[Runequest] Charge! (.. and set)

Mon Apr 21 10:23:04 UTC 2008

You're right Tom (having fenced with foil and a little
bit of épée, sabre). There is no reasonable way that
one can parry with the charging weapon without
breaking the charge itself. I think that would have to
be added to the proposed charge rules. Having a
secondary shield on the other hand (as in a joust) may
be different. But even there (having no experience at
all with jousting) I am tempted to suggest it protects
hit locations rather than is used for parrying...

Thanks for your comments.

Lev

--- Tomas Björklund <tomas.g.bjorklund at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I used to fence with the épée and the sabre when I
> was younger.
> 
> In that sport we have a couple of moves that
> possibly would be equivalent to
> the charge. The Fleche for instance. A lightning
> fast dash, where one leaps
> off his leading foot, attempts to make the hit, and
> then passes the opponent
> at a run.
> 
> When fencing with sabre you have a similar maneuver
> too.
> 
> I would say from that experience that a charge
> accomplishes several things.
>   - It gets you into contact fast.
>   - Our brains are very bad at handling charges
> against us. When charged you
> tend to freeze up or go blank for brief moment. With
> experience you learn to
> reduce that effect, but it takes a very good fencer
> not to be affected by a
> charge, especially if it is accompanied by a scream.
>     Note that this concerns charges from a distance
> of no more than 5-6
> meters (about 1 second approach time), beyond that
> you get your bearing back
> and the effect is lost. Though I can imagine that it
> would take some guts to
> stand and take it like a man, when someone runs
> towards you screaming,
> wanting to cut into you with a shiny sharp sword.
>   - Your momentum adds to the power of your strike.
> 
> The drawbacks of a charge as I recall are:
>  - If you miss, you end up running past your
> opponent which leaves your back
> open.
>  - A charge sets up a single strike, and thus any
> alternative uses of your
> weapon are hard to accomplish, like parry or
> deflecting the opponents
> counterthrust. So your ability to defend goes down.
> This is offset by the
> fact that your opponent will freeze momentarily (as
> noted above).
> 
> Some thoughts from an old man. Perhaps they are of
> use in this discussion.
> 
> - Tom.
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 5:16 AM, Peter Maranci
> <pmaranci at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > This immediately raised in my mind the whole issue
> of movement. It STILL
> > bothers me that every human moves at a rate of 3 -
> that's simply not
> > realistic!
> >
> > Speaking of realism, what are the drawbacks of
> charging (apart from the
> > danger of running into a set weapon, of course)? I
> suspect the biggest
> > drawback is loss of control. This should probably
> be reflected as a
> > reduction in the chance to hit...possibly not a
> flat percentage, but a
> > percent of the chance to hit, i.e. the charger
> must roll under 50% of their
> > skill. That seems a bit too harsh, but if I said
> 90% instead, I would
> > (justly) be accused of making things too
> complicated.
> >
> > ->Peter
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 8:00 PM, Lev Lafayette
> <lev_lafayette at yahoo.com.au>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > The rules for charging in most editions of RQ
> are
> > > acceptable, but certainly can be improved. The
> > > following is for RQ 3rd but could easily be
> adapted
> > > for RQ 1st and 2nd editions and probably RQ AiG.
> I'll
> > > have to double-check MRQ because it uses a
> radically
> > > different Strike Ranks system.
> > >
> > > The basic rule of thumb is that when charging it
> is
> > > the additional velocity that causes extra
> damage. The
> > > greater the velocity, the greater the damage
> caused.
> > >
> > > To charge a character must move and attack in a
> > > straight line, which means no deviations more
> than 60
> > > degrees at any time during the charge.
> > >
> > > To charge a character must also build up
> sufficient
> > > momentum. This requires a mimimum of their DEX
> SR plus
> > > 1 in movement. Characters with really quick
> reflexes
> > > (e.g., DEX 20+) can take off and charge with a
> single
> > > SR. Others are a bit slower.
> > >
> > > The damage bonus caused by a charge is equal to
> the
> > > character's (Move/3)*1d4. A human who charges
> (Mv 3)
> > > will do 1d4 bonus damage with their weapon. A
> horse
> > > charge (Mv 10) will do an additional 3d4.
> > >
> > > When facing 'set' weapons (e.g., spears, pikes
> etc) a
> > > successful hit means the damage bonus is used
> against
> > > the charger.
> > >
> > > These are notes I scribbled on the tram this
> morning
> > > whilst reflecting on running the joust
> tournament
> > > yesterday for the Sun County supplement's
> scenario
> > > "Garhound's Contest". Please comment on any
> glaring
> > > mistakes that I may have overlooked prior to
> having my
> > > morning coffee.
> > >
> > > All the best,
> > >
> > >
> > > Lev
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > 
>
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> > --
> > Peter Maranci - pmaranci at gmail.com
> > Pete's RuneQuest & Roleplaying!
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