I’m playing a game with my moderators and one is really trying to wrangle most of his gun attacks into Hunt, when…

I’m playing a game with my moderators and one is really trying to wrangle most of his gun attacks into Hunt, when…

I’m playing a game with my moderators and one is really trying to wrangle most of his gun attacks into Hunt, when some feel more like Skirmish?

Can y’all help me sort out what’s what?

11 thoughts on “I’m playing a game with my moderators and one is really trying to wrangle most of his gun attacks into Hunt, when…”

  1. In addition to precision from a distance, hunt could also include being unnoticed (so the target doesn’t hide) and being immobile. Choosing to be immobile for an action could make it harder to chase a target, make the player an easier target or increase the harm.

  3. If he’s ‘hunting’ in the midst of a battle, it sounds like he is taking his time, lining up his shots etc. It’s the players call what action they take, but I’d call this sort of thing desperate most of the time. If he were paying more attention to the skirmish around him, things might be safer.

  4. Well, the thing is, “from a distance” can be taken literally or idiomatically. If it’s literal, then potentially, precision shooting from any distance could be Hunt. Whereas the idiomatic usage is generally, a far distance. I took it as the latter, but I think it’s up for interpretation. I can see an argument for saying “I shoot him” being Skirmish with “I shoot his hand” being Hunt.

    An addition to what Dan Hall says: you can call Daring : Limited Effect if they try to take the latter shot in close-quarters, still rolling Hunt. Only when they describe pausing and precisely taking aim do you call Desperate : Standard Effect.

    Personally, I hadn’t really thought of this little nuance until now, and seeing as the Desperate rolls are more punishing now, I’m more inclined to let my Hound do this.

  5. To me, Hunt reads like it’s shooting people from ambush/flanking, sneaking up on people and popping them, tracking them through a crowd before jamming a barrel against the back of their head. Hunt is what Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino are doing at the end of Heat.

    Skirmish is what they’re doing in the middle of Heat, with the cops and the assault rifles and the bullets everywhere.

  6. Rereading these, I see:

    Hunt… precision shooting from a distance.

    Skirmish with an opponent in close combat…

    So, Hunt seems to have two prerequisites: distance and precision. I would say precision would require both the time and relative safety as fictional prerequisites.

    Are you initiating combat from a distance via sniping or ambush? Are you far enough away from the action that no one is going to close with you? Are you defended in some way so you don’t have dodge or hide from incoming fire? Great, you’re Hunting.

    Once the you’re taking incoming fire, or close enough for someone else to punch, kick, stab or otherwise do you harm, I’d say you’ve moved from Hunt to Skirmish.

    Even if the PC starts with the distance, time and safety necessary to attack precisely via Hunt, removing one or more of those fictional prerequisites would seem a good complication to introduce on partial success.

  8. Good answers, everyone. Lowering position and/or effect when something seems like s stretch is generally good form.

    But, also: it’s probably fine if he uses Hunt for all kinds of shooting combat. There’s a gray area where Skirmish and Hunt overlap, by design. Just don’t use Skirmish to snipe a dude and don’t use Hunt to fight off the guy wrestling you to the ground.

  9. C’mon Adam, you KNOW that when they wrangle for Hunt you will entice them with the best darn ‘long range sniper caught in a fracas’ type DB’s this side of an apoc’ world game.

    Let them serve up their best dice pool, but when they fail at roll playing and the dice turn up nix – You can hit them with as many consequences as you like. At Desperate, that is quite a bunch.

  10. My Hound and I have agreed that he can Hunt a target that is at long range. At short range, he can Hunt if his target and his target’s allies are not in a position to immediately retaliate against him (if the enemies are unaware or being ‘tanked’ by someone else for instance). If he’s in immediate physical danger from an enemy than he’s skirmishing.

    That said, we came upon these rules by reading the rules AND watching Cantor rolling skirmish with his pistols in the Black Towers Gang games. Ultimately you and I may share a similar bias Adam.

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