TROS questions and Horror

[Aimthes]

Hello...
First, OT a little:  Ordered the game a couple of weeks ago, psychotically read the forums and stewed in a lather of anticipation until it got here... even downloaded the quickstart rules (something I've never stooped to).  Finally it arrives, and it's everything I'd hoped.  Playtested it with an old (and jaded) friend of mine, and it's revitalised his interest in gaming.  We used to create a "game of the week" in school, and this bears more than a passable resemblence to many of our favourite originals.  As a GM... ahem... Seneschal, I absolutely love the pace and speed of combat.  During the playtest, his character entered an archery competition, with me explaining the kinds of damage he would be doing if the targets were people, and not scarecrows.  Then he had a bareknuckle boxing match... that was brilliant.  He almost broke the guy's nose, and soundly thumped him in the guts so that he was spitting up blood...  ( a level 3 wound, causing bloodloss).  The fight took only a few minutes real-time, and that's with me being unfamiliar with the book.

Anyways, a few questions:
1. For punching I used the thrusting tables.  Correct?
2. For real-world fighter-folk: How easy is it to actually knock someone out with one blow?  

Now, I'm plotting on having this character end up fighting a werewolf.  Are they present in OBAM?  I really want to play up the horror feel... I do want to keep a lot of the legendary stuff (I've unobtrusively slipped a silver dagger into his equipment)... but I also want some new inspiration in order to play up the fear of the supernatural, and the fear of the unknown.  I'm not really looking for mechanics, or kewl powerz... more behaviour, description...  I'm going to be running a lot in the way of supernatural horror, so any other ideas would be appreciated... new takes on old legends, for example.

I know there are six moons, too... I'm trying to think of a way around that.

[Caz]

1.  Depends where and how you're punching.  Staight punches can use the thrusting, hooks, etc. can use the swinging.
2.  Unpredictable to a degree.  Sometimes amazingly easy, sometimes seemingly impossible, thou proper strikes in vulnerable areas can up the odds considerably.
 
Werwolves?  Yes
Moons?  Use or mod. any setting you like

[Tash]

For question 2:  It depends on your definition of "knocked out".  If you completely unconscious, that's tough.  I've done it a few times when I was kick boxing, it requires a REALLY solid hit that lands dead on the chin more or less.  That kind of blow will break your hand if you aren't wearing gloves (I did break a finger once even with the gloves on).  And like Caz said, its unpredictable at best.  The only sure fire way to make somebody unconscious instantly that I know is to get a choke hold on the coratid artery and distrupt bloodflow to the brain, its extremely tough to pull off, but they go out like a light when you do.  Its also VERY unpleasant (I've had it done to me once, threw up as soon as I came to).

If you mean just knocking someone out of a fight, its a bit easier.  A solid shot to the solar plexus will knock the wind from someone, they pretty much drop like a rock at that point.  A toe kick aimed just under the ribcage will do the same thing.  A roundhouse kick to the thigh that hits the siatic nerve causes imense pain and will make the whole leg go numb, also dropping them like a brick.

Then there is my personal favorite: elbow or roundhouse punch to the nose.  Eyes fill with tears, blood pours everywhere...they're conscious but not real dangerous for a few seconds, and its way easier to break a tiny peice of cartilage than it is to hit most other vulnerable areas on a human.

The worst I've ever heard of though was a story told to me by one of my old teachers.  He was refing a match where one fighter aimed a verticle toe kick between the others legs, ripped the guy's shorts and stuck his big toe up the other guy's anus....he colapsed in agony and withdrew from the fight.  The shot was illegal as hell, but it worked.

[Jake Norwood]

I know there are six moons, too... I'm trying to think of a way around that.

Try assigning one particular moon to one particular werewolf. When that moon is full, the wolf comes out. Perhaps even different werewolves go off of different moons...

Jake

[Tash]

Another option is to just designate a particular moon as the "wof moon" so to speak...tie its unique spiritual and magical properties to whatever condition causes lycanthropy in your campaign.

Its phases dictate the behavior of werewolves.

One of my old D&D characters was a werewolf.  He was a Ranger who was bitten in the course of trying to kill what he thought was simply an abnormally smart and agressive wolf.  He then embarked on a quest to find a cure for his affliction, only to realize that it was also a gift of great power.

He ended up battling the champion of the evil god who controls shapeshifters and founding an order of good werewolves who used their powers to defend the domains of the nature godess.

One thing you might want to play with is who the werewolf is in normal life.  Create a moral dilema for the characters by making it someone who the would not want to kill, like a benevolent preist or a child.  Maybe this person has no idea that they are a werewolf.  Can the PCs help them?  Or must they find it in their hearts to kill them despite the fact that they are an innocent, good person who is cursed with a horrible, dangerous disease?

Moral dillemas are good roleplaying.

[Mike, son of Bob]

Knowledge is power, ignorence is fear!
To play up the horror aspect, keep the monster unidentified as long as possible. If all the players know is that something really big and mean is out there, they may feel fears icy grip. But if they know what they are dealing with, most of the fear is gone. Restrict their view to 'a large dark shape vanishing into the night' (or similar), or the results of its attacks. Before any encounter you should spend time creating atmosphere, with word and voice. Speak softly, describe the deep shadows and the moonlit countryside, small noises in nearby cover, or footsteps in the next room/upstairs. Can you dim the lights? When the encounters occure, try to keep them brief, inconclusive, and as uninformative as possible (Until the final sceen of course, that should reveal all and go all night!).
Much of horror lies in the not knowing

For your prep, read some gothic horror, E A Poe etc.

[Mike Holmes]

The only sure fire way to make somebody unconscious instantly that I know is to get a choke hold on the coratid artery and distrupt bloodflow to the brain, its extremely tough to pull off, but they go out like a light when you do.  Its also VERY unpleasant (I've had it done to me once, threw up as soon as I came to).

That's taught in Judo, and there's a simple trick that makes it pretty easy. They have to have the right clothes on, however. Anyhow, in Judo this is a standard way to win a bout.

The worst I've ever heard of though was a story told to me by one of my old teachers.  He was refing a match where one fighter aimed a verticle toe kick between the others legs, ripped the guy's shorts and stuck his big toe up the other guy's anus....he colapsed in agony and withdrew from the fight.  The shot was illegal as hell, but it worked.

He overshot. That is, we all know that a kick to the nads is pretty danrned effective. Unless "armored", of course.

Mike

[Tash]

Actually a verticle toe kick to the perineum is taught in Bando at high belt ranks.  Toes kicks with the toes clenched up like a fist) in general are common in Bando and we do a lot of conditioning to make the toes strong enough to withstand the impacts without breaking.  They're usually aimed at soft areas where they can cause a lot of damage I saw a guy at Bando nationals a few years ago breaking coconuts using a toe kick, barefoot..  Imagine what that kick would do coming up vertially between someone's legs.
Gives new meaning to the phrase "tearing someone a new asshole" doesn't it ?

I think this guy was deliberatly targeting that area in hopes of knocking the guy out of any further competition at that tornement.  It worked.

[Mike Holmes]

I wasn't challenging that, just making an ironic statement. Just pointing out how easy it is to disable someone with any old kick to the groin.

Mike