How important is combat to your game.

[Dagger of Lath]

Originally Posted by Bending Arms

As player I go with the flow but I have been known to pull off some crazy stunts. Even in gritty rules I like to push the luck of my rolls, nothing like having the life of your character played out with a single roll of the dice.

As a player I love doing this sort of thing. I take martial artists or close weapon specialists and leap directly into the frey. Combat is no fun for me if I'm not an inch from death half the time.

Of course as a result my characters die about 3 times more often than anyone elses, but I have a lot of fun and I've saved the rest of the party far more times than I can count.

[Janos Dracwlya]

The games I run tend to be action-heavy, and that's what I like to play as well. Things better be darn interesting if I don't get to fight something at least once a session, and I try to give the same option to my players, who seem to like action as well.

What can I say? I work in an office five days/40 hours a week. In spite of a decent boss and decent co-workers, there's still a certain level of boredom and frustration. A little vicarious violence is just the ticket.

Now, mind you, I don't want a game that's all action; I want roleplaying opportunities as well.

[Witchking]

I knocked my GM off balance 2 sessions ago. The villian (local noble) had tracked me to the temple of the god of law and justice. I was there to present evidence of his crimes so it could be safeguarded until the matter could be presented at the Royal Court.

His intent was to surpress such evidence. He ordered my mage to drop his staff as I was under arrest. (the GM had the battlemat ready to go, most of the characters I have played would have resisted immediately) I dropped my staff and inquired as to the charges and the accuser.

It wasn't til one of the two guards tried to run me through that I even dodged. Even then the only spell I cast was Armor (total DR 7). It wasn't until the noble announced his intention to kill the Priestess of the god of law and justice that I started to go offensive...

Good guys won. Total body count 0.

[IrishRover]

Well, my favorite RPG isn't called "Star Peace," and combat seems to happen regularly. Something about rebelling against an evil empire seems to do that... (Both as GM and player, using both West End Games and tyhe new Saga system)
We'll try to avoid unnecessary combat, but it is a big part of the fun.
When PC's and the opposition are not only reloading their blasters, but worring if they have enough clips, that's a heavy combat.

My 1920's D20 Modern action/pulp campaign has had some games...sometimes 3-4 sessions in a row...without any heavy combat. (I GM that one.)

Traveller...combat is as seldom as we can acomplish. Classic traveller is deadly when the guns come out...especially the fusion guns. (I'm a player in that) But when the gunfight does start, we all enjoy it!

D&D...combat is in integral part of the campaign. (Version 3/3.5 we play, 4 can stay on the shelves in the store as far as I'm concerned.)

GURPS Horseclans...combat happens every 2-3 game sessions back when we were playing the campaign, sometimes more often. But it wasn't the goal of the game, it was a very hostile world.

[smurf]

I'm running a Super Hero thing.

The characters are an Giant Alien Geisha, and all Geisha's are in some secret cult of nasty martial arts etc.

The Giant Alien is called Sen(tissa) from the race simply known as the Sens. They are usually primative Aliens, with a rather odd culture. 'She/it' has weirdness magnet and often gets shot up.

Now the player said that weirdness magnet should not be lethal but an inconvience. HT50 character with instant Regen, then getting a bit shot up is an inconvience! Hell, jumping out of a crashing plane and smashing its 'head' in was an inconvience too.

The other character is a psi lizard like Alien called the Esti and this one is too busy taking drugs or doing research. Generally does not like violence but it can defend itself.

At present 'Dr Evil' is trying to discover their plot to uncover his plot. They are trying to work out something is going on and so far have no idea that there is a Dr Evil and who or what are all these strange soldiers.

It has not been very combat orientated with a brief discriptions of an odd fire fight. We try to keep off combat for one good reason - IT'S DANGEROUS!

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I guess I'd have to say that the importance of violence in my adventures has a central range from Casablanca to a typical James Bond film, with outliers on either side.

In terms of games I play in, as opposed to games I run, there are two things I tend to emphasize.

One is having some area of competence. This has been combat, in some cases; my Dzur nobleman was a first-rate hunter, archer, and duellist, and my GURPS Supers character was the team's combat monster, with Dodge-16 and Brawling-19. But it can be entirely other things. My character Fornication Jones was a master gunner and tinkerer; my current character Linnaeus Jorgensen is a competent physician and surgeon and extremely good at getting people to talk to him (he was inspired by the film Kinsey). I really like having some particular thing my character does that they're really, really good at.

But the other is characterization, character interaction, and dialogue. I like coming up with lines or actions that get the other players to laugh or applaud. My happiest moment for Linnaeus, so far, was the scene where he was in the museum darkroom, examining prints of a Mysterious Artifact with his assistant, and down the hall some other PCs were talking about important secret stuff—so I rolled the dice to see if he overheard what they were saying, and, when that roll failed, announced that he got up and closed the door to shut out the distracting noise of their conversation.

If my character's good at combat, I want there to be scenes where combat abilities are important. But that's because I love the experience of vicarious competence in general.

Bill Stoddard

[Puppetminion]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

the last resort of the incompetent

Well, that's certainly combat in my games. Becuase if I can't think of anything else I throw in some mindless violence.

Apart from that, I've done combat heavy games with sessions of only fighting; and also mini-campaigns with not even a stubbed toe. It has to vary with genre and desired style.

Though I do like a good dose of combat whether I'm playing or GMing. And as Wienis knew, the threat of death is an easy (cheap?) way to add drama.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Bending Arms

I was reading the forms and a idea struck as to the general impotance of a fight is in a game.

I personal admit to a least one fight during the game due to some PC action or its slowing down a bit. I guess in away I like action in game, stunts, fights, or a good chase is fun. Now it not all about combat, there puzzles, clues and NPC interaction also.

I resently noticed that most of my games run the action route. Diffently gritty action.

How do you define combat? Does it have to be actual violence?

I have a vagues sense that a lot of people use the term "combat" in a much broader sense, to refer to any activity that involves the rules and the character sheet and dice rolls. These people - severely misguided people - take great pride in often having "several sessions in a row where no combat at all took place".


Also, it is a hypothesis of mine that many roleplaying gamers gravitate towards actual physical combat because it is the one kind of conflict that is reliably resolved via rules and dice and character sheet, without the GM having much ability to dictate the income (at least not without getting caught red-handed by the players), and deep down that is something that many roleplaying gamers actually, truly want, even if they, for a variety of reasons, can't or won't admit it.

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

How do you define combat? Does it have to be actual violence?

I have a vagues sense that a lot of people use the term "combat" in a much broader sense, to refer to any activity that involves the rules and the character sheet and dice rolls. These people - severely misguided people - take great pride in often having "several sessions in a row where no combat at all took place".

I'm often in games where no combat takes place for several sessions in a row...or only once a year. When I say combat, I mean combat. Fighting and actual violence. Every session I've ever GM'd or played in involved rules and the character sheet and dice rolls. In GURPS at least, there are a lot of rolls that can happen that don't involve violence. That's why I like GURPS, it's strong support of non-combat activity.

[zorg]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

No fighting, no game.

Same here. I want action, preferably with a side order of explosions and a topping of gunfire. Peaceful solutions and interaction are important, too, but I don't want to miss the bloodshed.

I'm peaceful enough in real life, after all.