Re: (TFT) Weapon Multiplier --> Repost

["David Michael Grouchy II" <david_michael_grouchy_ii@hotmail.com>]

> From: dwtulloh@zianet.com
>
> Armed one-hex figures?  I never noticed this before .. what
> about characters with UC talents?  For the purposes of this
> paragraph, I'd consider them armed.

Dan,
  Strange enough that its in a different section, but there is more on 
engagement.  It's two pages before the previously quoted engagement section 
of page four, and appears in section two, page two, of the GENERAL 
DISCUSION.  I think it shows how central engagement is to the combat system.
  Here are the first three paragraphs of that section.  A little long I'm 
afraid, but it does end with that memorable bit about a knight being engaged 
by a thirteen year old girl.  Under the reasoning presented there I think a 
figure with unarmed combat would constitute the threat of being 
"endangered".
  Its easy to miss the fact that unarmed pesants watching a fight do not 
engage combatants who happen to step in one of their front hexes.  Gives new 
powers to the drop weapon spell.  "poof, he drops his weapon and I'm no 
longer engaged!"
  At the end, after this rather long section, I do have a speculative 
question.

 "2 TURN SEQUENCING AND OPTIONS
    Combat takes place in turns, representing five seconds each.  During 
each turn, each figure may execute one "option" from the list below.  Each 
option consists of a movement, attack, defense, or other combination of 
options.
    The options available to a figure depend on whether it is "engaged" or 
"disengaged."  An ENGAGED figure is one that is adjacent to an armed enemy 
figure, and in one of that figure's front hexes.  See below for diagrams and 
more details.  A figure of three or more hexes is not considered truly 
"engaged" when the figures engaged with it take up 1/3 or less of the space 
the larger figure does.  A single 1-hex figure does not engage a giant, who 
occupies 3 hexes.  The lone man IS engaged - but the giant may proceed as 
though the man were not there, trample him, etc.  Two men don't engage a 
7-hex dragon.  Three men, or one giant, DO engage a 7-hex dragon.  And so 
on.  When in doubt, count the hexes.  If the smaller figure(s) occupy 1/3 or 
fewer of the hexes that the larger one(s) do, the larger one(s) are not 
engaged.  Situations are possible, for instance, where three men can engage 
two giants - because each giant, individually, is engaged by two men.  The 
fact that one man is counted twice is unimportant.
    The concept of "engaged" is used to identify figures who are actually 
involved in combat, and standing next to an enemy who endangers them 
physicaly.  Thus a single warrior cannot really engage a large dragon, the 
dragon can just walk past him if it wants to.  A figure with his back or 
side to you does not engage you; he can't hit you.  As a general rule, a 
figure engages you if you are in one of its front hexes.  In certain cases, 
the GM may 'declare' that a figure is not engaged - i.e., a knight in plate 
mail is not endangerd by an unarmed thriteen-year-old girl, so he is not 
engaged by her, but may walk through her front hexes as though she were not 
there.  And rats, wasps, etc., do not engage a figure, even when they 
attack."
    AM page 2-3

    So the question is this.  How many rats does it take to engage an 
armored knight?  I know most players balk at the very idea of being engaged 
by nuisance creatures.  It seems that a swarm of rats should be able to 
reach critical mass at some point though.  Ten, twenty, or maybe thirty two? 
 Would anyone object to this optional rule, even if it threatened their own 
character?

    NUISANCE OPTION:  A figure is engaged by small 1 ST nuisance creatures 
when the total number of creatures in the figures hex exeeds their attribute 
total.  The figure may then be engaged, knocked down, even forced back.

    David Michael Grouchy II

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