Weariness in gameplay?

[dustin]

Originally posted by Meneltin
The problem with such a rule is that you 'punish' the characters with a lower stamina twice as hard. They have a lower chance of succeeding, and they have to roll more often.

You can use this system to give your PCs a needed "shove" when they refuse to quit the fight no matter the odds.

Take Balin's Tomb in the FotR. The Fellowship only fought because they had no other options. Once an "out" was given to them, they ran. Use this system when you have PCs in a similar situation and you need them to go. Just give them a little "shove".

You can play with the TNs until you find something you are comfortable with. The ones I gave were just a starting point to work from. Just go with a guideline of, let's say, every 5 rounds make a weariness check, and increase the TN every time.

As a balance to this, give the PCs the option of "catching their breath". Let them sit out a number of rounds(your choice) to regain a Weariness Level. Maybe 2 rounds for 1 level, or whatever seems appropriate to you. This will also force the others to pick up the slack, which in turn, may provide another little "shove" for them to get out.

[Karth]

I personally don't punish characters for any short combats, but I'll go ahead and add my viewpoint to this issue.

I'm not exactly the healthiest fellow-I'm resilient, sure, but I've had bronchitis every year of the past seven or so, which I suspect has affected my stamina a bit.

About a year back, I participated in a Korean martial art. We did a fair amount of endurance training, but the system is focused on joint manipulations and things such as that. We would spar at least once a month, and practice groundfighting/wrestling about once a week. During these groundfighting classes, we would spend about half an hour actually wrestling: about two minutes, then you switch partners and start again until everyone had gone against everyone else with similar ability several times. Despite my inadequacies, after a half-hour of groundfighting I would be fatigued in only a very minor way; a few minutes of light exercise would have me back to normal and ready for more. In this style, as mentioned, we also had sparring. Normal sparring matches would last about the same amount of time, close to two minutes. After this, we would be getting fairly winded and be slowing down a little bit.

However!-I wasn't one of the top students. Three guys in my class would spar with some of the more advanced fellows in the adult class. The instructor would simply pit them against each other and tell them to go at it for fifteen, thirty, or fourty-five minutes. To say the least, they didn't -begin- at 45 minutes, but they got there. And this endurance training is something we would work at for perhaps 2 hours a week: far, far fewer hours than someone travelling and adventuring constantly.

[Tomcat]

I believe that Weariness is an essential tool for Narrators to control the characters abilities. As we all know, CODA can create some very strong characters from the onset, so having the Weariness there to help limit is very important.

I use the Weariness chart and the base time frames given for the different levels of activity - although ten minutes of Extreme Activity is a bit much in my opinion. As Ineti stated earlier, I use a 10 round base for Weariness tests that are from Extreme Activity.

But Weariness in travel is essential as well. In my current campaign, my characters have been traveling for weeks from Tharbad to the Ettenmoors. Being in a saddle, under a baking sun, and eating only trail rations would begin to take its toll on the heartiest of persons.

What I do is break the day up into five 2 hour travel periods that require a test per period. The TN may vary based on terrain and environmental conditions. If a character does not succeed with his first three test (and thus be reduced to Weary -4) then he must stop for that days travel. This can be important in chronicles that require time constraints.

Also, each day I require a Survival test - again, the TN may vary based on terrain and environmental conditions - to assure proper rest for the night. If failed, the characters suffer a -3 modifier to that days Weariness tests (only). This modifier can be cumulative for each day the Survival test is failed, but will be eliminated with a night of good rest.

That is how I tie Weariness into the days of each chapter. It is great watching my warrior get off his horse for that days travel and have a -2 Tired modifier - it makes those Orcs a little bit more of a concern.

[Pusher]

For small, one on one battles, what my players call "skirmishes", try basing your weariness checks on the individual's Stamina. For example, an Elf with a Stamina modifier of 4 would make a Weariness check every 4 rounds, a Hobbit with a Stamina of 2 would make one every 2 rounds, etc. The idea being that someone with more stamina would tire out less quickly.

I've also been looking at a way to implement Weariness into combat and have to say that I like this option. My question is, what if a character happens to have a ±0 or - modifier to their Stamina? Does this possibility sink the idea?

[dustin]

Originally posted by Pusher
I've also been looking at a way to implement Weariness into combat and have to say that I like this option. My question is, what if a character happens to have a ±0 or - modifier to their Stamina? Does this possibility sink the idea?

If your Stamina modifier is zero or less, maybe try basing the Weariness test on one of the base attributes (Strength or Vitality, I think). Not the attribute modifier, but the base number.

Hope this helps.

dustin

[GandalfOfBorg]

I would say if you're Stamina were <=1, then you would make a test once per round. I would also say the frequency of tests should be based off a characters base Reaction score as opposed to a modified score due to abilities or traits.

[Meneltin]

Originally posted by Scottomir
And Meneltin is very sensitive to Weariness issues, especially about poor characters getting punished by it.

Hehe, you really work hard to make this though-looking, proud, noble , Boromir-like warrior, only to have him utterly fail his first weariness test when crossing the Misty Mountains and a Hobbit(!) has to save him from falling down a deep ravine.

Can you imagine what that does to your proud and noble warrior?