An Example of Combat

[JustaGM]

One thing I would like to see, and that several of my players had asked to see was a example of a few rounds of combat.

I know it seems silly but sometimes those example combats help clear up a lot of doubt and confusion. Two or three rounds with a few of the abilities and combat manuevers would go a long way I think, in general.

If anything it would show how the game designers see how many actions a character gets go in a round, how movement and combat actions mix and so on.

Thanks.

[Ineti]

There are a couple good combat examples on the Decipher boards. You might want to check those out.

[JustaGM]

Do you have a link?

[Ineti]

Here you go. Enjoy browsing the threads.

http://calder.decipher.com/cgi-bin/msgbd?lotr-rpg

[Don Mappin]

I'd rather claw my eyes out than use the Decipher boards.

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Don Mappin
I'd rather claw my eyes out than use the Decipher boards.

Fortunately, now that you've opened these forums, we don't have to worry about that.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Don Mappin
I'd rather claw my eyes out than use the Decipher boards.

I can't help but feel like you are holding soemthing back. Come on Don, tell us how you really feel. Quit sugar coating it for us

[Grutos]

From a player's PoV -

Combat in LotR is very fast paced. You're given a number "to hit", roll your 2d6 + Armed/Ranged/Unarmed Combat = X. If X = DM's Y "to hit" = "I hit the fell beasty!" Roll Xd6 for damage (for my dwarf: 3d6 + 2 for Great Axe) = "Fell beasty takes 5 - 20 points of damage".

DM tabulates damage v. "Fell Beasty's Armor can aborb X" Grutos did Y damage: Y - X = Z (15 - 7 = 8). Fell beasty has 10 Health w/5 wound levels = Grutos has nocked Fell Beasty down to 2 notches left on Fell Beasty's Healthy Level. Other characters or Fell Beasty can now attack (based on initiative) - or Grutos can decide - "I'm a damage sink, I don't dodge....I'm going to use my extra round to hack & slash into that thar Fell Beasty!" Repeat "to Hit" 2d6 + Armed Combat (Ranged or Unarmed) = X, DM states I need Y, X > Y so "I hit Fell Beasty" (Needed a 15 and I got a 19).

Not sure how the DM sees things, but from my perspective that's how combat works. As a Damage Sink:
Fell Beasty Hits > Does 12 Points Damage, Armor abosorbs 7, Grutos takes 5 points Damage. On Health-O-Meter, scratch off 5 squares from Healthy and now down to X - 5 in the first level of 5 Wound Levels. No Penalties "To Hit" - once again, begin hacking & slashing.

Depending on the DM, Initiative can be once per battle (yer stuck with what you have: If your roll = 4, then you're pretty much going last the whole battle). Or, Initiative can be rolled every round (You go last in the previous round, but now you roll a 10 and you get to go second, just before the Fell Beasties that rolled a 9).

Similar in structure to a good solid 3rd Edition DnD combat round, but not quite as complicated - very fast paced. Almost on par with the pace of the Epic Level Campaign that I was in with guys I've been gaming with for over 10 years. Very solid feature of LotR!!

[Ineti]

And it can be even faster using the "mook" rules. Making stock Orcs or Uruks that are 1, 2, or 3 success creatures, the Narrator doesn't have to track wound damage for the bad guys.

Grutos rolls a successful hit against a bad guy, and the bad guy doesn't parry successfully, he dies!

In this way, a small group of heroes could take on a sizeable force of baddies and do well against them (eg., The Fellowship vs. Uruks at Amon Hen).

[Mijoro]

Yes, this thread lives again. So what's the deal with weariness and combat? An example of combat I grabbed from Decipher's boards (now I want to claw my eyes out, too) has a character winning a combat after 5 rounds and then making a weariness roll. That's 30 seconds game-time. The core rules have the time limit for extreme exertion (i.e. combat) as being 10 min.

What's the deal? So do you roll for weariness after any combat up to 10 minutes, or only after 10 minutes of combat have elapsed??

[ben hur]

Sorry, that was probably my Celebeth versus the three wimpy (and stupid) Orcs combat?

Well, the reason he does a Weariness test is because that's the way I play; 10 minutes of combat is -impossible- unless it is a full-scale battle (I believe that the entire Balin's Tomb battle in the Fellowship of the Ring was exactly 45 seconds, and that's the extended version with additional shots!). So what I do is after any combat, no matter how much time it took (as long as the character was doing extreme combat), I have the character make a Weariness test. I mean, 30 seconds of shovelling really hard could Wind you, even if you are a tough warrior, right?

[Mijoro]

Originally posted by ben hur
Sorry, that was probably my Celebeth versus the three wimpy (and stupid) Orcs combat?

Yeah, that's the one.

Thanks for clearing that up - the example combat was extremely helpful, but I have a small suggestion: if you're going to provide rules examples they should conform to the rules as written in the Core Book - no house rules unless they're identified as such.

Thanks again for the example!

[ben hur]

Heh, thanks for the hint! I myself use almost no House Rules, and the ones I do use are very minor and I might not even use all the time (hehe).

I tried to make the little house-rule type things that happened be "Narrator decides this" type things, I forgot to do it for that one (hidden house rules!).

I'm glad it helped!

[Grutos]

Also - for a good idea of weariness - go into the gym and start doing speed-reps. If you normally curl 50 lbs. @ 10 reps / set @ 3 sets; don't stop between the sets. Feel the burn (shut out the laughter of those watching your form go into the dirt). That is what it would feel like in prolonged combat - hence why the weariness checks.

Find one of those nurf coated weight bars used in arobics classes. Get a nice 10 - 20 lb. bar and start wielding it like a sword, bow, or axe. Now, go through a Kata with the bar in place of the sword - feel the burn.

That's how we normally trained back in college. At least for my gaming group, it gave us pretty good insight into combat and how it would work if our party came up against a foe and the battle lasted 5 rounds v. 15 rounds v. 20 - 30 rounds. Plus, you get to realize what it would take to heal back from just blunt bruises, let alone cuts, slices, and breaks.