Combat Maneuvers Cheat Sheet

[Captain-Captain]

Back in the 90s, I created a table listing which maneuvers went with which skills. This let's me say categorically that making these charts is a lot of work, and thanks for making this one!

One errata: Move and Attack has an attack skill cap of 9-.

[Daigoro]

You should add that Retreats are at +3 for Chambara Defenses.

[Onkl]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Nice sheet
Is this a typo though? I have been at work and am tired, but it reads wrong to me.

meant to say save? If so except would be better

Any IIRC explosions can be dodged in that you can take a step to move you away from the blast. Depending on your step you might get relatively far away.

safe, save?! I don't know, english is not my first language... ;)

What I wanted to say is that you can dodge any attack expect one from an explosion... of course you can dodge and dive and get the hell out of the explosion radius, but in my book that is not the same as dodging an explosive attack, just evading it.
Well, I'll just delete that sentence from the sheet, as there are no other dmg modifiers mentioned anyway..

[NorphTehDwarf]

The word you're looking for is 'save' but that use of the word is somewhat obsolete. A more recent word with the same meaning would be 'except.'

Also, your English is very good, a lot better than my Italian (you're from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, right?).

e: or wait, is that Latin?

[Onkl]

Originally Posted by NorphTehDwarf

The word you're looking for is 'save' but that use of the word is somewhat obsolete. A more recent word with the same meaning would be 'except.'

Also, your English is very good, a lot better than my Italian (you're from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, right?).

e: or wait, is that Latin?

Nope, I'm from the swiss-german speaking part... my italian is pretty weak: I know: "Ciao bella" and "Una pizza perfavore" ;)

[Onkl]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

You should add that Retreats are at +3 for Chambara Defenses.

Added Chambara Defenses Box

Combat Maneuvers Cheat Sheet 1.3

[Onkl]

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

Back in the 90s, I created a table listing which maneuvers went with which skills. This let's me say categorically that making these charts is a lot of work, and thanks for making this one!

One errata: Move and Attack has an attack skill cap of 9-.

Thanks!

On the sheet it says:

Move and attack at a penalty (Ranged: -2 or weapon’s bulk; non-slam Melee: -4, max. skill 9). For thrusting attacks, may use slam damage
(HP x velocity/100). Not compatible with Flurry of Blows, Mighty Blow, Giant Step, Combos, Rapid Strike or Deceptive Attack (except slams,
etc.)

Hrm, can I make that clearer anyhow? I know it's a lot of info tightly packed on a single sheet... It's clear to me like that, but that's why I posted it here, to get your oppinion guys. So if you have a suggestion on how to make it clearer, please let me know.

Cheers!

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Onkl

Check it out, tried to incorporate the changes you suggested.

Updated to 1.2 ... also included a Rapid Fire Table
Combat Maneuvers Cheat Sheet 1.2

I never got to check out your v1.2 PDF, but the current one, v1.3, makes me concerned about how well it prints out on a black-and-white printer.

As for the grey background, you are probably using 15% or 20% grey, and I think that's good. On some worn-out printers (or worn-out laser drums, or not sure what the cause is) a grey that is too light ends up indistinguishable from white, which would make your table reall hard to read. I can't remember whether the threshold is 15% or 20% or what, but of course if you make the grey too dark (like 30%) then readability suffers because of reduced contrast between the dark grey background and the black text. (And you don't want to try white text on a black background. It eats toner, and is even more expensive for ink jet users, and might not be very readble.)

And the colours. My laser printer is out of commission, otherwise I'd do a printout and give you feedback on how readable the colours are when printed out in B&W, but you'll have to ask someone else to do that, if you don't have a B&W printer yourself.

Of course, you could make two versions, one colour, one black-and-white, but I think it is perhaps more elegant to have one version that works for everyone. Maybe one where colour is used much more sparingly...

Good work! I'm just concerned about usability.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by lachimba

meant to say save? If so except would be better

Yes indeed. Especially if some of the players have English as a second language. "Except" is much clearer than the somewhat non-stnadard use of the word "save".

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Onkl

Hrm, can I make that clearer anyhow? I know it's a lot of info tightly packed on a single sheet... It's clear to me like that, but that's why I posted it here, to get your oppinion guys. So if you have a suggestion on how to make it clearer, please let me know.

Yes, this is an exercise(sp?) in packing as much information as possible into as small a space as possible, without sacrificing clarity.

And, or at least that's my take on it, insisting on a high degree of usability, and on usefulness for as wide a range of GMs and players as possible, including those who only own B&W printers, or who have an imperfect understanding of the English language.