Boring players!!

[daagon]

I'm running a game at the moment, set in Middle Earth, and my players always seem to go for strikes to the head...   like always! This makes combat (for me at least) very dull...   Even when I give their opponents helmets, it doesn't seem to change their mind!

How would a house rule sound that stops any combatant from targeting the same zone twice in a row. Or even making some rules similar to that Swashbuckling game (sorry, the name has evaded me for the time being) where a certain move can only be followed up by a choice of other moves, thus making combat flow more like a real fight.

Due to the momentum of the weapon I can't see how "chop to head" can be continually followed by "chop to head" without the enemy getting wise to the tactic!

Have you guys had similar problems?

[Mayhem1979]

To avoid this... if they go for the same zone twice in a row against a single target, give the target bonus dice for defending that zone.  Make sure your players know you've done this. If they ask why, explain tot hem that the opponent not even having to move his weapon to defend helps him a lot.

[Half-Baked]

If that doesn't work give them the extra dice and have them attack with a simultaneous Block/Strike manuveur (presuming they have Sword and Shield). That might make them think twice.

[nsruf]

Even when I give their opponents helmets, it doesn't seem to change their mind!

How do the PCs even survive against opponents with full helms? If the players use such feeble tactics, their enemies would be at a huge advantage.

Or do you use the optional rules that any hit to the head can cause shock, even if there is no wound? Consider dropping it if you do.

[ZenDog]

Perhaps some sort of cumlative penalty after striking  the same area three times in a row, f'rex -1 on the 4th strike, -2 on the 5th.

I mean even the dumbest thug will quickly cotton on, if their enemy's only seem to know one sword strike.

Punish them then, gut them with a rusty spoon.

If they challenge you on it, ask them how successful they think a proffesional boxer would be who only ever threw a right hook to the head, and no other punches, justt kept coming with the right hook.  No matter how ggod that right hook was I don't think our man would be heading for pay per view glory.

If they can't understand that you're in trouble.

[Caz]

Another thing you could do, is if your opponent recognizes the PC's are only attacking to the head, they could hold their shields overhead negating the target, or simply leave their weapon in a guard that negates that angle of attack.  The PC's would then be idiots to attempt to keep striking that way, they'd have no choice but to vary if they want to damage their enemies.

[Edge]

full helms aren't going to be an issue if they are halfswording which is what my players do. Half sword and thrust to the head.

One way around this is to use the house rule of allowing a defender to gain 1-3 dice bonus for parrying or blocking one location at the detriment of other locations (same amount of dice lost for all other areas)

[Dain]

One thing that is kind of heartless...but effective...is the "if you do it to me, then I do it to you" approach. I.E. if the opponent sees a character being that bloodthirsty, they have absolutely no motivation to be polite in turn (unless they are a freaking paladin or something or are on a mission SPECIFICALLY to take prisoners). If it's obvious your character's intent is unconditional slaughter, the enemy has a real motivation to be just as violent as he wants to live too. Each player only has one character. Once they see that escalating the violence is resulting in increased likelihood of their own heads popping off of their bodies, they should realize they are slicing their own throats, and they should chill out a bit...just out of self-preservation. Of course this assumes that they see you are adjusting the violence level of the opponents according to their level of violence. If they see that when they go for wounds and consider taking prisoners that the enemy tones it down too they may rethink the bloodthirst a bit.

If you're not comfortable with that harsh of a stand, most all of the above suggestions seem reasonable to me.

[clehrich]

Even without modifications, it seems to me that if you have equal-toughness (to the PC's) enemies wearing serious helms, and the enemies use intelligent tactics, the PC's are going to die die die.  I'd say give them a model to follow: let them watch you tear them apart with intelligent tactics, and one of these days they're going to pick something up.

Another fun thing would be a friendly NPC who's a very good fighter, you know, with cranked scores.  When they get into a fight, the NPC fights very carefully, whacking off hands for example, then pressing an advantage, or using bind/strike moves, or whatever.  At any rate, he never goes for the head until the enemy is so zonked that he's got no CP at all, and then it's a massive all-in strike to lop the head right off; even better, he never ever goes for the head, and instead wastes his enemies by lopping off legs and then stepping away from their floundering bodies.  If the PC's look up to the NPC, the NPC can remark on their fighting styles after they've seen him be way cool.  "How come you always go for the head?  That's where everyone's armored, you know, and you leave your middle open to do it, etc."  That way they can get positive reinforcement as well as negative.

But mostly, I say kick their asses by using intelligent tactics on them.  School of hard knocks, baby.

Incidentally, you might show them the little combat simulator for TROS.  Run a few duels that way and you learn REAL fast that going for the head all the time gets you dead, fast.

Chris Lehrich

[kenjib]

Two optional rules in the book to help you.

Page 239 (already mentioned by others):  1 die CP penalty for using the same maneuver and or location more than once in a row.

Page 234 (not mentioned yet):  Optional modifiers for striking at different zones gives a -1 CP penalty for thrusts to the head, which covers half swording.

These two rules combined will give a -2 CP penalty for repeated attempts to half sword to the head.

[nsruf]

full helms aren't going to be an issue if they are halfswording which is what my players do. Half sword and thrust to the head.

They still attack a well-armored location (at a 1 die penalty, if using hit location rules) where they could use the same attack against a  less protected location (e.g. chest at no penalty). That's what I call a disadvantage (of course, if the head armor is weakest, attacking there is a good option). If the PCs still win easily every time, the opponents are too weak or using bad tactics. That's ok for mooks, but always going for the head of an equal or superior opponent should be dumb (without slapping on arbitrary additional penalties, which many players would take an offense at). Example:

I don't have too much experience with the combat system, but my impression so far is that against an opponent with a shield, your best tactic is to attack the weapon arm or legs with a swing (provided you use the hit location rules for +1 CP). Unless you can threaten with a massive amount of dice, the shield bearer may be able to pull off a sim block/strike and skewer you.

[Blankshield]

Or have a high-reflex NPC beat (or bind) their sword.  They'll feel a bit silly when the second exchange comes around and they can't use their sword because it's out of line.  Then they'll feel a bit dead.

James

[[MKF]Kapten]

Heh, I have had the opposite problems; all PCs aim for the arms and legs all the time with cuts and at the torso with thrusts. Often headstrikes are more spectacular than gamebreaking; one lvl 2 wound+ is enough no matter where you strike.

[nsruf]

Heh, I have had the opposite problems; all PCs aim for the arms and legs all the time with cuts and at the torso with thrusts.

Why is that a problem? Sounds pretty much as it should be.

[Brian Leybourne]

Gotta go with Nsruf on this one. Arms are closer to you and legs are usually less well defended/armored, making them often better targets (which is held up by the optional attack bonuses). Arm/leg attacks make a lot of sense and that holds up historically too.

Brian.