Re: Difficulty Balance

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007, Simon Smith wrote:
> Of course, the butchery is a necessary prelude, otherwise how can you
show
> you are capable of carrying out the threat? Characters who charge in and
> immediately demand surrender without killing anyone are trying a bluff;
> that's even lower down the violence scale - so 'cinematic' rather than
> 'heroic'.

There are a lot of elements of the psychology of warfare that get swept 
under the rug in fiction.  Historically, there are always people who are 
ready to surrender at the first sign of danger because they know that if 
it comes down to shooting, they might die, too.  The real world doesn't 
divide people into PCs and NPCs or even Mooks.  Everyone is a PC in their 
own game.

John Morrow