Picky, Assumption-Teasing Questions

[Bill Cook]

[list=1][*]Do you fumble a strike (pp. 78-9) by failing the roll and having two or more 1's (a la pp. 7-8) or does any failure to hit draw the 1/2 CP loss penalty?
[*]Regardless of form, if you successfully evade, does that thwart a successful attack against you?
[*]Terrain rolls seem like overhead that will quickly become neglected.  What application reveals the cool I can't perceive?
[*]Honestly, does anyone ever call, "Throw!" and apply hesitation for no-throwers?

The most important part of any military strategy is the element of surprise . . .  Surprise!

[*][My group] Do you realize (at least in the sessions I've played) that we don't declare the number of CP dice we're alloting to our maneuvers?  (p. 74)  Kind of makes feints pointless.
[*]Assume the following: you taunt a guy, he attacks, you defend; [2nd exchange] you attack and wound; [2nd round] out of the corner of your eye, you see his four buddies running towards the duel; the Hell with this! you think; you want to run, but . . .  "Evasion may not be attempted on an exchange immediately following one's own attack." (p. 84).

Must you defend (as he must, since you carry initiative, leading to a "pause") so you can run, or is there some less awkward option I haven't considered?
[/list:o]

[Valamir]

[list=1][*]Do you fumble a strike (pp. 78-9) by failing the roll and having two or more 1's (a la pp. 7-8) or does any failure to hit draw the 1/2 CP loss penalty?

Fumble as per the normal fumble rules

[*]Regardless of form, if you successfully evade, does that thwart a successful attack against you?

Not sure exactly what you're asking.  But if you pick any defensive option and proceed to roll as many successes on it as the attacker rolled on the attack, yes, the attack is thwarted.

[*]Terrain rolls seem like overhead that will quickly become neglected.  What application reveals the cool I can't perceive?

Don't know what to say to this.  Terrain Rolls are, after SAs, probably the single coolest feature of the game.  Any fun crazy "can I do this", or "how would you" questions your players come up with 9 times in 10 can be handled with the Terrain Roll mechanic...even if it doesn't remotely involve Terrain.

Do some searches to find the many threads where Terrain Roll use has been discussed.  In is not overhead.  It is indispensible.

[*]Honestly, does anyone ever call, "Throw!" and apply hesitation for no-throwers?

No but Jake nailed me with a hesitation penalty once for taking too long deliberating.

The most important part of any military strategy is the element of surprise . . .  Surprise!

[*][My group] Do you realize (at least in the sessions I've played) that we don't declare the number of CP dice we're alloting to our maneuvers?  (p. 74)  Kind of makes feints pointless.

I HIGHLY do not recommend doing this.  TROS combat is a game of strategy and choice.  Keeping the dice secret turns it into a game of randomly guessing what your opponent is doing.  Real fighting is not about randomly guessing and hope you get it right.  Real fighting is about strategy.

Secret Dice allocation <shudder> might as well just play rock paper scissors and be done with it.

[*]Assume the following: you taunt a guy, he attacks, you defend; [2nd exchange] you attack and wound; [2nd round] out of the corner of your eye, you see his four buddies running towards the duel; the Hell with this! you think; you want to run, but . . .  "Evasion may not be attempted on an exchange immediately following one's own attack." (p. 84).

Must you defend (as he must, since you carry initiative, leading to a "pause") so you can run, or is there some less awkward option I haven't considered?
[/list:o]

That's not awkward, that makes perfect sense.  A round is only 1-2 seconds long, you don't lauch an attack and then start running, you need that pause to recover.

But you can alway Move in combat, ideally in a direction away from the new guys.  See page 86.

[Malechi]

Do you fumble a strike (pp. 78-9) by failing the roll and having two or more 1's (a la pp. 7-8) or does any failure to hit draw the 1/2 CP loss penalty?

the former: you only fumble when you fail to have *any* successes and *also* roll two or more 1's

Regardless of form, if you successfully evade, does that thwart a successful attack against you?

You only successfully evade when your successful evade rolls outnumber the successful attack rolls made against you.  

Terrain rolls seem like overhead that will quickly become neglected. What application reveals the cool I can't perceive?

Like SAs, Terrain roles are the sometimes, not so obvious "cool" behind the system.  A call for a Terrain roll is *the* most useful tool to a GM in the middle of combat.  Just about any situation that isn't covered by a direct maneuvre in combat, can be resolved with a terrain roll.  Need to draw a weapon in a hurry while fighting off another guy with the other hand..roll  Terrain... need to successfully maneuvre within a combat so as to limit the amount of aggressors facing you..roll Terrain.  Need to vault over that table to get to your bad guy/target..roll terrain.  

Honestly, does anyone ever call, "Throw!" and apply hesitation for no-throwers?

I think this might be a two-part question.  As for calling throw, its dependant on situation.  Sometimes its obvious who's doing what... "I charge at him (red)".   In face off situations, breaks in combat (from say a Full Evade maneuvre) call for a rethrow.  As for hesitation hell yes!  If combat gets slowed because someone is talkin' tactics I'll get them to roll a surprise roll due to hesitation/unawareness.  Does wonders to keep them on their toes. ;)

Must you defend (as he must, since you carry initiative, leading to a "pause") so you can run, or is there some less awkward option I haven't considered?

Considering that a round is only 1-2 seconds I'd say that the situation isn't as awkward as you might think.  Make the bad guys roll terrain to see if they can all get to you without tripping over themselves or the area around them, get the player to roll a terrain roll himself or just defend for a round, then break off with a Full Evade the exchange later.. its only a matter of a second and seems to resolve nicely (in my head at least) ;)

jason k.

edit addition: cos val beat me to all the punches :-\   ;)

[Bill Cook]

Thx, guys.

. . . if you pick any defensive option and proceed to roll as many successes on it as the attacker rolled on the attack, yes, the attack is thwarted.

Aaaah.  Water to my thirst for the explicit.

************************************************

Re: Terrain Rolls.

Valamir, I caught your zeal from earlier postings.  That's what prompted my question, actually.

Malechi, thx for specific examples.  My take-home understanding: resolve non-prescribed maneuvers by the terrain roll mechanic.  This implies player-defined functionality.

************************************************

Re: Nose Picking to Evade.

The declaration to move, getting off the attack/defense axis, is probably the answer I seek.  Thx, Valamir, for pointing out the obvious.

My perspective is this: the opportunity to act, especially in combat, trumps any real-time association that argues to mitigate its loss.  That's why the condition to evade (while reasonable) causes the suffering of waste.  This view is at the heart of my displeasure with ranged combat, as well.

[Ingenious]

We've been declaring dice I think Billy... *shrug*
Regardless of all of these questions, I think we're getting rusty as it has nearly been 2 months since the last session... not that I am complaining or anything.. because I am...

The first few questions have been answered for you..
but I too would like to see hesitation modifiers used more. And not just against the PC's.. because that would be too one-sided. Also, due to the fact that we're still relatively new to the game.. I have found myself nose deep in the book reading explanations of how and when a move is used occasionally whenever it comes my part of the combat. Though participating in the miniature TROS sessions with Nick and Luke has increased my knowledge of the system.

I have used terrain rolls in that mini-TROS adventure in combat against 3 NPC's vs my sorceror. I managed to make it so that I faced only one at a time.. and given the fact that my sorceror also happens to be GOD with a rapier.. he made quick work of all three of them.

If you're still wanting to explore the combat system more by playing throw-away characters and learning some tactics/strategy and moves and such..(as was indicated in an e-mail of yours) I'm on spring break this week. So set up a time to duel me online in the IRC chatroom. That comes complete with dice-rolling built-in. And keep your book handy, you'll need it.

It was in that specific chatroom where I countered Nick's attack and got confused on the wording of the description of the move.. so I had to search here and discover that the counter's attack happens in the exchange after the counter is rolled..

Also, in that mini-TROS session last time it was my sorceror vs a gol captain. I had my armor of air and acrobatics at 3.. so I was pretty cocky.
I went toe to toe with him, and finally felt overconfident enough to buy initiative once.. which I did.. and then performed a bash on the gol.. and won. Though I couldnt follow up on the opening..

We need practice, in other words Mr Cook.
-Ingenious

[Lance D. Allen]

In any case where the combatants actually declare stance, I have them roll initiative traditionally.

If they do not declare stance due some circumstance, such as one of them declaring that he was going to charge the other one before "combat" was even joined, or any other sort of reason, I don't generally drop initiative.

But yes, I have, once, hit someone for hesitating. I usually give new players a 1-time freebie, though.

[Ian.Plumb]

Hi,

Honestly, does anyone ever call, "Throw!" and apply hesitation for no-throwers?

From what I've seen in other RPGs, hesitation usually comes from those who aren't engaged by a direct opponent. The archer behind the barricade wants to know which opponents he can see, analyze their armour, calculate range bonuses, etc before deciding who to shoot.

Cheers,