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garhkal
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 Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 3:23 pm Post subject: |
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And with the randomness of dice (Especially with the wild die), the more rolls you have, the more likely you are to get at least one or two being a hit against PCs.
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Whill
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garhkal
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| Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 1:52 am Post subject: |
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I've had quite a few. Heck i had an instant 'double kill' from a box standard AT_ST pilot shooting the grenade launcher on the side, at someone. Damage over soak (even after he popped off 5cp) was 30 over, all cause of great rolls on my side (no die lower than 4) and nothing over a 2 on his die (even the wild and CP die)..
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Zarm R'keeg
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Joined: 14 Apr 2012
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Location: PA
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| Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 8:32 am Post subject: |
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| Whill wrote: | | As GM, I can't recall any of my PCs ever being mortally wounded or killed by a lucky stormtrooper shot, but tons of wounds, and a handful of incapacitated results for sure. |
Wow. Lucky players. I've had two head-shot incapacitations, 2 deaths*, and 1 would-have-been-death-but-went-for-maiming-loss-of-arm-instead.
*To be fair, the first guy just chose not to dodge, and the second guy was picked up by another player, thus immobilizing him; if he'd still been able to dodge, the pursuing Stormies probably would've missed.
Actually, the maiming might have been a non-dodge choice as well. So, this could speak more to my players making poor choices than to Stormtrooper skill...
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garhkal
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| Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2015 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Over the years, i have had quite a few incaps, and mortal wounds from stormies.. I would say in the 50-60 number, where as deaths are closer to a dozen to a score..
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Whill
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| Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | Over the years, i have had quite a few incaps, and mortal wounds from stormies.. I would say in the 50-60 number, where as deaths are closer to a dozen to a score.. |
If there were mortally wounded results, the PCs didn't end up dying. I have had plenty of PCs die in my game, but just not instantly killed by stormtroopers. I even fudged a result or two, because dying by lucky stormtrooper shot is just so anti-climactic.
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Pel
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Joined: 10 May 2006
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Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 12:33 am Post subject: |
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We've had a few PC deaths over the years, but only one to stormies (one player ended up as a drooling vegetable when we tackled a Derriphan, but she's technically not dead).
Mixing up your adversaries is great and necessary to keeping a robust game, as everyone has mentioned, but I'd like to expand on Stormtroopers:
Han & the Gang are galaxy-class heroes but they run when faced with the Empire's faceless minions. Why? Because the Heroes of Yavin know there are never just a "few" Stormtroopers, and more than a few can be decidedly lethal. There've been some great articles about ultilizing stormies' full aresenal, including combined fire, smoke grenades & MFTAS, thermal detonators, and their ability to call in support ranging from simple reinforcements to orbital bombardment.
Mix & match to your heart's content to deepen your bench and keep the players running for their lives. It's just more exciting that way! 
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garhkal
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 1:29 am Post subject: |
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| Whill wrote: | | garhkal wrote: | | Over the years, i have had quite a few incaps, and mortal wounds from stormies.. I would say in the 50-60 number, where as deaths are closer to a dozen to a score.. |
If there were mortally wounded results, the PCs didn't end up dying. I have had plenty of PCs die in my game, but just not instantly killed by stormtroopers. I even fudged a result or two, because dying by lucky stormtrooper shot is just so anti-climactic. |
Since stormtroopers are 'supposed to represent the best the imperials' have to offer, why would it be considered so "Anti-climatic" to have one kill a PC? I have never understood that. If they can't kill, why not just give them all Stun only weaponry.
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Whill
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 2:27 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | Whill wrote: | | garhkal wrote: | | Over the years, i have had quite a few incaps, and mortal wounds from stormies.. I would say in the 50-60 number, where as deaths are closer to a dozen to a score.. |
If there were mortally wounded results, the PCs didn't end up dying. I have had plenty of PCs die in my game, but just not instantly killed by stormtroopers. I even fudged a result or two, because dying by lucky stormtrooper shot is just so anticlimactic. |
Since stormtroopers are 'supposed to represent the best the imperials' have to offer, why would it be considered so "Anti-climatic" to have one kill a PC? I have never understood that. If they can't kill, why not just give them all Stun only weaponry. |
And as far as the 'stormtroopers are supposed to represent the best' comment, that has been discussed in great depth at this forum. What stormtroopers are supposed to be, and what they really are, are sometimes two different things. I have stormtroopers of varying quality, so some are good but a lot of them are mooks. But the Empire isn't going to tell anyone that so of course they are going to describe them all as elite.
You can't be wounded, incapacitated or mortally wounded by a stun-only weapons. I never said stormtroopers have only ever stunned my PCs. If stormtroopers only had stun weapons, fighting them just wouldn't be that exciting. And wouldn't it have been anticlimactic if a film hero had been killed by a stormtrooper? RPGs are group-created stories so do have dramatic concerns too.
I remember I once had a PC get killed by a mook by the rolls, in the very opening of the adventure. It was terrible. So I fudged and saved him for the moment, then during a break I pulled the player aside and told him that his PC should have died so was living on borrowed time, so we could have a death that better served the story. When it came time for the group's final confrontation with a group of bounty hunters, I intentionally beefed the opposition up to let the PC have a really good moment. When the chips were down, the player embraced his PC's destiny and heroically sacrificed his life (and even a hero's burial) by charging into the bad guys with a grenade in each hand, blowing himself and the hunters up and allowing his teammates to escape the planet. A much better story than getting killed by a mook at the beginning of the adventure.
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cynanbloodbane
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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Ohoo, I like that Whill!
I may just be instituting a "Borrowed Time" rule from here on out.
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Whill
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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| cynanbloodbane wrote: | Ohoo, I like that Whill!
I may just be instituting a "Borrowed Time" rule from here on out. |
It all boils down to what you want out of your game. If you want a strictly by the numbers game where the excitement is primarily based on any character can die at any moment, then you can have that. I view the most important aspect of roleplaying being the group co-creates an entertaining story. Giving a PC a little borrowed time doesn't wreck the PC mortality/reality aspect because any PC can still die. But borrowed time can make it a better adventure for all in the end.
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Pel
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Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Whill wrote: | | Giving a PC a little borrowed time doesn't wreck the PC mortality/reality aspect because any PC can still die. But borrowed time can make it a better adventure for all in the end. |
Very well said. Tip of the hat and queue the applause!
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garhkal
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| Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| Whill wrote: | | cynanbloodbane wrote: | Ohoo, I like that Whill!
I may just be instituting a "Borrowed Time" rule from here on out. |
It all boils down to what you want out of your game. If you want a strictly by the numbers game where the excitement is primarily based on any character can die at any moment, then you can have that. I view the most important aspect of roleplaying being the group co-creates an entertaining story. Giving a PC a little borrowed time doesn't wreck the PC mortality/reality aspect because any PC can still die. But borrowed time can make it a better adventure for all in the end. |
TO me though, if you are more 'telling a story', why bother rolling the die? Just decide what happens and when.
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Whill
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| Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | Whill wrote: | | cynanbloodbane wrote: | Ohoo, I like that Whill!
I may just be instituting a "Borrowed Time" rule from here on out. |
It all boils down to what you want out of your game. If you want a strictly by the numbers game where the excitement is primarily based on any character can die at any moment, then you can have that. I view the most important aspect of roleplaying being the group co-creates an entertaining story. Giving a PC a little borrowed time doesn't wreck the PC mortality/reality aspect because any PC can still die. But borrowed time can make it a better adventure for all in the end. |
if you are more 'telling a story', why bother rolling the die? Just decide what happens and when. |
You obviously fall into the former category of GMs I mentioned. To you, GMs are just mere judges who administer the rules but feel the game mechanics are totally self-propelling of the narrative - Rules are absolute and supreme to you. You've stated before that you don't approve of fudging, even for the sake of the story. I'm not sure if you just want to antagonize, but I do acknowledge and respect your preference for rollplaying games.
I do not look down from my throne and dictate a linear story to my players. That's not roleplaying. Roleplaying is interactive. And there is a huge difference between my game and even a campfire story where everyone in the group just tells part of the story and then it passes to the next person in the circle who picks up the narrative and tells more of it.
The purpose of rules and rolling dice in RPGs is to make the simulated universe operationally functional. The game mechanics are a necessary basis of the game, but the rules and dice rolling are not supreme. Ultimately, the GM is supreme. RAW says that GM rulings are final. You don't have to do it, but RAW tells GMs they can disregard rules that get in the way of telling a good story. You don't have to do it, but RAW also tells GMs they can fudge, as long as they fudge fairly. A good GM knows when to disregard the rules and fudge. I'm not making this stuff up. Look it up - It's all right there is Chapters 3 and 4 of R&E. So if you want to argue, I'm just going by RAW so don't argue with me. If you disagree with RAW, go argue with the creators and writers of the game that you think it should have been written differently.
And is it really being unfair to the rest of the players if a PC gets killed by a mook at the beginning of the adventure and gets his life "extended" only to the end of that same adventure? It would only be unfair if you didn't do the same thing for the other PCs. In my example above, the other players were shocked when the one player used his PC's last Force Point and sacrificed the PC's life for the sake of his team's lives and success of the mission, and it translated into realistic emotional reactions of the other PCs. It was heroic and epic - It was so Star Wars. After the adventure was over, the player and I came clean to the group about the 'borrowed time.' No one expressed any sort of grievance about me letting the PC live longer, not even later in private. All the players (including the one whose PC died) all raved about how fun the adventure had been. RAW's stated role of the GM fulfilled. Mission accomplished.
If you can't tell the difference between that and writing Star Wars fan fiction, then there's nothing I can say to make you understand the difference. But don't tell me I shouldn't have fudged one single damage roll for the sake of everyone's fun that night. I'm not telling you how to run your games.
And to top it off, it wasn't planned on being the end of the campaign at the time, but it ended up being the last adventure (there were a couple spin-off campaigns with only some of the players though). In retrospect, the fudging of that one roll in that one adventure made it a better campaign because of the heightened level of drama and climactic ending. And the player whose PC died made a new character he liked better for the sequel mini-campaign he played in. It was win-win-win-win-win-win.
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Whill
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| Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | stormtroopers are 'supposed to represent the best the imperials' have to offer |
But the proof is the in blue milk pudding: Every Stormtrooper Shot Fired in Star Wars
I think Alderaan is giving them one extra shot in their stats because I doubt it was a stormtrooper who fired the superlaser. Either way, in A New Hope stormtroopers shot with an accuracy rating of less than 6% !
And don't forget, an entire legion of Palpatine's best troops were defeated by cute little primitive teddy bears.
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