Steve Jackson Games Forums - Hand to Hand Combat

Steve Jackson Games Forums (https://forums.sjgames.com/index.php)

- The Fantasy Trip (https://forums.sjgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100)

- - Hand to Hand Combat (https://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=156942)

Hand to Hand Combat

from another thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skarg (Post 2170847)

I agree it's best if the HTH rules are consistent.

But I also think the HTH rules could stand a lot of improvement. For the case of the rules for entering HTH, they are lacking in that they don't take much into account except relative MA, and the positions of figures. Also since entering HTH automatically means falling down and dropping non-HTH weapons, it seems like the rules for entering HTH should take more into account about the ST, DX, size, talents, and equipment of the two figures. As it is, a dog, 90-pound unarmed teenage girl, large unskilled unequipped adult male, large skilled well-equipped warrior, a wrestler, an NFL linebacker, and a ST 30 bear all have exactly the same chances if they are allowed to attempt to enter HTH with any of the same sorts of characters above. Not very satisfying.

It'd also help if bears were more like MA 16 than MA 8...

I agree, something new should be added about:

1) time to entry in HtH ( clarification of the original rules and limitation to the movement Ph OR to the Action Ph)

2) d6 to enter, the differences in size, DX, ST, equipment or skill could act as drm of the d6 in a moltitude of ways, all good and all better than the mere d6 per RAW. Probably the d6 should become a 2d6 to allow a good number of drm to operate

3) damage delivered in HtH and DX bonus while in HtH. I would cancel the latter

4) options in HtH, they need to be rewritten and clarified. Disengaging from HtH should be harder

5) animals should be more prone to begin/accept HtH, again a drm on the (2)d6 looks a good idea.

just as starting point for the discussion

Re: Hand to Hand Combat

I would add:

6) Automatically falling down? - unless you're a multi-hex figure, there's no way to have people grab you and fail to pull you to the ground.

7) Automatically dropping your weapon? - entering HTH also always results in a figure dropping their weapon (unless it's a HTH weapon). Seems like that (and being engaged while holding a missile weapon) should be optional (though keeping such a weapon could have negative effects).

Re: Hand to Hand Combat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skarg (Post 2171349)

may be we have found in the rules more than it actually was, but we played that ALWAYS figures in HTH automatically fall down and automatically drop their non-HTH weapons

Re: Hand to Hand Combat

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecz (Post 2171390)

may be we have found in the rules more than it actually was, but we played that ALWAYS figures in HTH automatically fall down and automatically drop their non-HTH weapons

Yep that's what all the rules say, unless someone's a multi-hex figure, in which case they can trample.

I'm just pointing out the idea that it could be nice if that weren't necessarily the case, since:

* Sometimes someone might have a reason to want to hang onto a weapon even when in HTH. It seems artificial and not easy/ideal for a GM to have to explain to a player that they must automatically drop their weapon because the rules just say so.

* It also seems not ideal to me to always have HTH involve falling down. It keeps things simple, but combines grabbing someone with tackling them. It seems like in many cases someone might be able to grab onto someone but not be able to make them fall down. I'm not sure there's a great easy solution to allow this, but I think it's worth mentioning as a weakness that might potentially be fixed. (Currently you can knock down & disarm great heroes by throwing HTH hobgoblins at them, as easily as if you were throwing NFL linebackers at them. Ideally, I'd like to see the hobgoblin swarm have some chance to grab onto him but less chance than the linebackers of knocking him down and forcing him to drop his weapon.)