1001 Cool Combat Locations

[seasong]

I don't have a list of specific locales, but here's two "modifiers" to a locale that I sometimes throw in for cool combat scenes (note: these replicate a lot of what has been said prior as well).

160) Combat in motion. Whether on the back of a horse, a canoe, a steam train or a flying carpet, the landscape is whizzing by. Falling may hurt or not hurt, but mainly it results in you being left behind. A platform that is moving slightly slower than running (or swimming, or whathaveyou) is particularly interesting, as it allows desparate attempts to return to the combat. As with #161 below, the platform can be very narrow or somewhat wide; a narrow one requires constant checks not to fall off, while a wide one doesn't, but DOES allow tactics that attempt to shove the other person off.

161) Combat up high. Falling off the platform does damage, and results in a long path back to the platform. One fun combat from years and years ago had wires strung beneath the platform - on a fall, you got three dexterity checks to catch one (the further you fell, the more damage catching it did). Then it was a long climb back up... and since the PCs were defending a power center up there, they couldn't just leave it.

 

[Ruined]

Okay, provided this works, here is the compilation up to # 167. There was a numbering problem on the board in the late 140s, so Seasong's two entries were 166 and 167.

I'll try to keep it updated more over the next day, but someone else may want to volunteer for the task. I'm journeying to Mississippi for a few days, and internet access will be limited *gasp*

[btw, it does not have author credit. That's the breaks.]

 

[blackshirt5]

This was the end battle to the Tree of Knowleedge until I had it pointed out how annnoying it was to follow the action by one of the playtesters.

If you want another good setup, goto my freestuff page and download the Thieves Den Tuesday's Two-Pager. The rogues are against you and so is the floor.

Duly noted, I might change that then(that was actually gonna be a very long combat encounter next week).

Hey, I noticed you're in Edison. I'm in Iselin, next town over. do you have a game, or are you looking for one?

 

[Jeph]

168) In a sea of $$, doesn't matter what kind. Maybe it's the abandoned hoard of a dragon. There's something moving under all that gil, and it's heading towards us . . .

 

[barsoomcore]

Okay, provided this works, here is the compilation up to # 167.

Woot! Thanks, theRuinedOne.

I'll go through once we run out of steam, pull all the duplicates, try and pretty it up some.

But we've got more ideas, don't we? Don't we?

 

[Pielorinho]

One more note about what makes for fun combat scenes: PROPS!

On a ship, this means having anchors, ropes, sails, barrels, trap doors, and lifeboats. In a market, this means carts, passersby, donkeys, fruit stands, canopies, cooking fires, carpet stands. In an alchemist shop, this means - well, it means everything in the shop.

Normal D&D combat tends to go like this:
Player 1: I swing my sword! I hit for 7 points of damage!
Player 2: I cast magic missile! I do 12 points of damage!
Player 3: I attack with my dagger! I miss!
DM: The dragon swipes five times at the fighter! It does 43 points of damage!
Player 4: I heal the fighter! I heal him for 25 points of damage!

You want tools to break this up, and I think you can do this in a few different ways:
1) Add in cool window-dressing (e.g., the storm blowing up in the background, with lightning punctuating the darkness every few rounds)
2) Add in weird features that force new dice rolls or cause other effects that are out of anyone's control (e.g., balance checks to avoid falling on the deck of the storm-tossed ship)
3) Add in features that the enemies use (e.g., the sailors-turned-ghouls are scuttling down the ship's rigging)
4) Add in features that the PCs can use (e.g., that lifeboat that the barbarian can throw on top of the wizard to cut off his line of sight)

My most memorable fights are ones in which at least half the PCs' actions involved something weird -- whether that was shimmying down chains with daggers held between their teeth, or yanking someone over the edge of a roof and dropping them onto the street, or throwing a lifeboat over an enemy and sitting down on it. They're not any more work to run, as long as everyone's willing to let you play fast and loose with the rules, and they're exhilirating.

Okay, back to listing!

Daniel

 

[Sejs]

*CRASH through a stained glass window*

I love the idea of fighting on the cathedral while the wedding of a friend/loved one is going on inside, heh. But I'll up you one:

*CRASH thru the ceiling right before the I dos*



169. On a freight truck, driven and guarded by hostiles; the truck containing an extremely potent biological WMD with a pony nuke dead-man switch incase the bio weapon's containment is breached.

(Did it in a Shadowrun game. One of most enjoyable runs I've ever had the pleasure to take part in.)

 

[Jeph]

If you want cool action, just ask for it. This was one of my players before we started Feng Shui:

"I shoot the displacer beast with an arrow."

This was the opening scene of Feng Shui:

"I kick the lobster tank, and lunge backwards, sliding along the wet floor to the kitchen, while spraying bullets at Happy Cho!"

This was how characters defended before Feng Shui:

"My AC is 15."

After:

"I grab his wrist, then flip him over my head and do a reverse-kick to his hand, sending the knife flying up to stick in the cieling!"

You get the picture.

 

[D-rock]

170: In a musium at night where you can hear sounds that are not just the walls creaking. Ahh musium the old modern day classic.

171: Climbing a tower where the stairway is on the outside, and every so often you come upon illusionary stairs that aren't their and invisible stairs that are there, and you only have so much time to get to the top.

172: A room where you have to fight to get across and the only way through it is by swingin on rings hanging from chains on the cealing

173: Three dimensional maze with varible gravity (a real pain to keep track of even with the map)

 

[Kugar]

174: An oversized chessboard with 30' pieces and you are NOT forced to move like a piece

175: Shrunken and on the head of a pin