When is an arrow not an arrow?

[GMMichael]

For what it's worth, I just played several rounds of paintball. All I had to do was crouch or see an enemy to feel my life expectancy diminishing.

On the flip side, I felt pretty invincible when advancing on badly outnumbered opponents. False sense of security? I'd relate that to my preparedness die, but Morrus makes it look like a pretty big no-no.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

That's exactly how WOIN did it it in early playtest iterations (with larger starting dice for different weapons). Playtesters hated, hated, hated it - like 100% feedback. Not one person liked it!

Sounds like the difference between elegant theory and cumbersome practical application then, doesn't it?

Okay, slightly different approach. Running out of arrows is a secondary effect of your attack die. In the first encounter, a 1 means out of arrows, in the second encounter 1-2 and so on. Or any other combination of numbers. You might even want to set the firt out-of-arrows number to 20. That way you produce "killed it with the last shot" situations.

 

[Morrus]

Sounds like the difference between elegant theory and cumbersome practical application then, doesn't it?

Okay, slightly different approach. Running out of arrows is a secondary effect of your attack die. In the first encounter, a 1 means out of arrows, in the second encounter 1-2 and so on. Or any other combination of numbers. You might even want to set the firt out-of-arrows number to 20. That way you produce "killed it with the last shot" situations.

In other words, it's a simple fumble mechanic? That's certainly easier.

The issue players had with it wasn't that it was clumsy, though. It's that it was counter intuitive.

"I'm sick of running out of arrows every other encounter. I buy a quadrillion arrows at the village."

First encounter, roll a 1....

"How can I be out of arrows? I haven't even fired any yet!"

 

[Hand of Evil]

fumbles for me are broken string, arrow notch broken, feathers hanging, warped arrow, split arrow, arrow head missing, bow snaps.

my fumble table for it: d20 roll

1: bow snaps, you have to replace bow or repair it
2 - 3: string breaks, replace string to continue, loss of action
4 - 8: missing feathers, shot goes wide
9 - 12: warped arrow, shot goes wide
13 - 17: broken notch, arrow unusable, loss of action
18 - 19: Split arrow, arrow unusable, loss of action
20: Arrow head missing, no damage​

 

[Jan van Leyden]

In other words, it's a simple fumble mechanic? That's certainly easier.

The issue players had with it wasn't that it was clumsy, though. It's that it was counter intuitive.

"I'm sick of running out of arrows every other encounter. I buy a quadrillion arrows at the village."

First encounter, roll a 1....

"How can I be out of arrows? I haven't even fired any yet!"

It's certainkly a mechanic which shouldn't be used RAW, but with GM fiat. If the character explicitley bought reams of arrows, I'd just give him some encounters before enforcing the rule.

The rule focuses on characters/group which aren't interested in explicitly talking about such details. Perhaps one could combine it with an upkeep rule: a certain amount of money (depends on the stuff a PC uses - arrow flatrate) is spent each week/month/town. Using both rules, a character rolling a 1 on his very first shot perhaps hasn't detcted the inferior quality of the arrows. Anyway, a clear case for reason over rules.

 

[GMMichael]

First encounter, roll a 1....
"How can I be out of arrows? I haven't even fired any yet!"

That would piss me off. However, if I'm the sort of character to have a 1 in 20 chance of critically fumbling, it's not too hard to imagine that I inverted my quiver a minute or two ago, and I'm just now discovering that I dropped every single one.

I wouldn't want to count rounds and then compare them to my attack rolls. I'd be much happier placing a d20 (2d10, actually) on the table and ticking off my arrows. But what would be a big improvement on the roll-1-and-suck rule, would be a second roll: it's not your first fumble that means you're out of arrows, but your second. That way, there's a danger-zone area, and you can't walk into an encounter with a full quiver and not get to fire a single arrow.

What about unlimited arrows? It's a little MMO, but doesn't a good archer:
1) Go fully-loaded into battle
2) Collect his spent arrows that are reusable
3) Collect enemy/battlefield arrows wherever available?

Exclusive preview:
[sblock]Character class: Archer
Hero power: Always has arrows available or near.
Normal: Non-archers must count their arrows.[/sblock]