Hello Everyone.
I’m wondering how to create “stats” for enemies when all-out battle happens. I know it’s contingent on different factors like armor, tier, weapons, but I’m not sure how to put it together.
I have a group of Tier 0’s going up against a small squad of Tier III Silver Nails, so any advice you can share would be great! Thanks!!
Not to dismiss your question, but my $.02 as a BitD GM of 12-ish sessions is “don’t”.
Keep the Tier updated on the faction sheet, and use the Tier as a general indicator of quality. Let the fiction handle the rest.
Tier 0 gang battle with intent to kill (btw, that’s not normally the intent of a gang battle, but let’s go with it) w/ Tier III, Limited (or No depending on the flavor of your game) effect, Risky (or Desparate depending on the flavor) positioning.
I would use Desparate/No effect, and steer the players towards having to set up flashbacks, or attaining gear to fight this larger gang. In my flavor, 2-4 PCs shouldn’t be able to have much affect (combat/killing/bribes) on a much larger gang like a Tier 3.
1. What are most of them armed with? Are they all armed like that? What are the obvious strengths/weaknesses of their most common weapons?
2. As above but for armor.
3. As above but for how they fight.
The goal of all this is to give you some base information so you can quickly establish position and effect when a player says “I do X.” If a PC declares they’re going to use Tempest to shoot lightning you’ll know whether they form up in squads or shield walls or spread out.
Finally, you need to decide how you’re going to represent the vast difference in tier. By the rules you are completely justified in saying that every roll starts at no effect — which is fine! There are plenty of ways for PCs to boost effect. However, if you don’t want to do that you could instead start rolls at standard effect but give each enemy a 4-8 box clock. This will ultimately have a similar result but will flavor it differently.
I should mention that as Chris said I don’t actually do any of that in advance. Those are just the things I have in mind when we enter combat.
I really appreciate it, guys. I will keep these notes as I prep for this weekend. Thanks!
So, yes, they’re assassins. They’ve been hired by the Spirit Wardens to go out into the Lost District and eliminate a sect of Silver Nails. I thought of having 3-5 Silver Nails and some cronies who do the heavy lifting while they loot a certain small block of houses. And that’s the majority of what I have so far.