Watch out not to get hurt as you approach.
- Even if you hit, your weapon might get stuck in the opponent.
- Ranged weapons are just that. They aren't very useful when the opponent is close and if you hit them on the head with it they might break.
- If you are not careful, you might miss an opponent, but hit something else. For example, an ally.
- Weapons and armor are heavy. Treat this aspect of combat as an aerobic exercise. The average person gets tired from real combat in about an hour or less. Take this into account for long combats. Stamina matters here. Most people start sucking wind after as few as ten minutes (much less than an hour).
- Weapons are hard to use, especially the longer, heavier ones. A good longswordsman would loop an index finger over the cross/hand guard to give himself more control of the blade. (This is why most swords have a short (2 inches or less) space between the crossguard and the actual edge.) Throwing a weapon accurately is damned hard, too. Most midrange and longer attacks with a thrown weapon won't hit blade/point. While it takes more training to use some weapons, if they were that difficult to use, then they would not have been used. Soldiers do not carry things that will not aid them in a fight. And some weapons are better suited to people of larger / heavier builds than others – a short man would have a tough time wielding a claymore. The exception being improvised weapons used by the peasantry - they grabbed anything that might hurt someone.
- Weapons are designed for specific purposes. A broadsword is designed to slash. A longsword is designed to slash and pierce. A shortsword is designed to pierce. A greatsword is designed to cut the legs of a horse off or to cut the poles of a polearms. A mace is designed to crush. A mancatcher polearm is designed to stop a person or unhorse a rider, but not to do real harm. An axe is designed for heavy cutting (like through armor).
- Armors are designed to stop specific attacks. Leather works well on slashes, but rather poorly on thrusts. Chain works well on both slashes and thrusts, but it is useless to stop a crush. Plate is good for slashes and thrusts, and is better for a crush, but it is still not perfect.
- All armours have weak points. On Full Plate for instance: neck, elbows, knees, groin, back of legs, face. On a Chain shirt: groin, face, hands, legs.
Training teaches you all that and much, much more. It teaches you how to conserve your strength, but it also gives you more stamina. It teaches you how to take care of your weapon, how to counter other weapons, how to change your tactic when you are facing an armored opponent.
Don't get hit
Sure, you are wearing an armor. You are protected. And he only has a long sword. There is no way he can penetrate your plate armor. It may be true, but the fact is he does not need to penetrate. He needs only to hit. It will leave a bruise. Maybe dent the armor. Armor may crack and cut you. It won't be as bad as a full sword strike, but it is bad. On top of that you WILL feel the impact. Your knees might buckle. You might lose your balance. So just don't get hit.
How can it be avoided? Three ways really.
Use a shield
They are meant to get hit. Built to withstand an impact. You might still get hurt, but not as bad. Usually a shield is not used to receive the strike head on. It is slanted a bit to let the weapon slide down, for two reasons: to save the shield from too much damage and to force the opponent to lose his balance. Still shields are not indestructible and after a while you might need a new one.
Parry with a weapon
It can be done. But, bear in mind it might damage the weapon and that it might not be enough. Weapons are not meant to be used for defence, but for offence. Parrying an axe strike with your sword can be done, but you'd better have a real strong forearm or you will be in trouble.
Dodge
Evade the blow. It is not that hard. Sure you need to be fast, but you can do it. The only problem is that you might lose your balance as you do it. You might slip. You might be too busy dodging to try and hit your enemy at all.
Armor is heavy and encumbering
Sure they protect you, but they weigh a ton. And they don't let you move as you can without them. Try bending in a breastplate. Or even scratching your belly in chain mail. You never thought of that? Try enduring an itch for hours. The more protective the armor the more weight it has. And the more it encumbers you. With time you will learn how to endure it. It might even become natural. But, it will take a hell of a lot of time.
Now, that I listed all these boring details, let me do a little trick. It is not that useless. At each point I listed what might happen. Use that. Make the same or similar problems hit your players as they fight. Let their weapons slide over a shield. Let their spears get stuck in the opponents bellies. Things like that. And you are already adding little details to the combat, making it not so boring.
Now, we have little details that make the combat more that "James swings and hits, Roland in the shoulder with his sword". But, can it be made even more fun? Of course it can.
Use the environment
Even if it is only a duel between a pair of fighters on a meadow it still is a part of the world. Rain might be falling. There are rocks on that meadow. Maybe it is a narrow hallways. Swords will strike the walls. Sparks will fly. Wind might blow and change the path of arrows. Someone might come and join the fray. Or merely observe.
Opponents are alive too
The enemy has a mind of its own. It feel, sees, thinks and reacts. It can talk. It can ponder. It can use tricks. Even the animals don't always fight fair. The enemy can surrender. He can show mercy. He can show fear. He can run. It can all happen. He has a face. It shows emotions. He can limp. Use your imagination.
Multiple Combatants
Sounds simple, well yes it is. But, I have to be an evil man and make this worse. This works well in single combat. One on one. What happens if you have more than one player and they are on the same side? Or heavens forbid on the opposing sides? Well, there is no true answer to this one. There are suggestions. Ideas that might work.
You could do this the same as any single combat, but with many combatants it will drag on and become boring soon. Old news so to say. So, what can we do to make it faster? It is fairly simple. Focus on one player. Do his opponent in a regular fashion and let the others write their combat in free form. And then assign consequences in your posts. They won't argue much. Then after a few posts, switch focus. Let the other player experience the brutality and horror of combat and let your primary "victim" do a free form combat. It will flow much faster.
But, how to handle a combat between two players? Well, the same as with any other, silly. Only it is much easier. You don't have to think up the moves. They will do it. You just assign the consequences. Nothing could be simpler.
Now, I like to make the combat dark and brutal, because it is not a pretty thing. It can be romanticized and sung about, but in the end someone gets hurt. There is blood. There is death. Show that aspect of combat. Don't let it become simple fun. Show the suffering of the vanquished, the pain and the fear they feel. Make sure the victor knows he just killed someone. Guilt is such a wonderful feeling. It can make the fight memorable. So use it. And don't let them forget it. They will be coming for more if it influences their character.
Using Arrows in large scale Combat
The process of shooting an arrow is very simple. Until you are in a hurry. People under attack are bound to make errors. Fumbled arrows, over-draw (the act of drawing the bow string back to far and the arrow falls off the nock (the little thing that holds the arrow), miscalculation of the targets movement, are all example of archery mistakes.
Archers being rushed by their attackers, are under a lot of pressure, and a time limit. Once an attacker is with in about 30 feet, the archer has time for one more shot before he is going to be overrun. It was common for archers to carry a back up weapon, just in case.
An arrow is a projectile (duh) and as such any alteration to the previous trajectory can cause a miss. Something as small as 1 degree of variation against a target 39 feet (10 meters) away, can cause the arrow to miss by about 1/2 an inch (1.27 cm). Common things to alter trajectory: Wind, Tree leaves, Bushes, Unexpected objects (like shields, people, stray cats jumping through the combat area...)
Another tid bit: Arrows must stabilize after leaving the bow. This varies by bow, but on the average, figure for about 10 feet. Within that space the arrow "wobbles" and is easily diverted from the intended trajectory.
