Re: (TFT) Shield rush in Melee

[Peter von Kleinsmid <pvk@oz.net>]

Some rambling thoughts...

GURPS addresses many of the issues in this thread fairly well, if not 
perfectly. The GURPS Slam/Tackle/Shield Rush rules take ST, DX, skill, and 
weight into account, and offer various options (including, in other rules, 
bashing with shields, and knockback from weapon hits). Of course, these 
come at the cost of more complex rules with more die rolls involved, which 
many of the TFT players on the list cited as main reasons for sticking with 
TFT.

On the knockback point, in GURPS, every 8 points of crushing/cutting damage 
to an average human-sized target generally leads to one meter of knockback 
- before taking armor or injury factors into account. Anyone knocked 
backwards also needs a DX roll to avoid falling. Bullets don't do any 
knockback, since they don't actually have a lot of total momentum, since 
they have such low mass and do their damage by making a small hole straight 
through a body. Realists might note that even many swings aren't in the 
correct direction, though - an overhand swing might not impart any momentum 
backwards - just downwards.

In GURPS, a shield bash (trying to hurt someone with a shield) does about 
as much damage as a kick, but has the advantages of not exposing your leg, 
and of generally not being able to be parried (blocked by another shield or 
dodged, yes) - but with TFT's lack of active defenses, those aren't really 
translatable.

IIRC, a GURPS spike shield just does one more point of damage on a bash, 
and nothing special on a rush - it's usually more weight and expense than 
it's worth, unless you're a bash maniac. ;-)

Shield rushes in GURPS are a bit risky, too, since you can sometimes end up 
going past your opponent.

One thing that I don't think there is a great rule for in GURPS or TFT is 
shoving. Sometimes in real fights, the opportunity arises to send someone 
flying a few hexes, without really hurting them in the shove. In TFT this 
might be something to add as an occasional effect of breaking free from HTH.

PvK
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