Post by Gigermann on Jun 12, 2024 9:40:00 GMT -6
This is more of a thought/rules-exercise than anything else. The situation as it played out caused me a bit of cognitive dissonance (not specifically WRT your handling of it, but the rules in general), so I've been thinking about "the right way" to do it.
Given:
Who Acts First?
What does exist is Action2 p.39 "Standoffs" (which is a nearly-word-for-word repeat of MA's "Cascading Waits"). This covers two scenarios that don't apply to ours: (1) Neither fighter has a ready weapon, and (2) One fighter has a ready weapon. In our scenario, all fighters have ready weapons. In the two listed scenarios it breaks down to a Quick Contest of Fast Draw or Guns; with one fighter ready, the one that had to Fast Draw does so at -10 (standard "instantaneous" penalty). One could then "reasonably extrapolate" that with both fighters ready, it might fall to a QC: DX/Guns/etc—which IIRC was your first instinct anyway.
That does assume everyone is "equal" though. North only needs to move his finger, just a little, to fire, and the travel time of the resulting bullet is "practically instantaneous." A has to move his entire arm, or part of it at least, to cut the hostage's throat. B need only release the string, but the arrow's flight time is much longer than the bullet (also, see below). So, even though they all might "activate" at the same time, the effects of their actions are not actually simultaneous—A would be the last to complete (still in a fraction of a second). Therefore, it might be a "reasonable extrapolation" to make the Quick Contest: North with Guns, B with Bow at -x, and A with Knife at -xx. Not sure what the amount of the penalty should be but it's less than -10 (having to fully fast-draw a weapon)—maybe just -1 for B, and -4 for A?
There are additional considerations: Are the bad guys familiar enough with firearms usage to recognize the associated body-language enough to react? If they are, they'd still have to perceive said body-language—spot a trigger pull—which might argue for a Per-based contest instead.
Aiming
Given:
- North = North (obviously) with pistol "aimed and waiting"
- A = Guy with knife to hostage's throat
- B = Guy with ready bow "waiting" vs North
- Essentially we were "out of combat" at that moment
- Let's assume North didn't kneel first (that really was a mistake; should have occurred after the shot)
Who Acts First?
What does exist is Action2 p.39 "Standoffs" (which is a nearly-word-for-word repeat of MA's "Cascading Waits"). This covers two scenarios that don't apply to ours: (1) Neither fighter has a ready weapon, and (2) One fighter has a ready weapon. In our scenario, all fighters have ready weapons. In the two listed scenarios it breaks down to a Quick Contest of Fast Draw or Guns; with one fighter ready, the one that had to Fast Draw does so at -10 (standard "instantaneous" penalty). One could then "reasonably extrapolate" that with both fighters ready, it might fall to a QC: DX/Guns/etc—which IIRC was your first instinct anyway.
That does assume everyone is "equal" though. North only needs to move his finger, just a little, to fire, and the travel time of the resulting bullet is "practically instantaneous." A has to move his entire arm, or part of it at least, to cut the hostage's throat. B need only release the string, but the arrow's flight time is much longer than the bullet (also, see below). So, even though they all might "activate" at the same time, the effects of their actions are not actually simultaneous—A would be the last to complete (still in a fraction of a second). Therefore, it might be a "reasonable extrapolation" to make the Quick Contest: North with Guns, B with Bow at -x, and A with Knife at -xx. Not sure what the amount of the penalty should be but it's less than -10 (having to fully fast-draw a weapon)—maybe just -1 for B, and -4 for A?
There are additional considerations: Are the bad guys familiar enough with firearms usage to recognize the associated body-language enough to react? If they are, they'd still have to perceive said body-language—spot a trigger pull—which might argue for a Per-based contest instead.
Aiming
- "Opportunity Fire" B390 says "If you watch a single hex (only), you can Aim and Wait. Each second you wait for a target also counts as an Aim maneuver, and you will get the normal bonus for that amount of aiming when you finally attack." It's not explicit that watching a specific part of that hex, for a specific action (like pulling the trigger) counts for those purposes, but I suppose that's a "reasonable extrapolation" and would be a good candidate for a "permanent GM ruling" on the matter.
- You can't hold a bow drawn indefinitely, to hold that aim. Pyramid 3/33 gets into the weeds on that (and other) topic, but the short version is you can Aim for about 1 sec before it becomes counter-productive, unless your ST exceeds the bow's by a significant amount. This means B would likely have to draw the bow before loosing in the above scenario, which should significantly increase the penalty to the Quick Contest.
