----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Gallo" <martimer@mindspring.com>
To: <tft@brainiac.com>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2003 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: (TFT) Shield rush in Melee
> It still sounds like a lot of extra die rolling. Other than that it
> is interesting.
Yes, I agree. The problem is that I don't think that you want shield rushes
to be overly effective, given that they deny an opponent his attack. At
least that's how I see it right now.
Therefore, I required both a to hit roll and a "knock him down" roll.
Another tack might be to treat the shield as a club -- i.e., it does the
base ST damage, plus some amount (say +5). This damage is assessed solely to
determine if the foe is stunned or knocked down.
> Also, I think there are two types of shield rush tactics in melee type
combat.
>
> One is where the shield is used offensively to interfere with the
> opposing weapon (above and beyond just blocking it) in order to make
> an attack more effective or likely with the attacking weapon. If I
> recall correctly, the shield is basically swept across the space
> between the combatants while the opposing weapon is attacking. The
> shield sweep is followed up with an attack. If done properly, and
> this involves a lot of timing as well as strength and coordination,
> the opponent is usually knocked off balance or out of rhythm thus
> making the follow up attack more effective.
>
> The other is to knock the opponent down or back. It does not involve
> the attacking weapon, just a 'bull rush' maneuver where strength,
> speed and weight are more important.
I agree, but I think that the role of ST in hth combat, grappling, etc., is
greatly underrated in most games and indeed in Hollywood and popular
fiction. How many times do we see 5'2" women beat up 6' guys? Or little Mr.
Myagi-type guys defeat much larger bad guys?
Yet the professional fighters, judo contestants, real wrestlers, etc., are
grouped in relatively narrow weight bands for a very good reason: strength
and mass profoundly influence one's chance of winning such a fight. A fencer
friend of mine sneers at fencers who win matches with strength rather than
skill; yet he readily concedes that one can win with strength.
My own personal experience bears this out. For 9 years -- in Taekwondo, Judo
and some minor experience in Kendo -- I found myself at a disadvantage
against larger/stronger foes (I was about average height and weight),
regardless of the difference in experience (not including novices of
course). I recall attempting to randori with a far lower ranked 250 pound
guy who was a little shorter than me (I weighed 145 lbs then). A long, long
day. Of course that was a long time ago, but I recall it quite vividly.
In my experience, female martial artists -- who have biological limitations
on physical strength -- were generally unable to compete with men who were
the same size or larger unless the women had a profound advantage in
training. Even then, it was iffy. I found this to be true in taekwondo
(kicking and punching), judo (grappling) and kendo (swords). Despite the
dact that generally, I found women to be somewhat better students -- more
attentive to instruction. They also were more flexible and a little more
agile (aspects of DX in TFT terms). The main advantage the men possess is
greater physical strength and this seems to profoundly impact the outcome of
contests. (On a tangent, I don't find this to be generally true of
pre-pubescent children -- my 8 year old daughter consistently out-spars up
my buddies' 8 year old sons. But I doubt that this will be true in 10
years.)
Note that most sports have conceded the strength angle by having separate
associations for men and women.
And certainly, most professional sports place a very high premium on
physical strength.
So I feel pretty comfortable in making shield-rushes ST dependent.
--Ty
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