[non d20] Buffy RPG

[Cor Azer]

Re: Re: Perhaps you guys could be of some help

First of all, EVERY Director needs to decide how they are going to handle the "Uzi loaded with wooden 9mms", and the other such tricks the PCs will think of... and BELIEVE me, they WILL think of it! This tends to spoil the mood, but it is logical that if wood through the heart kills vamps, that the best way to GET it there is with a sub-machinegun!

(So, the easy answer is to say that - for some reason, the wood has to go all the way into, through, and out of the heart, and then STAY there in order to work - hence, it has to be at least the length of a pencil. Thus 9mms, and even 3" shotgun shells loaded with lonng "toothpicks" don't work, but arrows and crossbow bolts still do... if wooden!)

PS: Beware of modern composites! Not all pencils are wooden!!!

I seem to recall the wooden bullet discussion having happened on the Eden boards a few months ago. Personally, I thought the idea was silly, so I never really followed the thread, but I presume the arguments against such silliness were along the lines of: There's no way a wooden bullet could withstand being fired from a gun's chamber.

While I'm sure my players might eventually think of such nonsense, it'll never happen in one of my games - mainly because I have no intention of featuring guns (about the same level as the show uses them), but also because I would think that my players would think such an idea is silly as well and probably would only suggest it as a joke (in-character or not).

 

[Steverooo]

I presume the arguments against such silliness were along the lines of: There's no way a wooden bullet could withstand being fired from a gun's chamber.

Simply not true. The Nazis used'em in WW II.

 

[Valiantheart]

He is right about that. I have also seen bullets made of ice fired effectively as long as the range is short.

 

[Selganor]

If I remember right, in Angel season 1, during the faith storyline at some point, Buffy and Angle got into a brief fight. Buffy hits Angel, Angel hits Buffy. Buffy is shocked, can't believe it, says "You... HIT me!", to which, if I remember right, Angel replies something like, "Not to place blame, but you threw the first punch... and your a lot stronger than I am."

Or am I imagining things again?

The quote is:

Buffy You hit me.
Angel Not to go all schoolyard on you, but you hit me first. In case you?ve forgotten - you?re a little bit stronger than I am.

So that's just "a little bit" not "a lot"...

I gotta admit. The RPG got me hooked on the show (which I've seen on TV before but only after I got the book I bought all five yet released seasons on DVD (and the 2 Angel Seasons) and watched them again...)

 

[Cor Azer]

Simply not true. The Nazis used'em in WW II.

Really? Huh... learn something every day...

Oh well, I still wouldn't allow it

 

[KaintheSeeker]

So any of you going to do a game? I want in

 

[doctorjeff98]

Really? Huh... learn something every day...

Oh well, I still wouldn't allow it

Why would the players want to use a submachine gun when they could have a crossbow? Crossbows have been one of my favorite weapons for any genre I can work them into.

 

[Steverooo]

Why would the players want to use a submachine gun when they could have a crossbow? Crossbows have been one of my favorite weapons for any genre I can work them into.

::Sigh!:: The point was, sooner or later, one or more of the PCs will come to the GM, asking about wooden bullets, or some other such manifestation. The GM needs to be ready with something better than "No, I'm not going to allow that." In real life, reloading isn't that hard. I have at least six different types of ammo for my shotgun... If I wanted to get the reloading equipment, I could certainly reload a shotgun shell with finned "wooden flechettes", or milled "wooden slugs" similar to the smooth-bore slugs currently available... Anyone with a few ranks of firearms or Mr.Fix-it skill would be capable of loading their own ammo (and need to be, if you're going to have werewolves needing silver bullets).

So, my point was, what will the GM do when the player comes to them with a character based on such an idea? Simply negating the character concept "...because I think that's silly" generally won't produce the results that you want. It is much better to provide the players with a reason WHY it won't work!

I am Legend (I forget the author's name), which was the basis of the movie The Omega Man (starring Charleton Heston) provided the basis for our solution. Most items passing through a vamp's heart simply leave a hole, which quickly heals over. Wooden items allow air in, which is what kills them. Wooden items which simply pass through and come out, or penetrate partway, are just like bullets, they don't keep the wound open to let air in... Thus, anything not large enough to pierce through the chest wall, penetrate the heart, and allow air in doesn't allow air into the heart, and doesn't kill the vamp. Stakes are long enough. So are crossbow bolts. Pencils are, but barely... Toothpicks (and all bullet- and slug-sized pieces of wood) are just TOO SHORT to go through the heart wall and also extend out of the body, to the air.

That solution may not work for you, but it is convincing enough for many. Pseudo-plausability works well, in a vampyre game.

 

[doctorjeff98]

Sounds like a great solution---a lot of players don't like hearing " 'cuz i said so " as a reason for why they can't do something.

Side note: That reason doesn't always work on my children (ages 9 and 6) either!

 

[Cor Azer]

... snippity-snip...

Toothpicks (and all bullet- and slug-sized pieces of wood) are just TOO SHORT to go through the heart wall and also extend out of the body, to the air.

That solution may not work for you, but it is convincing enough for many. Pseudo-plausability works well, in a vampyre game.

I'm not sure how canon it is, but in the Buffy CCG rulebook (I believe that's where I read this) there was a short excerpt from the Slayer's Handbook (the one supposedly in the Buffyverse, not the RPG supplement) explaining how a Slayer once used a box of toothpicks and a hurricane to destroy an small army of vampires...

Possibly not canon, but at least one Fox approved Buffy product mentions that toothpick are ok. Of course, this weakens my own position, but not by much - I'm more anti-gun than anti-special ammo.