Concurrent actions

[ebertran]

Do you have experience with running your game where all actions declared are taken in the same turn, instead of going around the table sand then acting again?

So if my smuggler wants to take his three blaster shots, he takes them all in a row (minus any penalties of course), rather than one shot, then wait for everyone else to act before taking the next shot?

Is it game breaking?

One of the reasons I am looking at the Mini-Six system is because it does this.

Any thoughts?

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

I played this way using the 2E R&E rules. In some ways, it was more fun.

When we first tested it out, a character swing around a doorway, fired a shot, then jumped across to the other side of the door and flipped the stormtroopers off, using the bird.

Not very Star Wars, but it was funny. We all cracked up. And, the continuous action sold itself that way. The players liked it.

Now, I will say that I was awarding too many Character Points at this point in my Star Wars game. I was awarding the amount for an entire adventure at the end of one night. That translates into protection for the PCs.

We didn't use the declaration phase, then, either. We just rolled initiative, and when that character went, I just asked him what he wanted to do. And, he did it.




Today, I would not allow this method of play. I do think it has an effect on play. Who can withstand 3 blaster shots, back to back? Nobody.

Back then, the CPs I awarded would eat up shots like this. But, I also found it made the PCs too powerful.

A Wookiee ran out into streaming blaster bolt combat and tore the leg off a AT-ST. As a GM, I was going through Stormtroopers right and left. I'd always have to add to the number that was indicated in an adventure. And, the PC's freighter, which was no Millennium Falcon, could easily take out the entire TIE squadron compliment of an Imperial Star Destroyer.

My players thought that they were BIG DAMN HEROES and actually loved it.

I knew that I had broken the game--and it became hard for me to wean the off the extra CPs and the continuous combat actions. In fact, I never did it until I just plain changed editions--now we play First Edition, and I play it as written.


So, my advice is to play it as written.

[garhkal]

As long as both the enemy as well as the pcs get all their actions at once, and not just the PC's i am ok with it..
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[Naaman]

We always played this way. I see value in both ways, but bapance is not one of the concerns I have.

The first priority of a game is fun. Do what is most fun, otherwise, why play?

[Whill]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

I noticed that in my game, too. What Whill described. The PCs in my game always went first. They had better stats, and it was a rare occasion when a stormtrooper or some other NPC got lucky on the Wild Die and went first.

Plus, since initiative is PER based in 2nd edition (it is skill based in 1st edition), those races, like Lorddians, which can get high PER scores, get a hell of an advantage over other characters--being able to go first and devastate an opponent with multiple actions.

The Law of Unintended Consequences raises its ugly head.

[garhkal]

While true, nothing says you can't put in some High Per foes.. Just looking in the Heroes and Rogues book for imp templates with High Per scores, i see

Army officer 4d
Army trooper 3d+1
Navy trooper 3d+1
Navy officer 4d
Ship gunnery officer 3d+1
Arrogant imp noble 4d
Compnor mil liasion 4d
Compnor Sagroup youth 3d+2
Imperial Adjutant 4d
Imp assassin in training 4d
Imperial bounty hunter 3d+1
Imperial diplomat 4d
Imperial double agent 3d+2
Imperial intelligence agent 4d
Imperial morale officer 3d+2
ISB agent 4d
ISB investigation specialist 4d
ISB protocol officer 3d+2
Retired imp captain 3d+1

That's quite a few templates for enemies to have, with high per. And the highlighted ones i can EASILY see being enemies of the party..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Naaman]

In response to Whill's post, all I can say is that MAPs have always been enough of a reason to not win every fight in the first round. Like I said, it has never caused any problem.

[garhkal]

So you have never sent the pc;s against imp army troops? Naval ships??
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[Naaman]

Oh, for sure. But I've typically been a player, not GM. If the ratio of bad guys to PCs is anywhere near 1:1, then, sure, its typically a short fight, but when we start getting out numbered, there comes a point where you have to choose how much you want to risk failure.

I'll also offer the counterpoint that under these house rules, even just 1 royal guardsman with his 8D+2 force pike skill was always a dire threat to the entire PC party until late in the campaign, when we eventually surpassed that.

Also note that, it seems only natural to me that a GM would unconsciously scale the difficulty as the heroes gain power: at some point, there is just no point in confronting the hereoes with a squad of stormtroopers. How many stormtroopers did Luke kill in RotJ? I think just 2, and those were incidental.

In ESB, he took down an ATAT by himself... and a wampa. He has also defeated a Rancor WITHOUT his lightsaber... etc.

[ebertran]

Hmm. The Introductory Adventure game boxed set does this, players go first and they take all actions at once.

[Raven Redstar]

I don't mind characters being able to wrap up actions all at once. But, in the interest of fairness, I've house ruled that every 5 points that a character wins initiative over the other allows him to take an additional action before his opposition.

I've been playtesting this in a solo game I've been running and have been pretty pleased with the results so far. After the counter goes down to zero, I've been allowing all actions to be resolved simultaneously.

Also, I'm using a new skill list which has replaced search with Situational Awareness, which has become the new initiative skill.
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RR
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[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Raven Redstar]

And as GM, I have limitless resources. Also, if you read on a little further, Search has been replaced, which means my NPCs can have Situational Awareness skills that rival or are higher than the players depending on my whim. It all balances out in the end. I like the approach, because initiative doesn't end up as a min/max exercise where players max out Dex/Per/Str to make a combat beast, instead, they can raise their skill to eventually catch up with characters who have a higher attribute. It is fair.

Even with the "HUGE advantage" it took almost no time for the character to be overrun with Super Battle Droids, which on their own aren't exactly tough opponents. All it took was a crappy damage roll or two, and before too long the 2 droids at a time he was shooting down turned into 5 that managed to back him into a corner and forced the use of a force point to survive. It makes for better drama.

I'm not terribly worried about giving the players a few advantages over nameless mooks, the bigger the ego, the quicker they find themselves outmatched.
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RR
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