Reality (Was: Question on a module)

[Bill Garmer <bgarmer@tsc.net>]

At 12:42 PM 10/7/97 EST, you wrote:
>On Tue  7-Oct-1997  8:23a, bgarmer@tsc.net wrote:
>
><snip>
>
>BG> example,
>BG> most people that are shot once fall down and wait for help or bug out of
>BG> the area.  
>
>Which should be considered by ever PD.  However, when your in a very short
>range fire fight, there tends to be little time to bug out before they are
>either dead or knocked out.  Personally, I perfer the 4 second combat segment
>broken even further down to 1/5 second blocks for actions.  Out on the firing
>line a full second can seem like eternity as things "slow down" to what seems
>like a crawl as your mind is racing along. The trick is to train the body to
>keep up with the mind during these critical time periods.

And what percentage of team members are so well trained?  That becomes a
major problem for RECON and SCIENCE teams.  Neither one is expected to
become involved in combat.

>It is in a few cases that people will take multiple hits and
>BG> keep moving (and live through it).  It does happen in the real world.  
>
>I'll dissagree here.  Unless it's a circulatory or nervious system critical
>hit, you can keep on going till loss of blood drops you.  Very seldom is a
>single wound that kills, it's the loss of the blood.  And it also depends on
>the training as well.  The more proper combat training, the more likely it is
>they are going to continue to fight till they can't.  

There is a difference between "can keep going" and will keep going.  Most
people will not keep going unless they are highly motovated.  Take SCIENCE
JOE, he is taking a core sample from a tree when bang he is hit with a .75
ball.  He will be knocked down!  I real life, such a person will probably
stay down and try to get help (ie - get in cover (if he did not fall into
it), get his weapons, get his radio, call for help, stay in cover).  In
RPG, characters tend to take agressive approaches.  They will get behind
the tree, get there weapon, dash from tree to tree, etc.  We usually, as
PDs, make characters roll to act brave (I will leave the question of smarts
out of this).  And we tend to reward either brave or smart action with
modified die rolls.  If SCIENCE JOE started dashing from tree to tree to
get better position to shoot at the attacker and I rolled a head shot -
instant death (lucky NPC) I would modify it - most PDs would.  If SCIENCE
JOE stood up in the open and shot widely (or other foolish actions) and I
rolled the same head shot, I would be less inclined to modify it.  In
reality, a person with a .75 rifle who depend on it for his/her food will
probably be able to pick off someone running.

As for wounding - you are right about death but you have to take into
account shock (most people who are shot go quickly into shock).  Also take
into account training.  SCIENCE teams do not have many military types -
RECON have fewer than MARS.  And the type of action - shudden unexpected
fire will cause more problem than an expected attack.  Coming under fire
while taking a dump for example.  Note - I did say it does happen.  The
chances are much higher in RPGs than the real world.

>In
>BG> RPG you can have a player go through this multiple times.  We, as PD,
>BG> allow
>BG> it because of the fun factor.  It isn't fun to have your character die
>BG> (even if he does it well) and start another only to have him die soon
>BG> after
>BG> and so on.  I have one game where all the PC died but did it so well that
>BG> we still talk about it over beers when we get together.  But it wouldn't
>BG> be fun to have that happen all the time.
>
>True.
>
>BG> The PSI ability as listed is more like magic.  Characters can do things
>BG> with their mind that exceeds the energy capability of the human body. 
>BG> For
>BG> example, lift heavy objects and hurl them.  Some think it is nit picking
>BG> but the human body is capable of about 0.5-0.75 HP of power.  To do more
>BG> than that strains credibility with me.  Moving a penny - fine.  Throwing
>BG> that penny at MACH 25 into a Krell APC causing multiple crew hits - no
>BG> way.
>BG>  Reading minds - maybe.
>
>Unless of course you allow in that the Psi is mearly tapping into a power
>source to channel/focus.  But that is getting into religion, and I'll stop
>here.
>
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>
Bill