Take the Hit

Note to Readers!

Note to readers:

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This article is nowhere near done.

(Obviously!)

I have it open for beta reader access, and because we paused last session in the midst of a combat going badly for us. I want to be able to make notes live, during session, about how I could make this more useful to Players and GM alike.

That said:

My plans for this episode of the Clan Burroughs holovid serial include a Force-using special guest; a demonstration of defensive gear such as armor and shields; a discussion of the relevant Attributes, with particular focus on the option of improving them to withstand injuries; a demonstration of the difference between "use a weapon, melee or ranged" and going without; a demonstration of using the Protection rules, the label from page 94 of the main sourcebook where they give game mechanics to partial or total cover; the general wisdom of using said Protection rules where possible, also known in our gaming group as The Jackie Chan Rule -- Jackie wins a fight when he is able to use parts of his environment as parts of the combat; dodging whether in person or in a vehicle; parrying, blocking, and more aggressive forms of response to an attack roll in progress; the values of martial arts and/or combat-related Advanced Skills in terms of surviving a fight; the pros and cons of collaborative combat efforts versus "while you guys draw the aggression, I'll be down the hall" tactics; emergency first aid, the extreme expense of bacta, and a parallel to the reason why Vanya is being incredibly serious right now about the fact that Sir Davish Tam was last seen to be at the second stage of wounded.

All of this will get covered within the context of Acer, Sev, Hildy, and their special guest of the episode demonstrating their personal solutions. And sometimes ribbing one another over said solutions.

I do not fully expect them to trash the "fourth wall" in the process, but -- a bit like Rico and Striker in the Personal Growth article -- they may jab their elbows out beyond the boundaries of reality a few times.

If you want clarifications, or have suggestions on combat-related rules that could be expounded here, please send 'em to Rissa on Discord.

It'd be better with images of the four participants. I'm aware. I don't have the time or the resources right now to dig up an artist and get commissions. Maybe someday!

- Jarissa

Friday, February 11th, 2022

Interesting Artifacts of the Twelve Kingdoms Era

Episode 39:
Take the Hit

Welcome to Episode 39 in the holovid serial, "Interesting artifacts of the Twelve Kingdom Era", where we mix the enthusiastic amateur's approach to archaeology with a flavor syrup of knowledgeable guest contributions.

Acer Burroughs: I think we can all agree that this is interesting!

-- drone camera cuts to an object that certainly might be 5000 standard years old --

By special request, today's episode is all about this big, swirly-lazy-helix-looking jobby that we usually use to hang up our camera drones. You can see that it's pretty stable even if I get my brother Sev to do a full-body tackle. And, as a couple of viewers have noted: it was constructed with some evenly-spaced physical particle ejectors, spaced out so it covers every direction except up or down.

Several experiments led me to realize that semi-solid, squishy capsules used to get dumped into the base down here -- probably about the same dimensions as my thumb -- and there's a slider control to vary the velocity when they launch from the apertures.

Which would happen at heights from a handspan above the base here, or what I like to call "shinbone hazard", clear up to five and three-quarters meters tall. Full three-sixty coverage horizontally, with angled ejection from the apertures.

We think it's a training gizmo!

For learning blocks, dodges, and probably a good dose of how to take the hit.

This one's a clogged, grooved, congealed wreck now, of course. I don't think the finest nanobot restoration system could get it working again. It was buried in a siltfall about two thousand fathoms below the Vorenhazy Rill -- that's one of the mostly-stable currents in the Lanidale Sea on the southern hemisphere of Doris. Probably been down there for, oh, eighty-two hundred years?

So, yeah, it don't work. It never will work, ever again.

But I got to thinking, this is something we can approximate via current technology.

Roughly.

vrrrRRRRRrrrrr!

— Sev dramatically gestures with a whirring, overcharged magnaspanner in each hand.

Our version does not have elegant, flowing lines, of course. We cobbled it together from --

This stream interruption brought to you by the "Bro, Stay On Target" protocol!

Yeah, I pulled all that. Runs about twenty standard minutes.

If you're interested in the Acer Seminar on how to build the gizmo from today's episode, subscribe to the databank for Interesting Artifacts from the Twelve Kingdoms Era and navigate to the "Cut Scenes" subdirectory. The access passcode is your subscriber identifier interwoven with the fictitious politician name listed in our end credits!

- Sev out!

Reaction Skills in WEG

Reaction Skills

Reaction Skills are used to avoid or block attacks. These skills are most often related to the Dexterity, Strength, or Mechanical Attributes.

• archaic starship piloting
  (vehicle dodge!)


• brawling parry


• capital ship piloting
  (vehicle dodge!)


• capital ship shields
  (bring up shields to block!)


• dodge


• ground vehicle operation
  (vehicle dodge!)


• hover vehicle operation
  (vehicle dodge!)


• jet pack operation


• Lightsaber melee
  (block or parry melee attacks only)


• martial arts
  see below for list of techniques!


• melee parry
  (including all specific melee weapon specializations)


• powersuit operation


• repulsorlift operation
  (vehicle dodge!)


• rocket pack operation


• space transports
  (vehicle dodge!)


• starfighter piloting
  (vehicle dodge!)


• starship shields
  (bring up shields to block!)


• swoop operation
  (vehicle dodge!)


• walker operation
  (vehicle dodge!)

Full Reaction

If a Character takes no action for this combat round except for a single use of a single Reaction Skill -- no communicating, no larger movement, no multiple defenses -- they can make a roll on their chosen Reaction Skill and add that result to the attacker's Difficulty Number. (See pages on combat and Injuries)

Martial Arts Reaction Techniques

A good story might convince the GM that many more apply.

As a starting point, these techniques are specifically called out as Reaction Skills:

• Blindfighting


• Flip


• Headbutt


• Power Block


• Reversal


• Weapon-block

Advanced Styles

An Advanced Fighting Style is not itself a reaction skill.

Almost all Advanced Styles will, however, improve a character's Reaction Skills in thematic ways. For example: Tam Beseri can increase the dice on a dodge from a ranged attack or add dice from two sources to a melee parry skill roll.

Use the Force

Fewer abilities learned by those with Force Skills are functional as Reaction Skills than might be expected!

• Absorb/Dissipate Energy and Chaos Pattern are not Reaction Skills -- they must be activated before the attack hits!


• Battle Meditation or Danger Sense are not themselves Reaction Skills, but do boost other Reaction Skills if they are already active before the attack occurs.


• Force of Will is a Reaction Skill combining willpower skill with the Control skill. It can be used to resist a hostile Force Power such as Affect Mind or Dim Other's Senses.


• Lightsaber Combat can serve as a Reaction Skill versus ranged attacks. For melee attacks, see Lightsaber melee in the skill list above.


• Control Pain is not a Reaction Skill. It is an attempt to manage the wounded Condition. Similarly, Remain Conscious and Resist Stun are not really Reaction Skills in the sense of avoiding injury -- they are attempts to manage the incapacitated or stunned Conditions, respectively.

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Combat in the Star Wars game is fairly lethal. The key to survival is not to get hit.

If someone is shooting at your character, you should probably think about dodging. If someone comes after your character with a vibro-ax or lightsaber, it's probably a good idea to parry the attack.

Just like in the movies, most characters that get shot are seriously injured or killed. You've been warned!

— page 90, The Star Wars Roleplaying Game Second Edition, Revised and Expanded

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Credits:

In compiling this article, I drew heavily on two sourcebooks:

• The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Bill Smith et all, published in 1996 by West End Games
  particularly pages 38-66 and 89-90
and
• Rules of Engagement: The Rebel SpecForce Handbook by Timothy S. O'Brien, published in 1997 by West End Games
  particularly pages 116-118 which introduce the Custom Martial Arts system