Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - How does blade length translate into reach?

Polkageist · 03-30-2021, 08:37 AM

I have no idea what the internal methods are that the authors used, but to my consumer eye it looks like reach is something of a function of the weapon's length and the skill used to wield it.

For example, a punch. You can probably reach out and touch someone who's a yard away (3ish feet, 1 hex) but it's hard to ineffective to make it a harmful punch all the way out there.

Similar for weapons that are physically long enough to reach out to 2 hexes, but the way they're wielded and maybe even the shape of it means that it's not super great all the way out there. To that end, rather than fuss with that edge (hah!) case in the baseline ruleset, the simpler solution is to be approximately right, set the reach to 1, and let optional rules add detail for getting a bit more reach out of the weapon.

03-30-2021, 08:37 AM	#4
Polkageist Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: How does blade length translate into reach? I have no idea what the internal methods are that the authors used, but to my consumer eye it looks like reach is something of a function of the weapon's length and the skill used to wield it. For example, a punch. You can probably reach out and touch someone who's a yard away (3ish feet, 1 hex) but it's hard to ineffective to make it a harmful punch all the way out there. Similar for weapons that are physically long enough to reach out to 2 hexes, but the way they're wielded and maybe even the shape of it means that it's not super great all the way out there. To that end, rather than fuss with that edge (hah!) case in the baseline ruleset, the simpler solution is to be approximately right, set the reach to 1, and let optional rules add detail for getting a bit more reach out of the weapon.