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Old 04-22-2021, 08:08 AM   #1
Luke Bunyip
 
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Default [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

Up to now, all of the combat sessions I've run have been two dimensional. I was discussing my intent of running a mini-campaign set in an urban ruin to one of my players, and his first response was "Parkour!"

I've never had to consider the 3D aspect in combat. Apart from the obvious need for me to generate multi-level mapped combat environs (I'm thinking the internal void in a multi story mall/shopping centre), what other things should I consider as a GM prior to running a combat session?
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Old 04-22-2021, 10:17 AM   #2
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

What state are the ruins in? I've seen enough parkour fail videos of people crashing through non-loadbearing structures to wonder just how Darwinian the sport is.
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Old 04-22-2021, 10:28 AM   #3
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

Carefully read through Combat at Different Levels, p. 402. Also consider having already done the calculations if you have a sniper at the third floor and the PCs will be targets on the ground floor, see p. 407. Every complication slows combat down, so having pre-made calculations is always a good idea.
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Old 04-22-2021, 02:05 PM   #4
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

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Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
I've seen enough parkour fail videos of people crashing through non-loadbearing structures to wonder just how Darwinian the sport is.
On the other hand, since urban combat is frequently lethal to infantry in the open, creating "mouse holes" connecting interior spaces and using them for concealed movement is quite common. These can run vertically as well as horizontally.
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Old 04-22-2021, 02:43 PM   #5
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

A suggestion you may or may not like: Run PK scenes "theatre of the mind"-style using Chases (GURPS Action 2: Exploits, pp. 31-35). This offers numerous advantages over painstaking mapping and turn-by-turn movement:
  • It privileges high Move; makes Running skill useful; treats Urban Survival as a complementary skill for exploiting scenery in the abstract; supports stunts using Acrobatics, Climbing, and Jumping; and allows hiding with Stealth. All of which makes dedicated traceurs and urban explorers more effective.

  • It doesn't fuss around with precise ranges for ranged attacks. It uses abstract "range bands" that can represent any combination of horizontal and vertical distance.

  • It has a Move and Attack maneuver that works just like a regular melee attack and defense, for those who want to engage in melee combat if they manage to get to Close range. This lets dedicated melee fighters use what they paid points for.

  • It has "Lucky Breaks" that let interesting scenery be proposed narratively rather than mapped.

  • It supports critical failures that lead to injury without getting too specific about how it happened.
In brief, you run the chase and just back-fill scenery to suit outcomes:

You won a round by the bonus from Urban Survival? You found a way around a flooded basement while your rival had to wade through. You got to Medium range? You used a Lucky Break to slide down a drainpipe and make yourself harder to shoot. You wiped out and got hurt? You stepped on a rotten floor and fell through. And so on.

It doesn't matter whether the basement, drainpipe, and floor were mapped. They're there now because they tell a better story.

Oh, and for the nerds who insist on determinism and hard details before the fact, this system explicitly allows being stopped and restarted for brief bouts of traditional, mapped, turn-by-turn combat, which can use small, easily improvised maps. If people get to Close range, you can just declare it's a fight in a little room or atop a roof until someone flees and the chase rules kick back in.
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Old 04-22-2021, 10:42 PM   #6
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip View Post
Up to now, all of the combat sessions I've run have been two dimensional. I was discussing my intent of running a mini-campaign set in an urban ruin to one of my players, and his first response was "Parkour!"

I've never had to consider the 3D aspect in combat. Apart from the obvious need for me to generate multi-level mapped combat environs (I'm thinking the internal void in a multi story mall/shopping centre), what other things should I consider as a GM prior to running a combat session?
If it helps, there's a martial arts style for it in an earlier parkour thread.
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Old 04-23-2021, 03:28 AM   #7
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

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Originally Posted by thrash View Post
On the other hand, since urban combat is frequently lethal to infantry in the open, creating "mouse holes" connecting interior spaces and using them for concealed movement is quite common. These can run vertically as well as horizontally.
That's true - I just didn't associate that with Parkour.
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Old 04-23-2021, 05:28 AM   #8
Luke Bunyip
 
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

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Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
A suggestion you may or may not like: Run PK scenes "theatre of the mind"-style using Chases (GURPS Action 2: Exploits, pp. 31-35).
Ta for the reminder. This will well suit transit through the ruins, as well as accommodating my player's request for parkouring opportunities.
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Old 04-23-2021, 05:43 AM   #9
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

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Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
What state are the ruins in?
Small areas of total devastation, surrounded by areas of unmaintained concrete towers sporting broken windows, water damage, etc. Some buildings are maintained at a rudimentary level, whilst others occasionally suffer structural failure and partially or totally collapse.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
I've seen enough parkour fail videos of people crashing through non-loadbearing structures to wonder just how Darwinian the sport is.
You've inspired me to use any critical fail roll during a vertical flight or chase, as an opportunity to turn a PC or NPC into a missile weapon.
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Old 04-23-2021, 06:39 AM   #10
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Default Re: [AtE] Postapoc parkour, and it's management

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Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
That's true - I just didn't associate that with Parkour.
Based on the original post, I was taking the "parkour" part as more metaphorical than literal and answering the "what other things should I consider" question.
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