Possible solution to Brian's SimB/S issue

[kenjib]

Frankly, both too clunky and doesn't fit the sequence of declarations, as you noted.  Also adds to the maneuvers list, without enough payback.

Better to have a flat rule.  F'rex, "The original attacker may parry (with a weapon not currently committed to an attack), block, or evade, using dice from his remaining combat pool, if the defender opts to aggress" would handle your suggestion more cleanly with basically the same effect.  (Possibly with dice discrepancy limits similar to SimB/S, etc.)

Yeah, I like that better.

 However, I think that preserving some risk to the original attacker remains a good thing, that this version is too strong and not representative of the reality - the momentum of your commitment to a strike is very real, even with rapiers, even with a fistful of sand, never mind longswords and poleaxes.  (Though why anyone would make a probing attack with a poleaxe...).

That's a good point, but I think that there is still a bit of risk.  When you declare the dice for your toss or stop short, you have to determine whether or not to hold some back in the case of a need to defend, so this usage depends on keeping some dice in reserve just in case.  If it's the first exchange, you risk overextending your dice pool if the defender goes on the offensive.  If it's the second exchange, you might not have any/enough dice left in the pool for defense.

So, if you want to protect yourself from an offensive attack when performing these maneuvers, you can't commit as hard to the maneuver and it won't be as effective, which does reflect your last comment about commitment.

Any comments on the one-die activation cost thing?

- Eric

Yeah, I think there should be some kind of cost associated with going offense when it's not your turn.  You've been placed on the defense because of the prior exchange, so it seems like it would take some effort to reclaim offense, even if you don't go first.  It's kind of like a minor version of buying light.

That said, I don't have any real world experience so I don't know if this accurately reflects on real practice.

[Brian Leybourne]

What I'm thinking is that maybe some sort of pool for surprise actions could be developed or something. Not much of an idea at this point, but can you see what I'm getting at? This would be good for derring do as well (think 7th Sea Drama Dice). Hmmm. Any good?

At the risk of being lynched for bringing up TFOB again, this is something that I think is a really good idea, and wrote some ideas about it in the book. Not just specifically for actual attacks and defenses, but as regards the terrain roll mechanic and some of the nifty new uses for it that we've come up with.

Brian.

[Ingenious]

Since TFOB seems to be talked of occasionally.. and given the date of mid-august for its official release at gencon(assuming the indy gencon due to the date)..when will we all be able to pre-order the thing?

-Ingenious