[Madd Kossack 115]

Originally Posted by johndallman

One concept worth clarifying with Fairborne: is he a dedicated sniper, who doesn't do much else, or is he part of a combat team, and the first choice when long-range shooting is required? It makes a difference to skill and advantage choice, and a dedicated sniper normally operates as part of a two-man team of spotter and sniper.

For the Fairborne video game character, he's a "solo operative behind enemy lines" sort of deal, especially with Sniper V2, where he has to go deep into German (and eventually Soviet) territory to assassinate lead scientists and sabotage critical infrastructure. That probably makes him close to "a dedicated sniper who doesn't do much else", except he also has skills in demolitions (whether shooting gas lines and grenades, or setting up land mines for ambushes), stealthy melee/silenced pistol kills, and even a SMG (either a Thompson, or stolen PPSH or MP-40), but mostly when everything goes completely **** up, and he has to spray and pray against a horde of Wehrmacht or Red Army bum-rushing him.

But for MY character (Dallin Graham), he wasn't a military trained sniper, but started out basically with his native village's militia (i.e. banding together to keep "the crazies" away from what little they had in food stocks), and (thanks to a Fallout-esque "go here to find something for our village before we all die" mission) he had to learn the hard way about hunting and fighting out in the wasteland by himself. Basically, think the various Fallout protagonists (Vault Dweller, Chosen One, Lone Wanderer, Courier, etc.), and that even with an occasional companion, Dallin had to do most of the proverbial (and sometimes literal) lifting himself.

Originally Posted by Varyon

The reason I mentioned it was rather close to the apocalypse is that AtE assumes at least 2 generations (~40-50 years) after the apocalypse, typically much more, and Lenin-2 sounds like it hasn't been that long yet.

I double-checked, and it turns out the "current year" for that world is 2021, with the nukes having been launched in 2000. On the other hand, most other "civilizations" regressing to T3 tech may have expedited the process of "going tribal", so for all we know, those roles may still apply (outside of China, which is clinging to whatever scraps of pre-war society it has left).

Originally Posted by Varyon

Anyway, if you were using Martial Arts (where styles originated), I'd probably suggest MCMAP for Dallin, but since I assume you aren't, for melee I'd say Brawling, Knife, and Judo. Ranged you'll primarily want Guns (Rifle), and can probably rely on the default from that for using most other firearms. For skill level, I suggest reading this informative article. Gunslinger isn't really appropriate for a sniper, so I'd suggest against that. Tactical Shooting would be a great supplement for you, as well as High Tech for the weapons, but that again is additional cost. High Tech has Karl's signature Springfield M1903, and I think most of the other weapons for SE4, although your character may use something a bit more modern. In any case, the TL6 Bolt-Action Rifle from Basic Set: Characters works well enough stats-wise.

All good info! I am going to have Dallin's rifle be an "Ace Custom" (specifically a "personalized weapon"), with the explanation being that he personally tweaked and improved his original gun over a few bleak years of survival, or snatched a high-quality rifle from a Three Spheres armory that he treats as his personal pride and joy. I'd also think he'd give it a name (current name I've got for it is "Longinus").

Originally Posted by Varyon

Looking at the Mad Max gameplay, it looks to play similarly to the Arkham series and Shadow of Mordor/Shadow of War. That's not really a method of fighting someone can manage with melee combat as a secondary skill (or if it is, that character's "secondary skills" are master-level). The characters in such games have exceptionally high Parry and make heavy use of the Counterattack Technique from Martial Arts, as well as a good deal of Rapid Strikes, and you really can't pull that off without a high skill level.

I think I should have clarified, in that I think that my idea of "master level martial arts" is something akin to the Yakuza series (where one dude can take on over a dozen dudes at once, with his punches sending two to three flying across the room at a time, to say nothing of the "Heat Explosions"), or like Fist Of The North Star (where a single hero can reduce entire armies to pulp with chi-infused karate chops).

The Mad Max game by comparison has Max fighting five guys at once TOPS, and having that be a desperate struggle (especially when the player flubs their parries, or doesn't dodge an unblockable attack, and gets smacked by somebody midway through fighting somebody else). I guess a better analogy would be that Dallin in a multi-man brawl (again, something he doesn't actively seek out, but has learned from "the school of hard knocks" to prepare for) would be like if Mad Max didn't have a "Fury Mode" to turn the tables, and the enemies didn't have glowing "press X to parry" or "This is gonna be an unblockable charge, look out!" icons popping over their heads