NPC's and Bar Fights!

[stule]

I tried this in my game last night and it worked really well.

I am not too crazy about NPC's having Health.

Too many times have I seen a Star Trek character on T.V. land one punch and knock a guy out. Even the Bar Fight in TOS, the Trouble with Tribbles, people are getting knocked out in one punch.

You just can't do that in Coda.

Until now.

I came up with this.

Minor NPC's
Health: 1

Major NPC's
Health: Equal to Vitality.

Using this system, last night we had a bar brawl and it really felt like an episode right out of TOS!!!

The Minor NPC's only had a total of 6 points of health (1 point per level with 6 levels.). Even our guy with an 8 strength was feeling like ol J.T. Kirk himself.

Anyway, I thought I would share it with you.

Cheers.

[Tobian]

Hmm well no - what you can simply do is use stunning damage instead of 'damage' I.e. do exactly the same thing with your fist as you are doing with a phaser. I think there is a fighting manouver in the officers handbook that helps to simulate that but as a house rule you could just say if the player scores a brawling (or martial arts ) roll of a good success (I.e. 5 over their target number) then the damage he deals becomes the target number to roll against his stamina, as he would a phaser.. so even if he succeesds he rapidly becomes punch drunk !

Are you sure there's not already a mechanic in the rules for knocking someone out as oposed to flaying them to within an inch of their lives ?

[stule]

Hey Tob!

Good to hear from you.

No, I looked in the book and could not find any rules like that.
I tried to run a bar fight using the normal rules and it took forever.
And too many times have I seen someone on TV just throw someone into a wall or punch them and they are down for the count. An episode of DS9 that I have shows ODO rescuing Sisko from a Starfleet Cell and ODO justs grabs a guy and throws him into a wall. Then Sisko just punches a guy and he's out. These were Starfleet Security Officers and they only took one punch.
My House rule allows me to emulate this. When going up against low level NPC or Cannaon Fodder as I like to say, the Health of 1 rule allows me to run a large fight scene and emulate the fights created on TV. As I said, it worked really well the other night. We had a guy in an arena, fighting for his life, and I had most of the combatants as Minor NPC. The Character dispatched them rather quickly, then the main guy he was to fight was a Major NPC, which lasted for a few rounds. He took some damage during the encounter but did defeat the NPC. After the game, the player, who had been playing for years, told me that it felt just like a tv episode. It also didn't bog down the game.
I just thought I would share it.

Also, If you are punching someone, it is considered stun dg in my game. So if you use a blunt object or your fist, you do not neccessarily kill your opponent. If you use a sword or phaser set above 3, then you do lethal dg.

So the rules again would be:
Health: 1 - Minor NPC
Health: Normal Rules - Major NPC
Punching or blunt: Stun DG
Edge or others: Lethal DG

If you find another rule that allows me to emulate TV fights, please let me know.

Thanks for the response Tobian.

Take care my friend.

[Tobian]

Hmm Have you got the Starfleet Operations book - number 3 - I'm going to have to check but I am sure there are manouvers in that which allow you to stun people.

I don't see the artifice in giving minor NPC's 1 wound level if you are also saying stun comes from blunt damage ? If you can stun them why would you kill them?

The problem with that ruling is your PC's can KILL minor NPC's without trying - they can look at them funny and they will DIE - that isn't consistent with startrek at all! Quite often in fights they will last a number of turns of dodging weaving and counter punching.. someone's knocked over but then often they get back up again - ala batman fighting

It would be far more consistent to have the PC's try and punch someone unconsceous - with perfectly normal health levels in tact than reduce them to dead with a single girly sissy hit.

It's something people have mentioned to me when I have run games in Startrek - the combat doesn't really take into account knocking out or coup de grace manouvers.. but then as with everything - what goes around comes around - if you can coup de grace then then they can do it to you!

[Tobian]

Yep, thought so; Starfleet Operations Manual - page 30 - Hatchet chop... Prequisite brawling 6 - do damage as normal and force your oponent to roll a stamina test equal to a light stun for a number of rounds

page 29 - Boxing - manouver uppercut (boxing 5) - does +2 damage and oponent makes a stamina test...

I.e. two manouvers your players can buy from early levels (if they put a few picks in boxing or braling) and I believe it's just 2 picks to get a speciality like that !

That way people who ARE experts in brawling or boxing can easilly knock people cold!

[stule]

Cool.

Thanks for finding that info for me.

I am still going to use my method because I think that it epitomises the feel of fighting on Star Trek Series. The characters should be gods to Minor NPC's and Major ones should be a challenge.

Remeber that a minor npc in my house rules has 1 health per level. Bad rolls by the players could cause the NPC to actually get to attack.

There are too many times that i see on the TV series (Any of them) of a minor bad guy getting hit (say a guard or some other loser type) and he goes down in one punch.

For instance, I saw the DS9 where Sisko and crew go to Tiger Core and try to uncover the Changeling that is there. General Matok free's them and walks down the corridor. He takes out two daggers and kills two Klingons. In one attack!

In Coda that could not happen.

In my system it could.

Thanks for all the help Tobian.

I will pass on the info to my players about the cool Boxing rules (need to get that book.). They will be excited about it I'm sure.

[Tobian]

Well if you're excited about that then you'll love the Andorian fighting stiles (dribble) - point in case, you almost certainly could kill someone with the correct application of said fighting styles.

I am assuming by what you're saying is that if they are in a bar room brawl that once they've had their almighty 6 wounds - they are simply 'unconsceous' rather than dead? So basically you're saying it's a quick way to knock out unimportant people.

[stule]

Yep!

Thats exactly what I am doing with this. When I ran the bar fight in the Coda Rules with the NPC's having normal health, the fight lasted a couple hours and the PC's were pretty beaten up and then they still had to fight the main guy.

My way allowed them to beat up non important NPC's and allowed them to take care of the important guy with a chance of surviving.

I like my house rule because it allows you to sneak up on someone and knock them out in one punch like on the T.V. shows.

And yes, when they hit 0, they are just knocked out, unless they used a sword or knife.

I really appreciate all the feedback Tobian.

Thanks.

[Doug Burke]

Actually, there are two things you could port over from the LOTR version of CODA. Stun Attacks and Combat pacing guidelines.

With the former, a called shot to a sensitive area (say the neck) can cause an effect pretty much identical to Light, Medium, or Heavy Stun when you score a Complete, Superior, or Extraordinary Success.

In the latter, a Narrator caqn designate oppenents as one-, two-, or three-success opponents that can be defeated/killed with one, two or three successful attacks. This allows for more easily defeated opponents and a more cinematic combat style.

[stule]

Greetings Doug!

Thanks for the reply.

I just bought the LOTR today so I could run Holodeck Adventures in Middle Earth LOL! One of my players wanted to make a program based on LOTR.

So I will look for those rules.

They sound great!

Thanks again!

[stule]

Hey Doug!!!!

I just read Combat Pacing in the LOTR Book!

It's perfect!

Thanks Boss!

You da man!

[Doug Burke]

Glad to help, stule.