Re: (TFT) Realism and ideal realism in TFT

["David O. Miller" <davidomiller@verizon.net>]

Too many David's on this list!  ;^)

Let me just throw this out there since some of you feel that three hex 
charges do not alter the tactics of the game. Looking at the larger set 
of rules does't this nerf force retreats? If I can do a 1 hex charge 
then forcing an opponent to retreat back 1 hex at the end of a turn is a 
viable tactic. Of course I have to either win initiative to lunge at him 
again, or, if he wins, I have to be faster than him. But in the end 
Force Retreats, 1 hex Charge/Lunges, Engagement/Disengagement rules, 
they all work together to make a coherent set of rules.

However, if to make a charge I have to step back 3 hexes, then run back 
in 3 hexes, it's most likely going to take me more than one turn to set 
up, especially if I have to do it in a straight line down one of the six 
hex spines (which brings up all sorts of silly positioning of figures, 
and in some cases you won't even be able to charge a figure that's 3 
hexes away). So, if I disengaged I give my opponent plenty of 
opportunity to simply move away. So why would I do that? It starts to 
promote the charge up and then stand still while hacking at each other. 


I mentioned that TFT is like a mini chess game and I still firmly belief 
that. Not so much in a one-on-one battle. But when you have 5-6 PCs vs 
10 goblins in really starts to get very tactical. It's one of the things 
I love most about the system. 

David
__________________________________________ 
David O. Miller
Miller Design/Illustration
www.davidomiller.com

2 Dean Court
East Northport, NY 11731
(631) 266-6875




On Oct 21, 2015, at 5:02 AM, Rick Smith <rick_ww@lightspeed.ca> wrote:

> Hi everyone, David.
>  I agree with your argument completely.  A bunch of my rules are there 

> because they 'feel' more real to me, e.g. DX penalties for long pole 

> weapon users when their user's back is obstructed.  I increased the 
> strength of the long bow to ST 15, because from my readings of the 
> English Long Bow, I understand that it required a very large amount of 
ST 
> to use properly.  The arguments that bows could be learned relatively 

> quickly but the English Long Bow requires years of practice make more 

> sense then.  It takes years to build up that massive amount of upper 
body 
> strength.
> 
>  The things I feel happiest with are when I can make something 
> more realistic with no increase in complexity.  For example, should
> some missile weapon do 1d+4 dice damage or 3d–3 damage?
> 
>  One does an average of 7.5 points.
>  The second does average damage of 7.5 points.  No difference...
> 
>  However, I've adjusted the weapon tables so that impaling weapons
> do X dice minus Y, where as cutting weapons and massive impact
> weapons tend to do X dice plus Y.  
> 
>  Thus with NO special rules, my impaling weapons tend to have a
> high standard deviation to damage.  (Especially if the target has some
> armor.)  They might do a little or they might do a lot of damage.  
GURPS 
> system is more realistic.  But it is more complex.  After the hit is 
made and 
> damage is done, you calculate the amount of damage that get's thru the 

> armor and then you double the adjusted damage for impaling weapons.  

> (Note that in GURPS, impaling weapons tend to do less damage, so 
> they are more often stopped by armor.  Thus they have high variance 
> of damage, especially if they against armor....)
> 
>  My rules are less complex and faster, but the key thing is that they 

> capture an idea with no mechanics.  All that has to be done, is that 

> those who design new weapons apply the same system.
> 
>  Getting back to pole weapons, my rules are certainly not ideal in 
this 
> sense.  They are complex, but it is the minimum complexity I feel is 

> needed to capture the key idea that they can get a significant bonus 
to 
> damage by charging 3+ hexes, (which encourages maneuver and 
> terrain effects) and that long weapons are awkward in tight spaces 
(which 
> encourages terrain effects).  Important terrain means that the battles 
have 
> more variety.
> 
>  I am also willing to put up with a bit more complexity in order to 
have the
> different weapons play differently from each other.  The upshot is 
that the
> battles have more variety.  If someone could absolutely prove to me, 
that
> historically, that there was not real difference tactics wise between 
pole 
> weapons and swords, I would STILL keep my system.
> 
>  Which reminds me of story...
> 
>  I had an old player who felt he knew infinitely more about melee 
combat
> than me because he was in the SCA.  His argument, was that pole 
weapons,
> swords, axes, maces, etc. were all the same.  My wry reply that, "they 
all, 
> basically, could be treated like padded clubs," did not penetrate.  I 
finally 
> ended the debate by saying that I liked my rules where the different 
weapons
> were treated differently because it made combat more interesting.  
This 
> allowed me to run the game with out argument and he got to stay the 
expert.
> 
>  Warm regards, Rick.
> 
> 
> 
> On 2015-10-21, at 12:43 AM, David Bofinger wrote:
> 
>>> TFT is a game.  I do not use it to simulate reality, so calling on
>> examples
>>> from 600 years ago, tho interesting, do not tempt me to change my 
rules.
>>> My question on adding rules is do the new rules improve game play in
>>> some way.
>> 
>> This is fine as far as it goes, but leaves open the question of what 
is an
>> improvement. I think it's fairly clear that for 90+% of players the
>> relationship to reality matters. There's an attraction to TFT that 
chess
>> doesn't have: part of the fun is that what happens in the game can be
>> imagined as happening in real life, and characters can be imagined to 
be
>> real people. Conversely, a really silly rule like "characters with 
odd
>> strength walk on the floor, characters with even strength walk on the
>> ceiling" would be seen as bad even if it had some advantage in other 
ways.
>> So for most people eliminating a source of unrealism does, ceteris 
paribus,
>> constitute an improvement.
>> 
>> That said, maybe we don't need a lot of resolution: TFT mostly aims 
at a
>> simple approximation to more or less reality. And I'm doubtful about 
the
>> relevance of the performance of Swiss pike phalanges, that fought 
mostly in
>> open fields with thousands of men and 4.5 metre pikes, to the often 
cramped
>> conditions and small unit tactics of TFT soldiers wielding halberds 
and
>> spears.
>> 
>> --
>> David
>> 
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> 
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