Question about Actions und using firearms in close combat: Is “Skirmisch” the correct Action for that?
In the first Episode Canter used the “Murder” Action to fire his pistols with splendid results (well done!). I assume that “Murder” was an Action in the early days of the game but is no longer because I cannot find it in the current list of Actions. We have “Skirmish” now for close combat and I assume that the same scene would use that action now, correct?
I ask, because there is a differnt Action (BTW it’s hard not to write “Skill”, but I’m doing fine, thank you), which is “Hunt” which has a reference to shooting weapons. BUT from the description of Hunt I assume it’s more a information/tracking/hitting from distance thing and not close combat.
The way I do it is if the target doesn’t know about the attack, it’s Hunt. That part’s fairly straightforward. Otherwise, I look to how chaotic the situation is:
– Huge gang battle with everyone rushing in, stabbing at each other with gunmen firing at/into the melee? Skirmish for sure.
However, if one shooter takes the time to line up a shot on an enemy who’s maybe focused on a comrade, I would be inclined to say that’s a Hunt action. It’s very situational.
– End fight in Heat, with Pacino and DeNiro at the airport, using darkness and cover to try to get the drop on the other? That’s Hunt too, even though both combatants know the other is there – somewhere.
I wouldn’t penalize the player for wanting to use their better action rating, as long as what they describe in the fiction makes sense for that action. If they’re fishing for a Hunt but describe grabbing pistols out of their brace and firing them wildly like Chow Yun-Fat, then it’s probably not Hunt. Describe what they do first, then assign an action, but it’s okay to be generous.
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Generally I use skirmish if the target is capable of responding to the attack with close violence, and hunt if they’re either too far away or too distracted to respond. If the PC is in melee range with an enemy that isn’t there target I’ll still let them use hunt if they prefer, but their position will be worse and they may even need to resist an attack immediately depending on how deadly the foe is.
Thanks everybody for the input. I will use these criteria to tell them apart. Don’t get me wrong: I’m less about right vs. wrong. I’m more about consistent vs. inconsistent and you helped me a lot. Thanks.
Only tangentially addressing the question, but prowl can be used to ambush in melee from stealth as well.
Good answers, everyone. Like everything in Blades, it’s situational. 🙂
This came up at the end of Ep 7 of the Six Towers game, in fact. We described the difference in the fictional action between Hunt and Skirmish, then Adam picked the one that suited Canter’s intent.