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General Info
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How do I run combat?
- Determine your combat/game type
- Figure out your combat 'ritual'
- Make sure combat runs smoothly
- Offload tasks on your players
Figure out your combat 'ritual'
Once you know what rules system you'll be using, and have practiced combat both on your own and with your players, you'll be able to figure out what your ritual or procedure for combat is. This is the process you follow every time when running combat, so everyone knows what to expect, combat flows smoothly and predictably, and you don't forget anyone.
Here's an example of combat ritual in action, using Hero System. Moriah is speed six; Thunderbird and Zephyr are speed fours, and N2 is speed three.
(For those unfamiliar with Hero, one 'turn' is composed of twelve 1-second segments. Each character gets a number of actions per turn equal to their Speed characteristic. The Speed Chart shows when those actions, or 'phases,' occur in the twelve second turn. For example, a character with a speed of two would act on segment six and twelve; a character with a speed of three would act on segments four, eight, and twelve.)
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "It's the top of phase four -- all the speed three and six folks will go. Please be ready to tell me what you do when I call on you in initiative order. Thunderbird, you're speed five, so start thinking about what you're going to do when you go on phase five. Zephyr, you have a held action from phase three. Remember, you'll lose that hold if you've not used it by your next action in uh... in phase six."
(OOC) Zephyr says, "I know. I'm still holding, though, so I can coordinate with Thunderbird on five. Go on."
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "Okay. Phase four, no held actions. Moriah, you're speed six, and N2 is speed three, so you both have an action. Moriah, you have the higher DEX, so you go first. What do you want to do?"
(OOC) Moriah says, "I'd like to throw the fiery bad guy so he falls in front of N2."
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "Okay, sounds reasonable. Roll your attack."
(OOC) Moriah rolls 3d6 for 7.
(OOC) LibertyGM rolls 3d6 for 13.
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "Okay, Moriah, you made that handily. He goes down in front of N2. Write that up for the logs, please. N2, Moriah has just tripped the fire elemental right at your feet. What do you do?"
(OOC) N2 says, "I entangle him with ice!"
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "Okay, roll to hit, and remember his DCV is halved. If you get him, roll 6d6."
(OOC) N2 rolls 3d6 for 6.
(OOC) N2 says, "Got him, easy!"
(OOC) N2 rolls 6d6 for 24 stun and 5 body.
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "You got him, N2. Type that up and hit enter any time after Moriah's got her pose out."
Moriah springs athletically down to behind the fiery attacker in front of N2, sweeping one long hind leg out to knock him off his feet before he's even recovered from shooting the streamer of fire at her icily impervious teammate. The bad guy falls with a yell, and she grins over his prone body at N2, her fangs showing, "All yours, buddy!"
N2 grins at Moriah, then sternly says to the fallen thug, "See what happens when you attack Liberty, the defenders of St. Louis?! Crime doesn't pay!" Ice shoots from his palms, thoroughly entangling and smothering the flaming villain.
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "Ooookay, he's not breaking free any time soon. ;-) Anything else, anyone?"
(OOC) Thunderbird says, "Got him! High 5 to Moriah!"
(OOC) Moriah grins and high-5's N2 back! "Yeah! I'm done, GM."
(OOC) Zephyr says, "Still holding."
(OOC) Thunderbird says, "Good work, team. GM, I'm ready for five."
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "Bottom of four, then, about to go to phase five -- Thunderbird, this will be your action. Speeds four and six, be ready for phase six."
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "And... it's now top of phase five. Zephyr, still want to use your hold now? Thunderbird, when you're ready..."
(OOC) Zephyr says, "Yeah. We're going to coordinate -- TBird's aiming and waiting for me to blow away the dumpster that the martial artist is hiding behind so he can shoot her."
(OOC) Thunderbird says, "Right. Forward observer skills are active and fully functional."
(OOC) LibertyGM says, "Okay, top of phase five -- speed fives go now. You've already told me what you want to do, TBird, and Zephyr is going to use his hold now. Zeph, TBird, roll your coordination rolls, then Zeph roll your attack first, followed by TBird. Tell me what DCV you hit, and if you both hit I'll have you roll your damage. Phase six is next, so all the speed four and six players need to start thinking about what they'll do then."
Note the organized way the GM is handling combat. The actual numbers within the particular system don't matter so much as that the GM knows exactly who goes when, and where the combat is. He's notifying players that should go, to do so, and notifying players that will go soon to start considering their actions. He uses the same procedure every time to alert folks, i.e. top of phase four, followed by the actual phase, followed by bottom of four... and then on to top of five, etc. This lets players keep up on where the combat is, and not get confused as to who goes when.
This GM is also not waiting for everyone to finish typing. Instead he okay's intended character actions, and personally handles with each player the parts of combat only he can mediate (the mechanical parts), then leaves it up to them to type up the results -- while he moves on to mediate mechanics with the next person.
- Determine your combat/game type
- Figure out your combat 'ritual'
- Make sure combat runs smoothly
- Offload tasks on your players
Back to the GMing FAQ page.