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Improvising Encounters - hard?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4954297" data-attributes="member: 80487"><p>A sense that using a rules-heavier approach is "necessary" really kills quick improvisation. If you're "allowed" to work more thoroughly off the cuff, then it's easier.</p><p></p><p>The original <em>Traveller</em> set didn't give much game-mechanical stuff about vehicles (although there was a "starship design" sequence). If players were going to interact with, say, a tank, then it was up to the GM to decide just what information was -- in the role-playing context -- really useful in the first place. <em>If</em> that turned out to be "what happens when someone fires a bazooka at it", then one could come up with an answer that probably need not be as detailed as the game <em>Tobruk</em>.</p><p></p><p>The <em>Mercenary</em> supplement gave stats for heavy weapons, and the <em>Striker</em> miniatures rules offered not only systems for having those interact with armor but also design sequences of cumbersome complexity.</p><p></p><p>Never mind such obvious irrelevancies as cubic liters of electrical system, or ground pressure; do I <em>really</em> need to look up and cross-index a bunch of factors to resolve the shot?</p><p></p><p>Most of the time, my answer is "No!" That's just going to hold up the game. I can eyeball a "reasonable" probability that the tank gets disabled, let a player roll, and keep the action going one way or the other based on the outcome.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 4954297, member: 80487"] A sense that using a rules-heavier approach is "necessary" really kills quick improvisation. If you're "allowed" to work more thoroughly off the cuff, then it's easier. The original [i]Traveller[/i] set didn't give much game-mechanical stuff about vehicles (although there was a "starship design" sequence). If players were going to interact with, say, a tank, then it was up to the GM to decide just what information was -- in the role-playing context -- really useful in the first place. [i]If[/i] that turned out to be "what happens when someone fires a bazooka at it", then one could come up with an answer that probably need not be as detailed as the game [i]Tobruk[/i]. The [i]Mercenary[/i] supplement gave stats for heavy weapons, and the [i]Striker[/i] miniatures rules offered not only systems for having those interact with armor but also design sequences of cumbersome complexity. Never mind such obvious irrelevancies as cubic liters of electrical system, or ground pressure; do I [i]really[/i] need to look up and cross-index a bunch of factors to resolve the shot? Most of the time, my answer is "No!" That's just going to hold up the game. I can eyeball a "reasonable" probability that the tank gets disabled, let a player roll, and keep the action going one way or the other based on the outcome. [/QUOTE]
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