Question about area weapons and kick some ass
The question concerns a hunter armed with a Submachine gun (3-harm close area loud reload). He bursts into a room with three mooks in it all armed with 9mm (2-harm close loud) and unloads the clip into the mooks. It’s decided that this is a kick some ass situation, the hunter rolls 7-9 partial success and decides to inflict one point of damage to all three mooks.
The main question is how much damage does he receive back? Does each mook hit him which is a boat load of damage or does he only get hit by one?
I hope the community can help a starting player understand the mechanics of the situation.
As you’ve described it it’s not “kick some ass” – personally I’d make it “act under pressure” and if the player rolls a hit it’s 3 harm to everyone in the area. If they get a 7-9 you can give them the choice of a couple of interesting outcomes – the character misses one of the mooks or they get to take some harm back.
I dunno. Unless the mooks are all caught off guard and can’t fire back (which could happen) I’d say that Kick Some Ass would trigger here. Both parties are aware of, and capable of harming each other.
As the player got a 7-9, the combatants deal their damage to each other with no extra effects. That’s 1-harm to each of the three mooks. I’d say the PC would take anywhere from 4 to 6-harm in return. 4-harm if you treat the three mooks as a group and add an extra harm for each one past the first (2+1+1=4), or 6-harm if you have each mook deal 2-harm.
Either way, the PC is going to have a rough time of it.
Ashley Munday Thanks for the answer. Maybe it’s my noobness but I just can’t see how it’s “act under pressure”, can you explain the reasoning behind this so I can better understand?
I’d use “act under pressure” as both sides don’t know the positions of each other when the hunter starts the move. Conceivably either party could end up untouched by the exchange if they surprise the other which isn’t something that tends to happen with “kick some ass.”
Ashley Munday OK got it. So in your interpretation “act under pressure” simulates surprise? If the hunter succeeds the mooks don’t Inflict harm, as established. If the hunter gets 7-9 then something interesting happens as described. If the hunter fails the mooks Inflict harm, as established. How many mooks would hit back, all individually or as a group or another damage?
Paul Rivers Act Under Pressure is what you use when no other move fits very well.
I’m on the Chris Stone-Bush side, though. I think this is Kick Some Ass, and you harm, as established, is three mooks firing back. I’d treat them as a small gang (+1 harm, +1 armor) for the purposes of a conflict like this.
Act Under Pressure is a good move for when the PC is doing something risky or dangerous. If the three mooks were completely unaware of the PC and surprised, yeah. I could see Act Under Pressure triggering here.
What happens would depend on what the player is trying to have their PC do. Cover the mooks so they can’t draw their weapons? Take down one mook as an example? Something else? Full success (10+) and partial success (7-9) are going to look very different depending on the player’s goals.
This could also just be a Keeper Move. Namely, “Tell the possible consequences and ask if they want to go ahead.” Again, what that looks like and what the consequences are depend on the player’s goals. Take out all the mooks before they can react? Sure. But you’ll make a lot of noise doing it. You want to go ahead?
There’s quite a few ways you could handle this, depending on the fictional situation and what the player is trying to achieve.
OK so in this instance area weapons would not be a good choice. If the mooks were armed with Weighted gloves/brass knuckles (1-harm hand) instead of the close weapons would the fact that you have attacked at range prevent the mooks from inflicting harm, as established?
Probably. But it depends on how close the mooks are. For Kick Some Ass to trigger, both parties have to be in a position to harm the other. If there is no way the mooks could harm the PC, either due to surprise, being out of range, or some other reason, Kick Some Ass will not trigger.
Chris Stone-Bush Got’cha so if there was enough distance between the hunter with his range weapon and the mooks without a range weapon the hunter would just inflict harm as established?
Yup. So it’s not that area weapons are a bad idea, it’s just a lone hunter attacking a group who are in a position to attack back is a bad idea. 😉
It all depends on how the narrative builds as to what happens.
Let’s rewind a bit….
You: You’re standing outside a door, probably to the conference room from what you remember of the floor plan. You can’t hear anything inside.
Them: Any light coming through the door? If I press my ear to the door can I hear anything?
You: Roll plus sharp
Them: Read a bad situation?
You: I couldn’t possibly comment
Them: 9
You: Ask me a question off the list…
Them: Any dangers I haven’t noticed?
You: Possibly the sound of someone doing something with a gun inside the room – a loud clunk sound, perhaps someone chambering a round?
Them: Okay. Sod it, I’ll kick the door in and as everyone else in here wants to kill me I’ll get in first.
You: Great! It opens easily. You see three men crouched behind the conference table with guns – look like bog standard automatic pistols – trained on the door.
that’s the keeper establishing the potential harm, a great deal of it to the hunter
Then what happens depends on what the player does next – if they trade fire with a bunch of blokes pointing guns at them, it’s “kick some ass.” Roll plus tough and have at it. Good luck sucker. If they do something like “I let fly with my gun while I dive out of the way. It’s “act under pressure” and they might do some damage as they dive, especially if they’ve advanced the move.
On the other hand if the keeper does something like:
You: Great! It opens easily. You see three men sitting at a conference table looking bored, one’s got a gun out – looks like a bog standard automatic pistol – and it looks like he’s just loaded it.
that’s the keeper establishing the potential harm, a lot less of it to the hunter
Then if the hunter wants to hose them down you could use “act under pressure” to see if they can shoot them up before they react. Alternatively it might be “kicks some ass” with lower harm established or even just “inflict harm” on the mooks if you don’t want to make a big thing out of it.
So I suppose what I’m trying to say here is it all depends on the context what moves are used and how much harm is inflicted. Go with the narrative and most of these questions just come out in the wash.
Ashley Munday Great explanation and good examples that I can easily understand.