This is an introduction to the mini-game I posted yesterday (as of today as beta v. 0.4, please update the versions you already downloaded). All the rules one might need are already on the sheet, but I think it can get a bit confusing during the first game, so a little summary of the main features might be helpful. In the great scheme of things the Bare-Knuckle Fighter is showcasing on a very basic level how combat is supposed to work in Lost Songs of the Nibelungs, but it works very well as a stand-alone dice game.
Character generation
It's not much, but instead of going with fixed values, I thought it would give the game a bit diversity if the numbers weren't all the same. First roll Base Attack and Base Defense, use 3d6/ignore lowest die for each of them. Note the result on the sheet.
Next up are Endurance and Health. Here you first need to find out how many d6 a character has by rolling a d3 for each (consider this an option, you might as well just roll 1d6 to 3d6 Endurance and Health for both characters to keep the playing field at the same level). The result is the number of dice you got for creating Health and Endurance. Roll for each, add 10 to Endurance and note them on the sheet.
The 10 buffer for health are best kept separate as noted on the sheet. As soon as your character is in the buffer zone, he might go down (save [remaining buffer points] + d20 vs. 15 to stay conscious every time you get damaged while being in the buffer zone).
You are now ready to start the first game.
How to Play a Game of Fisticuffs
Both players roll 3d6. Every 6 generates a new die, every 1 is discarded. Add the result for initiative. Both players see each others result. The lowest initiative has to distribute his dice first. If a tie is rolled, both distribute the dice in the same way (lowest result as defense, highest as attack) and see what happened (it's more like a blind hitting at each other ...).
Consider what the enemy might do with his dice and find a way to work with that. There are several options now. It all highly depends on what the other player has in store for you and how high your base attack and defense are.
 |
| Sherlock Holmes, starting a bare-knuckle fight [source] |
Considerations 1 (damage):
Successful attacks result in either getting damage, dealing damage or both. Those first hits will mostly deplete a characters Endurance (number rolled with the damage die), but to simulate the harsh reality of punching each other in the face, every damage die used in a successful attack also deals 1 point health damage.*
As soon as Endurance is gone, damage goes directly to health (and yes, you still get the additional plus 1 damage per die) . As soon as a character is in the damage zone he needs to check if a hit will knock him out (save [remaining buffer points] + d20 vs. 15 to stay conscious).
A player has now options to stay on top in this. He could deliver several hits to deplete health 1 point a time to get into the enemies buffer zone, He could focus on the enemies Endurance (may require less hitting, but also more damage with less dice). He might also consider to regain Endurance every once in a while by using a drop die action.
Considerations 2 (actions):
It's crucial to get an understanding of how to distribute your dice and the options available in a given round. Even with some bad rolls you got options to either bluff the other player into distributing his dice some way or another or to build up an advantage for the next round.
Every die you have available in a round is an action. If you attack someone, you need to deal damage, too. If you want to defend a coming attack, that's at least one die for that, too. But you will get into situations where such a straightforward approach won't be successful and you might want to consider the following options.
First of all, dice can be delayed into the next round. You need to decide the action that is delayed (attack, defense or damage) and position the die on the sheet for the other player to see. You may delay up to two dice per round, but it could be for all possible combinations of actions (even for two of the same, like two attacks, for instance). You can defend and attack no more than two times per round, but the number of dice you use to do so is only limited to the dice available in a round (remember that each attack needs at least one damage die assigned).
But dice could also be "dropped", which means you could declare to use the die for another action. You can drop as many dice as you got available in a round. There are four drop die actions to consider:
Advantage - At the end of the round you dropped the die your fighter will be in a better position to hit the enemy (+ 1 to future attacks). You may use another drop die to get into an even better position and get another + 1 every time you do that. You keep this advantage until the enemy decides to counter it (see below).
Maneuver - At the end of the round you dropped the die your fighter will be in a better position to defend himself against the enemy (+1 to base defense). You may use another drop die to get into an even better position and get another + 1 every time you do that. You keep this maneuver going until the enemy decides to counter it (see below).
Regain - You may drop a die to regain Endurance at the end of the round (if the enemy doesn't decide to counter it). The endurance gained is the number shown on the die.
Counter - You may drop a die to counter any one of the other drop die actions. "Regain" needs to be countered in the same round, the others may be countered any time and it needs only one counter to do so (even if they are already at +2 or more).
Considerations 3 (rolls):
There are high and low rolls and you may got doubles and triples. All this has an impact in the game and it might result in a huge advantage for one player. High initiative distributes the dice last, this way he knows what the other player is up to in that round and may act accordingly.
But having a low initiative is not without options and a player that lost initiative may, for instance, try to force the first player to distribute dice in a way beneficial for him (in other words, he builds up a threat, like, say, a drop die action and forces the other player to either allow the threat (future benefit) or oppose it (immediate benefit of the other player dropping one of his dice, too)).
Doubles and triples, now, are dangerous. The added values of a double or a triple count for both/all the dice (yes, those are critical successes, so a triple six not only generates three new dice, it also counts as 18 for each die and will most likely end a fight), but they need to be used for the main actions (defense/attack/damage) to have that effect and a rolled 1 is always discarded (so a triple 1 is always a critical failure). You couldn't use one of them to gain more Endurance ("Regain" die drop action) than the value shown on the die and you may only delay a double. Delayed dice from the previous round don't count for initiative, but do count for doubles and triples. There are only doubles and triples possible. If you somehow achieve 4 dice with the same number, they are interpreted as two doubles (and so forth).
 |
| Also Sherlock Holmes, making his point [source] |
Most of the time, if you're threatened by a double or a triple, you may cut your losses and consider your options carefully: full defense against at least one attack and a "regain" die drop action to get back some of those precious endurance points, to give but one example. But you could also go into full attack mode and force the enemy to consider some defense action ... The beauty of it is that you always get more than one option to handle a situation.
That should do it
This is all I got so far. The rules on the sheet are updated (one clarification, two typos) and the above is hopefully a great help to make a first game run smoothly. If there are any more questions, I'd be happy to clarify. Other than that, have fun with the Bare-Knuckle Fighter dice game!
[Edit:] Tomorrow I'll post a pdf of both (the sheet and the clarifications above) and upload it it on drop box.
[Edit:] Tomorrow I'll post a pdf of both (the sheet and the clarifications above) and upload it it on drop box.
*Optional Rule: Ignore damage to health if both fighters agree to use gloves (but only damage on health through the number of damage dice used, this will still hurt as soon as Endurance is gone!).
0 Yorumlar