Re: Good initiative mechanics?

On Mar 28, 10:23=A0am, DougL <lampert.d...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> There is a tie in with Mook scaling. When all is said and done making
> mooks work (able to hurt in mass or by attrition but no real chance of
> winning by a single lucky shot one on one) is a big part of the reason
> for including ablative defenses (abstract HP, forcefields that can be
> knocked down, limited dodge actions, limited "action points",
> whatever...).

I suppose my reaction to this issue is one of question the starting
premise. What is the purpose of 'mooks' anyway? I imagine the answers
differ depending upon taste, for example I don't really use mooks at
all in my games. I have a critter I call a "minor character', but the
rules that apply to that are applied after they are defeated and
reflect more the need to get them 'off-screen' as it were.


=46rom the above I would assume that you want mooks to be somewhat
dangerous in numbers, but effectively helpless individually. I would
claim that there are non-ablative ways of managing that.

Two come immediately to mind:

1. Allow mooks to combine fire into a single attack which is made with
a bonus depending upon how many have worked together. Limit the number
allowed to do this by some value owned by their unit leader. Thus a
number (set by your design) can combine to have a low chance of
success with an attack.

2. Move your game system more towards maneuver and cover. Arrange
things so that your Heroes are basically untouchable by Mooks when
faced front-on (if in melee) or behind cover (if ranged fire). This
means the mooks will need to maneuver to a point of advantage before
they get any chance to injury a PC, thus cross-fires and flanking
actions.

Both of these methods (or a combination) fits the goals and can do so
without ablative defenses on the part of the PCs. 'Age of Heroes' uses
the second quite successfully.