Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
ditto
Do you ever "call" fights?
Greenfield
Adventurer
I called a fight once, but against a player. I know that sounds weird, but...
The game was Shadow Run. Someone was selling Sim chips (virtual entertainment) with hyperviolent scenes that were causing people to act them out IRL.
PCs traced it to one particular dealer, so they tracked him, learning the "circuit" of places he dealt from.
They decided to meet him at an Orc biker bar. For some reason the female Elf "Face" character (very pretty, high charisma, good social skills) decided to go in alone. Instead of asking about the hyper violent type of sim-chip the player had her ask about BDSM type porn. She pressed for details, as in, how does one play the sub instead of the dominant,
I called it right there. The player had done every wrong thing possible, and I didn't want to play out the details of what followed. The chances of there not being a fight were zero. The chances of her winning that fight, when that heavily outnumbered (and her not being a heavy combat type) were zero. And the exactnature of the assault that would follow were best left unsaid, if you know what I mean.
Even the players at the table agreed on that one.
Oddly, the Player involved wanted to play it out. To my surprise she managed to fight her way to the door and escape. (Okay, I kind of let it happen, a bit.) Then the general fracas moved to the parking lot, where the other PCs could get involved. Serious injuries ensued, as the Orcs were, how would you say, "highly motivated".
Other than that I generally let the PCs enjoy the romp when they have to face an obviously weaker opponent. Aside from the feel-good they get, it also gives them a chance to burn resources that they might want later, when the big boys show up on the scene.
The game was Shadow Run. Someone was selling Sim chips (virtual entertainment) with hyperviolent scenes that were causing people to act them out IRL.
PCs traced it to one particular dealer, so they tracked him, learning the "circuit" of places he dealt from.
They decided to meet him at an Orc biker bar. For some reason the female Elf "Face" character (very pretty, high charisma, good social skills) decided to go in alone. Instead of asking about the hyper violent type of sim-chip the player had her ask about BDSM type porn. She pressed for details, as in, how does one play the sub instead of the dominant,
I called it right there. The player had done every wrong thing possible, and I didn't want to play out the details of what followed. The chances of there not being a fight were zero. The chances of her winning that fight, when that heavily outnumbered (and her not being a heavy combat type) were zero. And the exactnature of the assault that would follow were best left unsaid, if you know what I mean.
Even the players at the table agreed on that one.
Oddly, the Player involved wanted to play it out. To my surprise she managed to fight her way to the door and escape. (Okay, I kind of let it happen, a bit.) Then the general fracas moved to the parking lot, where the other PCs could get involved. Serious injuries ensued, as the Orcs were, how would you say, "highly motivated".
Other than that I generally let the PCs enjoy the romp when they have to face an obviously weaker opponent. Aside from the feel-good they get, it also gives them a chance to burn resources that they might want later, when the big boys show up on the scene.
ParanoydStyle
Peace Among Worlds
[MENTION=6669384]Greenfield[/MENTION]: lol that's less calling a fight than it is barring the entrance to rapetown.
All the time, but very seldom in the form of "okay this fight is over let's move to cleanup/bookeeping". Generally speaking if there are any intelligent enemies, well, they have self preservation, so I'd imagine they would notice they were getting their asses kicked and run away or surrender. Magical beasts and animals, even non-intelligent ones, still have self preservation. If PCs REALLY want to murder the surrendering foes (DEFINITELY an evil act) or chase down/backshoot the fleeing enemies, they can do so, but there's no need to bother with rolling dice. In my experience, PCs usually don't feel the need to "give no quarter", especially if they understand that a routed, captured, (or at my table, circumvented) foe is worth just as much XP as one you kill.
With things like constructs and elementals you can't really do that. In those cases if the party was clearly winning I'd just fudge down their hit-points so we could get to the next scene. But my main point was about intelligent enemies, where whether the DM feels like calling the fight seems less the issue than when are they going to run away/give up?
Older editions of D&D had fairly in-depth rules for morale which I think were probably not necessary.
All the time, but very seldom in the form of "okay this fight is over let's move to cleanup/bookeeping". Generally speaking if there are any intelligent enemies, well, they have self preservation, so I'd imagine they would notice they were getting their asses kicked and run away or surrender. Magical beasts and animals, even non-intelligent ones, still have self preservation. If PCs REALLY want to murder the surrendering foes (DEFINITELY an evil act) or chase down/backshoot the fleeing enemies, they can do so, but there's no need to bother with rolling dice. In my experience, PCs usually don't feel the need to "give no quarter", especially if they understand that a routed, captured, (or at my table, circumvented) foe is worth just as much XP as one you kill.
With things like constructs and elementals you can't really do that. In those cases if the party was clearly winning I'd just fudge down their hit-points so we could get to the next scene. But my main point was about intelligent enemies, where whether the DM feels like calling the fight seems less the issue than when are they going to run away/give up?
Older editions of D&D had fairly in-depth rules for morale which I think were probably not necessary.
Err... did it occur to you that the player was into a bit of BDSM fantasy her(?)self? This looks like
an obvious setup by the player.
Greenfield
Adventurer
No, the player kind of forgot who and what he was playing, and where and with who the character was.
I
Immortal Sun
Guest
That seems...odd.
I mean realistically that potential outcome wouldn't even be on the table, regardless of how potentially possible it actually was. Gets beat up and thrown out of the bar, sure. Gets beat up and gets raped, I mean, lets be realistic here:
Either you players know rape is a possible outcome in your games, and they're okay with it.
OR
They don't and they're not okay with it.
Because there's sort of a conflict of the description of the setup "The pretty elf girl was gonna get her ass kicked and then raped." and the fact that you held you hand up and said "No, not gonna happen."
I'm not trying to be confrontational here but I'm just really confused. Why was the possibility of rape, even off screen, after a defeat even on the table if you don't want it to happen? Realism for realism's sake? Reality sucks. That's why we pretend to be pretty elves.
Eh, then why was the pretty elf PC asking orc bikers about BDSM fantasies with her as the sub? Given that that was nothing to do with the plot!
Imaculata
Hero
I call fights all the time. No need to draw out a boring battle where the players are just swatting away at the last few remaining hitpoints. Also, I have enemies surrender or flee when they are about to die. Not every enemy in my campaign fights to the death. This also helps shorten fights.
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Greenfield
Adventurer
She wasn't asking the Orcs anything. She was asking a pirate SIM dealer about BDSM porn. She just happened to be a pretty Elf in an Orc biker bar when she did it!
The player may have been playing a personal fetish, or may have been trying to play his character's presumed personal fetish, but over all the player just wasn't thinking. It happens.
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