[UA] Combat between PC's

[Kevin Elmore]

> I'm delurking just to introduce me and ask a question.

Greetings.

> 
> I'm 28 years old(from Sweden so you will have to pardon
> my sometimes bad
> english)

Your English is better than what I have to read from the
average American.  But then, comparing anyone to the
average American education isn't very flattering.

> here for 2 months and think this is a great list! Enough
> of my ramblings.

I tell people that they should subscribe to this list even
if they never read or play UA.

> Do you roll the dice or do you let the player write down
> the damage and show
> it to you(kind of time consuming)?

For that, I'd say it depends on the players.  If the
players are mature enough to handle this, then I'm all in
favor of someone rolling the dice, the attacker announcing
the result, and the defender role-playing the agony.  If
not, then the GM may have to handle this.  Since you
brought this up, I suspect that you have some concerns for
a player or two.

How often are your players attacking each other?  If it's a
rare bout here and there, then the time-consuming effort of
writing the information shouldn't be a big deal.  In fact,
you could do all rolls yourself.  You know which skills are
obsession.  If the roll is a failure, the player could ask
you, "Will my rage stimulus make that roll better?"  You
can answer truthfully and let the player decide (or show
him the roll in question).  

If your playes attack each other all the time (Unknown
Paranoia), then you may need to have special screens or
something for them.  Or do all rolls for them.  

One instance I had with player knowledge involved one
character fleeing another.  The attacker said that he was
going for the leg.  He rolled an 11.  The defending player
saw the roll and said, "Oh, that's only 11 points.  I keep
on running."  

That's the kind of attitude I don't want for an UA game.  I
pointed out that even though it was a "piddly" 11 points of
damage, that is still 1/6 of his health, which cannot feel
good.  Even if it were a grazing shot, that still would
make someone gasp and probably stumble.  An aimed shot in
the leg would be even worse. 

He still wasn't buying it.  He figured that 11 points
wasn't a lot of damage.  So I told him that anyone who aims
for a leg with the intent of stopping that person from
running and rolls a matched success pretty much succeeds
with his task.  

So, if you have your players roll in front of the others,
you'll have to keep a somewhat iron fist and tell them that
any damage is apt to be nasty, especially if that damage
comes from your skin being split open by an entropomancer's
blast.  That's where nerves live.  That would probably hurt
more than a puncture wound simply because of the area of
skin being affected.  

If PC combat is rare, then maybe the GM should do some
rolling himself.  That's what I perhaps should have done
during the leg-shooting scene in my game.  

Kevin




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Beavis & Butthead do not cause fires; stupid people do.  Role-playing games do not cause mass cultish suicides; stupid people do.  Homosexuality does not lead to societal and moral decay; stupid people do.  God does not condemn or place false blame on these things; stupid people do.
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