I have a question regarding multiple player vs multiple npcs combat… maybe some one here clear it up for me.
In the books the example given is a single pc vs multiple npcs and is really clear, but how do you handle lets say a 4v4 when players have different plans on how to act? Is it still a single “Open fire” roll for the whole group? If so… how do you determine the individual fate of each pc participating in the combat? If multiple rolls are necessary how do you determine the final outcome of the overall engagement?
What open fire can take care of depends on the character. You have a doctor with a stun pistol and a cyborg with sniper drones. One of these can take out four guys with an Open Fire, the other cannot.
Yep, fiction first.
Further: the negotiation as to what is possible with an open fire roll comes before the roll:
“Can I shoot all four of them?” / “Not from here, but maybe if you can get up above in the cat walk”
“I don’t want to kill them, can I wound with this slug thrower?” / “Sure but it will take time to setup your shot. You can wound one, or kill all of them, your choice”
Roger that… i think i understand how to handle it if one player is involved it gets confusing to me when multiple players want to act in coordination.
Let’s say the players want to storm an enemy camp as a group. Within the player’s group you have both experts and novices when it comes to combat but all want to participate and it was decided by the gm that the group could in fact realistically take on the enemy position.
How do i handle that?
I’m sorry this is our first time trying this system and all this freedom is confusing our pretty little heads!
Regards!
Ignacio M some options:
– All players choose a single target, roll off against them. This is probably the most straight forward.
– One player takes the lead, directing the team over comms. They roll and others will Get Involved (I have never considered multiple Get Involved rolls – it would probably have to be a chain of A helps B who helps C who helps D).
– A combo of both. Two combat experts take point, one going for the guys in the rafters, the other taking the ones in the hall. The other players Get Involved as needed with the skills they have – even making themselves a distraction.
It’s important that the GM sets up how the threats are divided, like I did with the rafters/hall thing. It needs to be clear they’re not facing a clump of 4 guys in an empty room.
I see, that was really helpful! Thanks!
/sub
As Aaron Griffin said, the GM can divide or group enemies into individual Threats, each with it’s own Imma Gonna Do a Bad Thing Unless You Stop Me ™ clause.
If all the characters involved are the kind to actively engage their own target, then you can divide your 4 enemies into 4 Threats, and let the characters pick their dance partners. (“You take the ugly one” “No you take the ugly one”… “Which one is the ugly one?”)
A fun thing that you can do with the Threats is that you can purposefully make them uneven, to create new dynamics and give different character archetypes/builds a chance to shine.
For example, if you had 4 PCs vs 8 enemies. You could say that there are 4 teams of 2. But you could also say that there is a strike force of 5 soldiers, a sniper, a mech-suit pilot and an informant who’s running away. That’s still 4 Threats, but they need to be approached very differently, and the players will need to figure out which character’s skills and strengths should be matched against which Threat.
Remember also that one failed roll by the PCs could bring in reinforcements or other complications that could cause one or more PCs to have to break off their current plan to deal with the new crisis. The thing about this system that can sometimes be confusing is that you have to get out of the d20 structured combat mentality. This is a story game where combat plays out like a movie, not like d&d. So you have to think “what would this look like on screen”. If you can master that you will have no problem.
That’s very true. Consider a single Threat against multiple PCs. A single roll from one of the PCs could:
– Eliminate that Threat (if they have the narrative “positioning” to do so)
– Transform that Threat (partial success; that particular Threat is gone, but creates a new one or gives an opening to a new one)
– Compound the Threat (old one not defeated, and now there’s a new one either shows up or is created by the first Threat’s success)