Re: (TFT) TFT HTH

["Neil Gilmore" <raito@raito.com>]

> If a PC intends to perform a flying tackle for the opponent legs, I'll
give
> the opponent a chance (Dx-4 roll) to jump up in the air to avoid the
tackle,
> (I suppose football players don't do this because they've got all that
heavy
> padding...), allowing the PC a chance to simply land one hex behind the

Heavy padding, that's amusing. Having worn said padding, and worn armor, I'd
say hands down the padding isn't that much (current set of armor is 37 lbs.,
football stuff is less than 10). The other reason is that flying tackles are
unusual for football (if you're competent). Too easy to miss when you do
that.

> Of course, there can be dozens of variants on this, but you get the
general
> idea. And in this way, I find that I somewhat capture the  chance that the
> PC will receive some damage as a result of attempting to engage an
opponent
> in HTH, which better mirrors what happens in real life. Plus, I find it
also

Real life? Pardon, but I don't know you well. When was the last time you
tried to actually engage in HTH with someone with a weapon in a real fight?
For me, it was about 10 years ago. I assure you, it would have been the
height of stupidiy for me to dive at his legs. Then again, I do put in a lot
of practice time against that very occurance.

> par's down on players usage of HTH attempts as they quickly realize, it's
> not very wise to simply plow into an opponent who's got a handy weapon
> available.

The rest aside, it has bugged me that while most of the actions taken in TFT
have at least something to do with the character's abilities, entering HTH
does not. You just roll on the table, whether you're Bruce Lee or some
schmuck.

I can deal with the abstraction that, for TFT, somehow there is a range
inside of which all weapons except a dagger become effectively useless, and
that range is one hex, even if this is manifestly not true (just as it's
true that medieval manuals posit that falling to the ground is the worst
thing to do in a fight, which the +4 adjustment gets right). The question
then becomes what rules are reasonable. My players didn't tend to initiate
HTH much, even though they should have, sometimes. It's pretty useful if you
get a back shot to initiate HTH, as there's little risk, and if you do
suceed, everyone piles on and pins them.

The current rules are set up so that if you know they're coming (they engage
you first), you get a swing at them, but not if you come up on them from
behind. But everyone has the same chance of suceeding at starting HTH, which
I don't like.

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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