DC3 - Combat. Comments and doubts
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:50 pm
Bona dia!
Following my pleasant reading of the new Conspiracy Rules, I’ve finally arrived to the Combat chapter. For me, it’s always the most expected. I know, I know… the last resource; roleplaying is not only about combat, etc, etc. But it’s Dark Conspiracy, not The Call of Cthulhu. They bleed…well, most of them…
The overall impression is quite good. So, my congratulations to the developers. As usual, it’s the densest part of the game. So, I open this thread to try to solve my doubts and say what I like in this chapter and what I don’t like. Probably, I will go by parts, while reading another time the chapter to make sure I don’t miss anything. Understand that any comment to any rule is a personal opinion born in the deep interest that Conspiracy Rules have aroused in me. As DC fan, I would like to see this new initiative with good health and enjoy it with my playing groups. It’s the first opportunity to speak with the developers of a game I love! I can’t miss it!
1. It’s a suggestion. But I think it’s an important one. I’ve found the structure of the chapter somewhat confusing, especially with compared with the previous chapters. I think that the chapter organization can discourage some future players or referees (especially the new ones), making the rules harder to be understood. Let me explain this. Everything it’s ok until the Fire Combat part. Then, basically, some concepts are introduced before needed while others, more important or more used in a normal DC game, are introduced latter. For example the reader will found an explanation about the penetration of APFSDS before the explanation about the concept of penetration, or he/she will read about a targeted shot before knowing about impact locations or acout that a location roll is needed after an impact. I must read the page 117 about the effects about recoil after have read about rifle scopes, expertise or shotguns. Without reading the recoil paragraph, I cannot have a clear idea about how to solve a simple SA fire action. But before that, all the rules about automatic fire (including those regarding automatics shotguns) have already been introduced. Things like laser pointers or reflex sights could be explained latter. Once all the explanations about the procedures are finished, the reader will understand clearly the consequences of the special equipment.
2. Burst and SA Fire. I like the rules about bursts. A great improvement, from my point of view. In my case, coming from Twilight:2000 v2.2, this will help to give some sense to the automatic fire. Hmmmm… I must be careful in my next gaming session. There will be much more lead flying around! You will see I have some questions and doubts. I think that most of them are due to the organization of the chapter and the way it is written and not due to what the developers had in mind.
2.1 In page 111: “The Aimed Shot allows only one shot in the active phase, but does negate the effects of the Quick-Shot difficulty modifier.” This is somewhat confusing. As per v2.2 T2K rules, I can translate the previous sentence as: “The Aimed Shot allows only the first shot count as aimed in the next active phase following the aiming action, but does negate the effects of the Quick-Shot difficulty modifier in any subsequent shots after the first.” Ok, this is my interpretation. Am I right?
2.2 Following with the aiming action. As written in page 114: “Aiming and called shots are not possible with spray fire.” Taking this, I’ve deduced that aiming is allowed in burst fire. Am I right? This is ok for me. Essentially, there’s not difference between the first shot of a burst or the first shoot in a rapid SA fire sequence. In that case, the advantage of a burst over SA fire in terms of precision would be only in short range, because hit factors of the burst would be reduced beyond that distance.
2.3 The recoil. I like the rule and the effects. One doubt. In SA fire and in burst fire I understand that the increase in the difficulty level are only applied in the shots or burst fired after the recoil exceeds Strenght, not to all the shot or bursts in the combat phase (as in v2.2), I am right? Example: Strenght 4, SS Recoil 3 and the character fires three quick shots in the same combat phase at short range. The first two shots will be Difficult while the third will be Formidable. I like to keep the Recoil Burst of Spray Fire limited to the recoil produced by one single burst. The reduction of hit factors, both for recoil and
2.4 Damage reduced by recoil. This is not necessary. I can’t see any logical reason to do this. If you’ve modified the chances to impact and you have reduced the hit factors (both for recoil and for distance), there’s not any need to reduce the damage due to recoil. I mean, if, as stated in the rules, consider that the damage of a bullet is the same for all the ranges, introducing a rule that reduces the damage in automatic fire due to recoil seems to add an unnecessary exception.
3. Expertise. Great! A little modification with the important result to give a distinctive touch to your character. This is always welcome and woks good with the Fire Combat Rules.
4. Penalty for unskilled characters in Marksmanship. As in the case of damage reduced by recoil, I see it like an unnecessary exception. If you’ve stated that unskilled difficulty shift is -1 level (harder) and using the controller attribute, there’s no point into create an exception in the Fire Combat Rules (-2 difficulty shift). Small arms weapons, like the crossbow before, are the great equalizer. Anybody can, nearly instinctively, aim the end of a stick-shaped weapon, press a trigger and to try to obtain an impact. Sad, I know. But I think that if characters can try other more difficult skills (being unskilled in them) with the -1 shift, it’s unfair and unnecessary to make an exception with any marksmanship skill.
Ok! It’s enough for a post. Have a nice day. My next gaming session will be with the new Conspiracy Rules on January 12!!!
Following my pleasant reading of the new Conspiracy Rules, I’ve finally arrived to the Combat chapter. For me, it’s always the most expected. I know, I know… the last resource; roleplaying is not only about combat, etc, etc. But it’s Dark Conspiracy, not The Call of Cthulhu. They bleed…well, most of them…
The overall impression is quite good. So, my congratulations to the developers. As usual, it’s the densest part of the game. So, I open this thread to try to solve my doubts and say what I like in this chapter and what I don’t like. Probably, I will go by parts, while reading another time the chapter to make sure I don’t miss anything. Understand that any comment to any rule is a personal opinion born in the deep interest that Conspiracy Rules have aroused in me. As DC fan, I would like to see this new initiative with good health and enjoy it with my playing groups. It’s the first opportunity to speak with the developers of a game I love! I can’t miss it!
1. It’s a suggestion. But I think it’s an important one. I’ve found the structure of the chapter somewhat confusing, especially with compared with the previous chapters. I think that the chapter organization can discourage some future players or referees (especially the new ones), making the rules harder to be understood. Let me explain this. Everything it’s ok until the Fire Combat part. Then, basically, some concepts are introduced before needed while others, more important or more used in a normal DC game, are introduced latter. For example the reader will found an explanation about the penetration of APFSDS before the explanation about the concept of penetration, or he/she will read about a targeted shot before knowing about impact locations or acout that a location roll is needed after an impact. I must read the page 117 about the effects about recoil after have read about rifle scopes, expertise or shotguns. Without reading the recoil paragraph, I cannot have a clear idea about how to solve a simple SA fire action. But before that, all the rules about automatic fire (including those regarding automatics shotguns) have already been introduced. Things like laser pointers or reflex sights could be explained latter. Once all the explanations about the procedures are finished, the reader will understand clearly the consequences of the special equipment.
2. Burst and SA Fire. I like the rules about bursts. A great improvement, from my point of view. In my case, coming from Twilight:2000 v2.2, this will help to give some sense to the automatic fire. Hmmmm… I must be careful in my next gaming session. There will be much more lead flying around! You will see I have some questions and doubts. I think that most of them are due to the organization of the chapter and the way it is written and not due to what the developers had in mind.
2.1 In page 111: “The Aimed Shot allows only one shot in the active phase, but does negate the effects of the Quick-Shot difficulty modifier.” This is somewhat confusing. As per v2.2 T2K rules, I can translate the previous sentence as: “The Aimed Shot allows only the first shot count as aimed in the next active phase following the aiming action, but does negate the effects of the Quick-Shot difficulty modifier in any subsequent shots after the first.” Ok, this is my interpretation. Am I right?
2.2 Following with the aiming action. As written in page 114: “Aiming and called shots are not possible with spray fire.” Taking this, I’ve deduced that aiming is allowed in burst fire. Am I right? This is ok for me. Essentially, there’s not difference between the first shot of a burst or the first shoot in a rapid SA fire sequence. In that case, the advantage of a burst over SA fire in terms of precision would be only in short range, because hit factors of the burst would be reduced beyond that distance.
2.3 The recoil. I like the rule and the effects. One doubt. In SA fire and in burst fire I understand that the increase in the difficulty level are only applied in the shots or burst fired after the recoil exceeds Strenght, not to all the shot or bursts in the combat phase (as in v2.2), I am right? Example: Strenght 4, SS Recoil 3 and the character fires three quick shots in the same combat phase at short range. The first two shots will be Difficult while the third will be Formidable. I like to keep the Recoil Burst of Spray Fire limited to the recoil produced by one single burst. The reduction of hit factors, both for recoil and
2.4 Damage reduced by recoil. This is not necessary. I can’t see any logical reason to do this. If you’ve modified the chances to impact and you have reduced the hit factors (both for recoil and for distance), there’s not any need to reduce the damage due to recoil. I mean, if, as stated in the rules, consider that the damage of a bullet is the same for all the ranges, introducing a rule that reduces the damage in automatic fire due to recoil seems to add an unnecessary exception.
3. Expertise. Great! A little modification with the important result to give a distinctive touch to your character. This is always welcome and woks good with the Fire Combat Rules.
4. Penalty for unskilled characters in Marksmanship. As in the case of damage reduced by recoil, I see it like an unnecessary exception. If you’ve stated that unskilled difficulty shift is -1 level (harder) and using the controller attribute, there’s no point into create an exception in the Fire Combat Rules (-2 difficulty shift). Small arms weapons, like the crossbow before, are the great equalizer. Anybody can, nearly instinctively, aim the end of a stick-shaped weapon, press a trigger and to try to obtain an impact. Sad, I know. But I think that if characters can try other more difficult skills (being unskilled in them) with the -1 shift, it’s unfair and unnecessary to make an exception with any marksmanship skill.
Ok! It’s enough for a post. Have a nice day. My next gaming session will be with the new Conspiracy Rules on January 12!!!