Re: [HoE] Lethargic combat

[deadlander@juno.com (Templar Simon)]

On Thu, 24 Sep 1998 23:12:46 -0500 "R. Michael Dukes"
<jedi@gatem02.netusa1.net> writes:
>Hi all!  I've been playing Deadlands since it first came out and am
>preparing to begin Hell on Earth, but there is something that's been
>bugging me since the very beginning... slow combat.

Well, I've never played Deadlands (heresy, I know) and have yet to run my
HoE campaign (starts next week) but I have GMed for 20 years (2/3 of my
life, scary) and have a little insight on speeding up combat.

>  See, everything goes very well until combat starts and then things
>seem to take forever and it bogs the entire game down. 

Unfortunately, many RPGs have this problem.  GURPS has a one second
combat round and boy does that suck..I draw my arrow, I ready my arrow, I
aim my bow, I fire..BOOM, four rounds gone by!

>1-My posse has an annoying tendency to roll one die at a time rather
than all at >once(No more)

I think you know the answer to this one, or roll the attack dice yourself
(this also allows you to fudge the rolls if need be).  I just started
doing this with my group and they are loving it.  They just describe what
they are gonna do and give me their skill values and I take care of the
rest (making sure to describe the action in a very exciting manner).

>2-The huckster likes to take his sweet time with his hexes and
>continually has to look up the effects in the book(Gonna remedy it) 

Two words:  Flash Cards.  Put all the pertinent info on a card and keep
it handy.  I once knew a guy that photocopied all the spells in DnD,
shrunk them down, and taped them to a flash card (this was before TSR did
that themselves) and man did that save a LOT of time.

>3-We have five people playing and it takes a while for all their actions
to
>be played especially if I'm running numerous bad guys(Working on it)

This one is easy.  Start counting down the actions (Ace, King, Queen,
etc.) and if they miss their action because they are not paying attention
they lose it.  Only give them 3-5 seconds to declare their actions.  If
they hesitate so does their character.  You don't have time to look
through a book or waffle between this action and that when a Walkin' Dead
is trying to suck your brains out through your nose.

>I'm thinking of lowering the max number of cards to three rather than
>five and possibly eliminating stun checks.  

I sounds like your posse gets some killer initiative rolls!  So far noone
in my posse has a Quickness higher than d8 so I just can't see having to
worry about that.  Even a d10 or d12  is gonna have a hard time garnering
more than one or two successes.
Be careful about eliminating the stun checks, this is where all those
people that spent a high card on their Vigor get to shine.

>That should help some. 
>Anybody have a similar problem or any advice?  I seriously considered
>stopping the game because I was growing so frustrated.  Help me see 
>the error of my ways!! :)
>
Well, I hope I've helped even a little so don't stop playing the game!  

Templar Simon

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