Gritty Combat for Classic Traveller

[Supplement Four]

Take a look at the Gritty Combat rules I've created for the James Bond rpg, starting in Post #40 of this thread: http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=15274&page=4



The 007 rpg is highly suited for this style of game, and those rules were easy to create. CT is a little bit of a different animal, but I've got some ideas for bringing this type of HTH combat to the game.

I didn't want to go off half-cocked and write a bunch of verbage if no one is interested in a CT version of Gritty Combat. But, if you want to discuss it, I'll start laying out some of my ideas (Ideas I probably won't use in my own game but could be useful for a GM who was interested in using Gritty Combat in their Trav games).

 

[Mithras]

I'm always up for gritty combat.

As I think I've already said in another thread, I favour ignoring any positive DM's for armour; and I used to apply the full rolled damage to a random characteristic (though in my current game, I'm 'by the book').

 

[Supplement Four]

Well, first off, you'd need a shorter HTH combat round to bring Gritty Combat to CT. CT has a 15 second combat round. I'd use that for gun combat, but when brawling combat occurred, I'd got to a five second combat round (so, you'd have 3 HTH combat rounds to one gun combat round).

The reason for this is that both attacker and defender do not get an opportunity to attack using Gritty Combat. Only the character with the "Advantage" can attack. The dis-advantaged character is defending only. So, you need a short combat round so that one character doesn't un-realisticlly get all the punches in while the defender gets none.



Second, you'd need to figure some throw for the defense throw. And, this throw needs to be based on the attack throw--but not be super hard to achieve. The reason is that the only way to get the Advantage is to successfully make a defense throw. Otherwise, the attacker keeps the Advantage.

To make the defense throw based on the attack throw, the target number of the defense throw will be the total of the attack throw.

In other words: Follow normal CT attack procedure. An 8+, plus or minus normal modifiers, is a hit. Whatever the total of this throw is what the defender will have to throw in order to make a successful defense.

So, if the attack throw is a failure at a total of 4, then the defender needs to throw 4+ to make a successful defense throw and gain the Advantage.

If the attack throw is a whopping 11, then the defender needs to throw an 11+ in order to successfully defend against the attack.

Care needs to be taken to ensure that it's not too difficult to defend. If it is too difficult, then what you'll have is a lot of one sided fights where the defender never gets a punch in.



That's basically it. Have a shorter combat round (2 second rounds work nicely with Gritty Combat, but 5 seconds is fine and fits Classic Traveller better). And, base the defense throw on the outcome of the attack throw.

If it is decided that it is too difficulty to defend, then steps can be made to make the defense roll a bit easier. I wouldn't duplicate using any modifiers already considered in the attack throw (Brawling skill, for example). But, you could do things like: If doubles are thrown, then they are kept, the dice are re-rolled and summed--always re-rolling doubles.

Or this: The defense roll is thrown by throwing 2D plus a number of dice equal to the defender's skill level. Thus, a character with Brawling-2 would throw 4D. To make the defense roll, throw the 4D and take the best two results for the defense.

I'm sure one could come up with other ways to adjust the defense roll if it is found the defense roll is too hard to make. But, remember, the easier it is to defend, the longer fights will become.





The HTH Combat Round will flow just like it does in the 007 Gritty Combat rules:

1. The Advantaged character can attack.

2. Regardless if the attack is a success or not, the defender is allowed a Defense roll, and the Defense roll is based on the total of the attack throw.

3. If the Defense roll is a success, the attack is considered a "miss" (even if a successful attack was thrown) and the Defender has wrestled the Advantage from his opponent. The Defender becomes the attacker, and the attacker becomes the defender.

If the Defense roll is a failure, regardless if the attack was a success or not, then the Advantage stays with the attacker.

4. Attackers describe exactly what their characters are doing to make the attack. Defenders describe exactly what their characters are doing to avoid the attack. And, the GM will sometimes impose modifiers on the fight based on the action as it occurs.



Quickie Example:

Gvoudzon, the Vargr Corsair, springs out of the darkness to attack Piter, the March Harrier's engineer. Given the circumstances, Gvoudzon has the Advantage.

Round 1: Gvoudzon throws an Infighting attack, rolling a total, with modifiers, of 9. It's a hit.

Piter rolls his defense. He has to roll 9+ to successfully defend. He does it, rolling a 9 exactly.

Gvoudzon missed, and Piter now has the Advantage.

Round 2: Since Piter is now advantaged, he may attack. He throws to hit, rolling a total of 6. It's a miss.

Gvoudzon still gets to defend, and his target is a throw of 6+. Gvoudzon does it, throwing a 7.

Round 3: Gvoudzon is now advantaged again. He rolls his hit, getting lucky, rolling an 11.

Piter goes to defend, but only throws an 8. This means that Gvoudzon's attack was not blocked. Gvoudzon rolls damage on Piter.



Note, since we're using 5 second HTH combat, any gun combat for the next round would be completed at this time (every 3 rounds).



Round 4: Gvoudzon still has the Advantage, so he attacks, rolling an 8.

Piter defends, rolling a 9. Gvoudzon's attack is blocked, and Piter now has the advantage.

Round 5: Piter attacks...





I've just focussed on the mechanics here, but the heart of Gritty Combat is the player's description of what his character is actually doing. Gritty Combat makes the HTH contest much less abstract. Players visualize exactly what happens.

The reason I developed Gritty Combat was because rpg combat typically did not give the feel of watching James Bond fight in the new Casino Royale movie. I'm going to run a Bond game, and I don't want your standard roll-dice-did-I-hit system. I wanted it to be breath-taking and cinematic. Remember that fight Bond has in the stair well? Or the flashbacks to the bathroom fight at the beginning of the film? I wanted THAT kind of feeling in my game. The descriptions and give-n-take-playing-off-each-other that comes with the players describing exactly what their characters are doing is what brings that rough and gritty atmosphere to the game.

In a normal game, it's you swing, then I'll swing, and one of us will eventually drop. With Gritty Combat, it becomes...

"He's got you in a bear lock. You can't move your arms. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to bite his ear off!"

Like I said, this is Gritty Combat.

 

[atpollard]

Well, first off, you'd need a shorter HTH combat round to bring Gritty Combat to CT. CT has a 15 second combat round. I'd use that for gun combat, but when brawling combat occurred, I'd got to a five second combat round (so, you'd have 3 HTH combat rounds to one gun combat round).

I see some potential for problems here.
In a bar room brawl, I draw my colt 45 and you land 6 punches in the time it takes for me to squeeze off two shots.

Does that sound right?

 

[Supplement Four]

I see some potential for problems here.
In a bar room brawl, I draw my colt 45 and you land 6 punches in the time it takes for me to squeeze off two shots.

Does that sound right?

It sounds OK to me. What I presented above were the broad strokes--not a complete "do-it-like-this" system.

As I mention above, I'd do fire combat first.

If Kyle with the colt 45 is across the room, and a bar brawl breaks out, we're in regular CT 15 second combat rounds.

Now, when the focus moves to the HTH combat, we go into the 5 second rounds.

If Kyle is trying to fire at someone in HTH combat with Kyle's crewmate--it ain't that easy to do. Picture in your head the fight scene in the bathroom at the beginning of Casino Royal. You're trying to hit the dude that Bond is fighting--but you don't want to hit Bond.

That'd be hard to do, so I can see one shot every three combat rounds.



Now, your comment above seems to speak to a brawler attacking a character with a handgun. Well, when the brawler is moving towards Kyle we're in regular 15 second combat rounds. Once the brawler is in actual HTH combat with Kyle, we go to the 5 second rounds.

Remember that Kyle is in a HTH fight! He's not just standing still and aiming. This other guy is going at him, hard. The handgun is almost useless in this instance.

Of course, there's nothing to say that the GM won't rule that Kyle can fire his handgun, in this example, once per 5 second round rather than once per 15 second combat round. Faced with that, though, the player of the brawler, in describing his action, would probably say something like, "I'm going to grab his gun arm and keep the end of the barrel pointed away from me."

This would be less a punch-punch than it would be a struggle for the gun.

And, don't forget the Panic Fire rule. Kyle could get three attacks with his gun at a -2 DM to hit as the brawler approaches (at short range, with the CT DMs...this could be very deadly, and chances are HTH combat would never occur).

Oh, and it wouldn't be 6 punches to one shot as you state above. It'd be 3 punches to one shot--but the shot would most likely go first.




I don't think there would be a problem with the two combat scales--a GM woud just have to work out the kinks if the wanted to use the Gritty Combat system.

You're welcome to point out an example, though, where you don't think it'd work. I'll take a look at it, and we'll see if we can come up with something.