My players might end up being in a firefight in our next session. I get how open fire works, in general. But, how does it work with multiple PCs involved?
My players might end up being in a firefight in our next session.
My players might end up being in a firefight in our next session.
Get involved. Or multiple enemies. Each pc faces a squad or some other obstacle that must be overcome
Sorry. That didn’t answer the question. It’s the get involved action. The main combatant drives the bus but the other pcs can narrate how they help the combat. That’s the simplest question.
What if there are like four players in a fire fight
Then have 4 obstacles. Remember that they aren’t just standing still and shooting. Maybe one tries to clear obstacles, one tries to open or close an escape route, one lays down cover fire and one is the main combatant. Or one is using stealth, one is jamming com signals, one is guarding a the way out. Make an obstacle for each PC to over come. Then you don’t have 4 people in a fire fight
Multiple threats. Group your enemies by task (one group laying down covering fire, one pressing to seize the McGuffin) or weaponry (oh, they have a plasma gun), or just location. The number of threats will determine how many unpleasant choices the PC’s have to make about who they help and who they leave to fend for themselves (and get in more trouble). Equal numbers of threats means tough choices. One threat per two PCs makes it pretty easy, unless they roll badly and dig themselves a hole.
Ok here’s where I think the book could use a discussion of “scale” in the fiction. This is how it works in my head:
The roll for combat determines who gets to narrate the combat. And obviously no one is going to narrate “then I get shot and pass out” – you’re gonna narrate yourself being awesome. But exactly HOW awesome?
Well that depends on scale. Your grizzled war vet might be able to take down 3-4 flunkies with one roll, or 1-2 named guys, because he knows his thing and matches that scale. Dr Clark, the skilled robophysician? He can probably incapacitate with a roll, but not take out 4.
The book covers this from a different angle when it talks about grouping threats. I prefer to thing of grouping them based on protagonist skill.
Chalice In Chains Normally I would agree. But it’s like a showdown situation that was brewing.
You make combat meaningful by having stakes beyond “kill the other guy”. Not by rolling a lot more. Add hostages, or times explosives, or hacking attempts, or anything else to divide their attention during the firefight.
Aaron Griffin what about an old fashioned showdown?
If I recall my Spaghetti Westerns, a showdown is usually one shot, isn’t it? Like high noon, lots of twitching and glancing meaningfully when the camera is zoomed in on the eyes, then BANG. 😛
But seriously, if it’s one enemy against all the PCs, ask which of them initiates the combat, then roll.
Describe how the enemy is kicking the first character’s ass(6-) or how they’re dodging/deflecting everything (7-9) or how they’re holding their own (10+) then leave an opening and ask the next character “how to you step in”.
Fling the first character out of the way/pull the camera away, then continue the showdown with the new character who rolls Get Involved (potentially saving the first character if they rolled low, or potentially interfering if the initial combat roll was high and the Get Involved was a failure).
Have this obvious badass enemy exchange a super rapid fire exchange with each character one by one, using them against each other (“he grabs W by the arm, throwing him into X, then kickflips off Y’s face and up onto the walkway, Z, what do you do?”). Give each participant a chance to shine, and let their Open Fire/Launch Assault + (Get Involved * n) create an aggregate success level.
Thanks!