harn
Petri Wessman
> As you have probably realized the game mechanics are quite detailed and
> realistic giving the game a nice feel. The combat is especially nice with
> weapons having a variety of aspects (blunt,edge,point) so you can choose what
> kind of damage to do to your apponent...so at last rules that successfully
> let you back hand the flat of the sword to someone!!!!
Yup, I liked the blunt/edge/point aspect thingy too. In all the combat
systems I've seen before, a sword is a sword and you cut with it,
period. If the players encounter comething that is more easily hurt by
impact damage (or if they want to knock someone out with the broad of
the blade), too bad. Rolemaster GMs would probably roll out the
patented "Bludgeon Creature With Blunt Part of Sharp Thingy" skill,
found on page 527 of RMC XXXI :-)
I also liked the fact that just about the only limiting factor in
combat *and* spell casting is fatigue. No more vague "spell points" or
"power levels" when casting spells, and in my (limited) martial arts
experience fighting tires you out *fast* -- depends on the weapon of
course, swinging a light sword isn't as physical as kicking someone on
the head :-) A lot of medieval battle scenes have two combatants just
leaning on their swords, panting, both too tired to continue the
battle. I've rarely seen that if frpgs.
>Neil Mackie |"My wife said she was going to put the dinner on.
>Chemistry Department | Imagine my surprise when she walked in the living
>Colorado State University | room with a freshly made casserole poured over her
>Fort Collins CO80523 | head. How we laughed on the way to the burns unit".
*grin* I just added that quote to my quotes collection...
//Petri
David Summers
>Yup, I liked the blunt/edge/point aspect thingy too. In all the combat
>systems I've seen before, a sword is a sword and you cut with it,
>period. If the players encounter comething that is more easily hurt by
>impact damage (or if they want to knock someone out with the broad of
>the blade), too bad. Rolemaster GMs would probably roll out the
>patented "Bludgeon Creature With Blunt Part of Sharp Thingy" skill,
>found on page 527 of RMC XXXI :-)
I'm sure Harnmaster is a fine system but just for the record there
are other systems that distinguish between cruching/impaling/cutting
damage. GURPS does and I'm sure there are others (Hero?).
>I also liked the fact that just about the only limiting factor in
>combat *and* spell casting is fatigue. No more vague "spell points" or
>"power levels" when casting spells, and in my (limited) martial arts
>experience fighting tires you out *fast* -- depends on the weapon of
>course, swinging a light sword isn't as physical as kicking someone on
>the head :-) A lot of medieval battle scenes have two combatants just
>leaning on their swords, panting, both too tired to continue the
>battle. I've rarely seen that if frpgs.
Again, both Hero and GURPS (and probably others) use fatigue. I don't
want to slam Harn. I get the impression it's a nice system (though
perhaps a bit too detailed for me) and the world books are all of
good quality. However, it is not unique in the point listed above.
--
________________________
(Disclaimer: If NASA had any postion on any of this do you think they
would have ME give it?)
David Summers - Sum...@Max.ARC.NASA.Gov
Leif Magnar Kj|nn|y
David Summers <sum...@max.arc.nasa.gov> wrote:
>In article <PETRI.WESSMAN...@lk-hp-18.hut.fi> Petri....@hut.fi writes:
>>Yup, I liked the blunt/edge/point aspect thingy too. In all the combat
>>systems I've seen before, a sword is a sword and you cut with it,
>>period. If the players encounter comething that is more easily hurt by
>>impact damage (or if they want to knock someone out with the broad of
>>the blade), too bad. Rolemaster GMs would probably roll out the
>>patented "Bludgeon Creature With Blunt Part of Sharp Thingy" skill,
>>found on page 527 of RMC XXXI :-)
>
>I'm sure Harnmaster is a fine system but just for the record there
>are other systems that distinguish between cruching/impaling/cutting
>damage. GURPS does and I'm sure there are others (Hero?).
Well, yes; however, Harnmaster is the only system I've seen so far that
lists blunt, edged, *and* pointed impact ratings for each weapon, rather than
just stating what type of damage the weapon does. Thus, a typical sword
might have an impact rating of 5 edged, but only 3 blunt, for example. (The
system also differentiates between weapons that *can* be used in one particular
mode but aren't very good for it, which will give an impact rating of 0, such
as trying to cut someone with a stiletto made for thrusting, and weapons that
*can't* be used in a particular mode, such as trying to slice someone apart
with a mace, which would have an edged impact rating listed as "--" if I
don't remember wrong (the latter 2/3 of this paragraph has been nominated for
the February Longest Run-on Sentenct in Parentheses Award by the International
Board of Language Flamers)).
>>I also liked the fact that just about the only limiting factor in
>>combat *and* spell casting is fatigue. No more vague "spell points" or
>>"power levels" when casting spells, and in my (limited) martial arts
>>experience fighting tires you out *fast* -- depends on the weapon of
>>course, swinging a light sword isn't as physical as kicking someone on
>>the head :-) A lot of medieval battle scenes have two combatants just
>>leaning on their swords, panting, both too tired to continue the
>>battle. I've rarely seen that if frpgs.
>
>Again, both Hero and GURPS (and probably others) use fatigue. I don't
>want to slam Harn. I get the impression it's a nice system (though
>perhaps a bit too detailed for me) and the world books are all of
>good quality. However, it is not unique in the point listed above.
Yah, fatigue as used by these three systems is a fairly good idea, which I
suppose is why they use it. However, Harnmaster uses fatigue a lot more
directly (it's subtracted from damn near ALL your skills) than GURPS (and I
suppose Hero) does. IME, fatigue doesn't normally become an issue in GURPS
combats (maybe because I've only run ones that were over pretty quickly,
where the PCs either were sufficiently more powerful than the opposition to
overcome them in a short and sharp attack, or else either got shot or ran away
(a lot of my players tend to be of the cowardly, err... *careful* presuasion).
BTW, Harnmaster is fairly detailed, but GURPS can easily become more detailed.
There are a lot more pages of GURPS rules, anyway, even for fantasy only.
--
Leif Kj{\o}nn{\o}y (lei...@kari.fm.unit.no)
GS/M -d+(-) -p+(-) c++ l+ u e+ m---(*) s++/++ n+(--) h f+ g++(-) w+ t- r++ y?
"All a man hath will he give for life? For life that's lost bleeds all over
me. I'd fallen before but it never hurt like this..." -- my dying bride
David Summers
>In article <1994Feb10....@news.arc.nasa.gov>,
>Well, yes; however, Harnmaster is the only system I've seen so far that
>lists blunt, edged, *and* pointed impact ratings for each weapon, rather than
>just stating what type of damage the weapon does. Thus, a typical sword
>might have an impact rating of 5 edged, but only 3 blunt, for example. (The
>system also differentiates between weapons that *can* be used in one particular
>mode but aren't very good for it, which will give an impact rating of 0, such
>as trying to cut someone with a stiletto made for thrusting, and weapons that
>*can't* be used in a particular mode, such as trying to slice someone apart
>with a mace, which would have an edged impact rating listed as "--" if I
>don't remember wrong (the latter 2/3 of this paragraph has been nominated for
>the February Longest Run-on Sentenct in Parentheses Award by the International
>Board of Language Flamers)).
I can't speak for the other systems but in GURPS, for example, a Halberd
can be swung with the axe blade to do +5 cutting damage, it can be
swung with the pointy part to do +4 impaling damage, or one can thrust
the other pointy part to do +3 impaling damage. It gives rules for using
the broad side of a blade and a broad sword with a thrusting point
does +2 impaling damage and one without does +1 crushing. I agree that
getting away from "all weapons are the same except for the +2" is a
good thing but I don't think either Harn or GURPS is unique in that
regard.
John Cooper
>leaning on their swords, panting, both too tired to continue the
>battle. I've rarely seen that if frpgs.
Right, because that is B-O-R-I-N-G! Realism is nice when it brings a
meaningful level of consistency and plausibility to the game world, but
MUNDANE realism is about as exciting as doing one's taxes. This is
only MHO, so please feel free to ignore it. :)
-John
Petri Wessman
Point taken :-) What I meant was that it was refreshing to see a game
system place (IMHO) enough importance on fatigue. I agree that realism
isn't all that much of a Good Idea when it goes over the top... and
after all, in a "realistic" medieval game the players would work the
fields all day long, be abused by local governors and the like, and
die an early death due to poor diet and disease :-)
//Petri