Do RPGs worry too much or not enough about drawing weapons & what is in your hands?

[frankthedm]

[imagel]http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/1955/92231.jpg[/imagel] Forked from: Two Weapon Fighter's minor action to draw or sheath
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Originally posted by fissionessence
... how strict are you with enforcing economy of actions when it comes to drawing and sheathing weapons?
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Game rules examples

D&D 1E: IIRC some official character sheets had a spot to write in what item was being held in hand.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2E: Taking out a weapon takes half an action, [called a Ready], but you get to put away one other object at the same time, something fairly unique in RPG system. A special talent is available to take this half action once per round, for free, called quickdraw. Talents however can not be cherry picked like feats like in D&D post 3E. You also must have out a melee weapon to be able to defend against melee attacks at all.

Savage Worlds XE : Taking out a weapon takes your action, leaving you with just your movement for the round. You can also take a significant penalty on your dice rolls for a round to draw the weapon out and do another action, like say, attack. An edge called Quickdraw is available, but edges are very valuable things in SW. if you don't have a melee weapon out, you suffer a signifigant penalty to melee defenses

 

[Krensky]

I'd say no, since it's an element related to the feel of combat. Some are very strict, some or very lenient.

Adding my own current favorite to the list opf examples:

Spycraft 2.0: Drawing, holstering, or picking up an object is a half action if you don't move, or a free action if combined with movement. You can manipulate one two handed weapon per action, or two one handed weapons. The Quick Draw feat lets you take two Draw/Holster/Pickup or Reload actions for free a round. It's also a prerequiste for Snake Strike which allows you, as a free action once per opponent per combat, to draw a weapon you haven't used this fight, make a Feint, and if successful add a die of Sneak Attack to the next attack.

 

[Dyson Logos]

The question in the title is really vague, as it depends significantly on the game. Most games I play in have very short combat rounds, so drawing a weapon either takes a round, an action in the round, or causes a penalty on other actions that round. However, some games have long combat rounds and in those games, drawing and sheathing weapons is part of the interplay of the combat round and doesn't require rules.

Regarding WFRP2, many talents can indeed be cherrypicked much like feats in the d20 system. You just need to pick a profession that has access to that talent. I've seen players select their professions for exactly those reasons. Fortunately, not in the games I was playing.

 

[Cadfan]

I completely ignore drawing or readying weapons at the beginning of combat. I only enforce rules on changing weapons mid combat.

I do this because most drawing/readying weapon rules are really dumb and really poorly written. If a game designer ever wants me to actually use said rules, he or she needs to specify how I should treat players who proclaim that their character always travels with his weapon drawn. Then the cost of readying a weapon needs to be set so that its something big enough that I'll actually remember or that my player will care about. Then the rules for drawing weapons need to be designed to accomodate actual character weapon choices instead of just sheathed swords.

 

[Treebore]

Drawing most weapons occurs in a second or less. The main exception coming to mind is bows/crossbows, and similar in more modern games. So usually I just ignore such rules unless the combat round is real short, like 6 seconds or less. Then I see such actions becoming significant enough to make a difference. When rounds are 10 seconds or more I don't worry about it, because I assume they have weapons readied to be drawn. IE straps untied, bows/crossbows in hand, etc...

Now if I am attacking them when they think they are relatively safe, like at a Tavern for a meal/drink, then I may worry about such things. Most of the time I do not.

 

[S'mon]

I like rules that discourage switching of weapons, especially melee to missile & back. I want my axeman to be an axeman, not an axe & bow-man.

 

[Bumbles]

While in real world martial arts and weapons training, learning how to ready your weapon is essential, I'm not inclined to fret over it in game.

 

[Dyson Logos]

While in real world martial arts and weapons training, learning how to ready your weapon is essential, I'm not inclined to fret over it in game.

If anything, because it is so essential, any character above the basic beginner skill level shouldn't have to worry about it so much as they've trained how to ready and sheathe their weapon so much as part of their basic training. Thus, not fretting about it in game.

The only games where it matters to me is the modern games I play with 3 second combat rounds. In those games the reality in many situations is that it is much quicker to ditch a gun and pull out a fresh one than to reload.

 

[Ahnehnois]

(3.5e) I rarely track actions for getting out/holding nonweapon items (spell components, rods, etc.). Even for weapons, I usually don't check at the start of combat to see who had their weapon drawn. It falls under the category of things that are more trouble than they're worth, at least for my purposes.

 

[ExploderWizard]

It depends on the game and the feel it's going for. For D&D abstract wacky action, such things can be assumed and glossed over. IMHO such fiddly things like OA's, exact movement measurement,ect. are too much detail for an absreact system.

A more "bullet time" type of combat (such as advanced GURPS combat) really stresses the importance of a single second and every single second matters.

Both approaches can be fun to play.