Hello. Just getting into this game after backing it years ago, and I’m absolutely loving it. I quite enjoy the fact that the game is so open ended, but that always leads to questions I need answered. After perusing this community, I’ve managed to learn almost as much as the books themselves have given me. There is still one question that has eluded me:
How do you handle combat against multiple opponents? I get the feeling that the game is meant to be based on a ‘single roll’ concept, where one roll dictates an entire action/encounter. However, I can’t imagine that a player who stacks advantages and manages to roll a 6 on skirmish can somehow take out half a dozen guards, or even an entire room full of them if they somehow manage to fail hard enough to get into that kind of situation.
How do you guys handle this? The closest thing I see is the use of a clock with multiple turns, which will quickly burn through the PC’s stress. And how would it work if the room full of people have a sniper on the rafters, or brings backup?
Anyway, I appreciate any answers in advanced. Absolutely loving this game and watching as many podcasts/youtube vids as possible to get a good handle on the rules. So very different from games like D&D or Call of Cthulhu. I’m slowly getting addicted.
First off, how many rolls you want to do for a combat depends a lot on how much focus you want to put upon it. But in general, I would definitely make it a clock to overcome them, and not handle it with a single roll (unless the goal is to escape).
Fighting multiple opponents is dangerous. Plus, there’s the matter of relative quality/ tier difference to consider. For assessing effect, as a baseline, 6 people is scale I, a single scoundrel is scale 0, so that’s limited effect right there.
If it’s just 1 PC in a room fighting half a dozen guards, and they really want to take them out… that’s a terrible place to find yourself in. Desperate position, limited effect. Better be prepared to burn some stress to get out of this alive.
Using a clock is a good idea for complex obstacles like “defeating a gang.” You’ll evaluate Position based on what Action is being used, and Effect based on Quality, Potency, and Scale (explosive are Potent against a group, and might even render scale irrelevant, etc) and treat it as normal: you’ll roll to fight these guys, describing everything along the way, and you’ll mark a clock to tally how well or how badly you’re doing.
I explain it like this (that you’re just using the clock to keep track) because it answers your second question: if there’s a sniper on the rafters, then they’re probably shooting you, and it’s probably completely unrelated to the mob you’re fighting. If you don’t address them somehow, you’re going to probably get shot while fighting. Possibly a bunch. It will also affect your Positioning, no doubt. Depending on how well they’re hidden, it might be a Complex Obstacle (a clock!) to find them and shoot back.
I suggest watching John GM the Bloodletters on his youtube channel or the Last Word on Rollplay and you’ll see a lot of examples of this sort of thing.
I’m already watching Jon’s channel. It’s absolutely brilliant.