Last visit was: It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:34 am


All times are UTC - 5 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Complexity
PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 10:08 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:25 am
Posts: 573
Location: Dallas, TX
I'm curious about the mechanical logic behind weapon complexity. What purpose does it serve? To push players towards specific weapons? To soak up a few extra ranks in the characters' melee skill?

Sorry, my players have been grumbling a bit. And frankly, it seems like an extra layer of complexity that doesn't serve much purpose. What would the game lose if you dropped complexity altogether? It's not as though you need it for minions. And, as one of my players put it, no matter how good you get at a weapon, you always have to deal with complexity.

Tom

_________________
...and a Brace of Pistols
a blog dedicated to swashbuckling, fantasy and horror gaming

Witch Hunter: The Invisible World Unofficial Home on Google+


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 10:47 pm 

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 12:48 pm
Posts: 214
Blusponge wrote:
I'm curious about the mechanical logic behind weapon complexity. What purpose does it serve? To push players towards specific weapons? To soak up a few extra ranks in the characters' melee skill?

Sorry, my players have been grumbling a bit. And frankly, it seems like an extra layer of complexity that doesn't serve much purpose. What would the game lose if you dropped complexity altogether? It's not as though you need it for minions. And, as one of my players put it, no matter how good you get at a weapon, you always have to deal with complexity.

Tom


It is a game for an era with lighter weapons, things that will be 0 or 1. If you are playing at home, take it out and see how it your players react.


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 6:06 am 
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:25 am
Posts: 573
Location: Dallas, TX
PCI Eric wrote:
It is a game for an era with lighter weapons, things that will be 0 or 1. If you are playing at home, take it out and see how it your players react.


So it's primary function is to drive weapon choice then? I don't like to just stripe things from the game without knowing their underlying purpose or function. It's obvious that complexity-at least in part-is to put a drawback into larger, heavier weapons. I don't have a problem with that as such. Since we play over a VTT, the math is taken care of in the background.

I may bring in Attack Affinity as a Basic Talent, though, and link it to Attack Focus. Seems a bit of an investment to have to spend 200 SP just to knock down the complexity of your weapon. I'd just wrap it into Attack Focus, but that seems almost too powerful.

Another option might be to ditch the rule about needing a talent to specialize in a weapon, and essentially switch the descriptions of Attack Focus and Attack Acuity.

Hmmm...

Tom

_________________
...and a Brace of Pistols
a blog dedicated to swashbuckling, fantasy and horror gaming

Witch Hunter: The Invisible World Unofficial Home on Google+


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 11:22 am 

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 12:48 pm
Posts: 214
My playtest showed, without complexity, the game was the big ass sword game.


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 1:39 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:25 am
Posts: 573
Location: Dallas, TX
PCI Eric wrote:
My playtest showed, without complexity, the game was the big ass sword game.


That's my concern, and why I'm hesitant to get rid of complexity as a whole. That's why I wanted to get a bit more info as to the logic behind the mechanic. Right now, I'm far more inclined to make it easier for players to reduce complexity in limited ways. However, I need to make sure I don't break something if I do that.

Right now, here's my thinking for my home game:
Dump the rule about needing Attack Focus to specialize in a weapon. This makes things a bit more internally consistent (to my mind anyway-fighting styles and soccer ours traditions remain as is). I think this will help give the game a bit more of a cinematic feel.

Attack focus essentially becomes Attack Acuity. Whether it stays a basic talent or gets moved up to a greater talent, I'm not sure. It gets dropped as a prerequisite (or replaced).

This is all half formed ideas. Too much going on around here during the weekend to really puzzle it out.

_________________
...and a Brace of Pistols
a blog dedicated to swashbuckling, fantasy and horror gaming

Witch Hunter: The Invisible World Unofficial Home on Google+


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 9:11 pm 

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 12:48 pm
Posts: 214
Every rule was revisited, and Complexity was on the chopping block, but we just flattened it. 0, 1, or 2 (instead of going all the way to 4 like it once did) after playing without it.


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:17 am 
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:25 am
Posts: 573
Location: Dallas, TX
PCI Eric wrote:
Every rule was revisited, and Complexity was on the chopping block, but we just flattened it. 0, 1, or 2 (instead of going all the way to 4 like it once did) after playing without it.


I noticed that, and its one of the reasons I feel my solution may be right for my game.

The player with the biggest issue, I should point out, has Attack Focus in bow and really wonders how a simple long bow is more complicated than a crossbow, a musket or a pistol even though bows are only marginally better than a pistol statistically. Even I'm left scratching my head at that one (bows in 1st Ed had a complexity of 3, so I see how the new figure was arrived at, but not why it was so high to begin with).

I suppose I could always rejigger the complexities of the ranged weapons on top of this.

But ultimately, I'm thinking my tweak up thread will have the least ripple effect.

Tom

_________________
...and a Brace of Pistols
a blog dedicated to swashbuckling, fantasy and horror gaming

Witch Hunter: The Invisible World Unofficial Home on Google+


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:23 am 
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 10:40 am
Posts: 2046
Crossbows are very easy to use and were the weapon of choice for untrained militia. Longbows were a much more difficult weapon to master and required a lot of training, which made those who were skilled very sought after.

Same for muskets, they were pretty standard faire and easy to use in the time period.

John

_________________
- John Bellando

Kelb'Bakari Masalio, Dark-kin Altherian Corsair, Gentleman Archaeologist, and Wandering Bard
"The highest compliment an Altherian can pay you is to shoot you with his flintlock. It means you were worth the expense."


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 3:35 pm 

Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 12:48 pm
Posts: 214
It takes years to properly train a Longbowman.


Top
Offline Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Complexity
PostPosted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 3:54 pm 

Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 10:48 pm
Posts: 56
The trouble then is that all PCs who use longbows are effectively untrained. There's no way to reduce that complexity, even via talent.

I've also read that longbows have substantially longer range than crossbows, but that wasn't from a source I can recall, so take it with a grain of salt.


Top
Offline Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ]  Moderators: james.zwiers, PCI Eric Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
Theme created StylerBB.net & kodeki