Boot party manifesto: Redux
(Mostly) cross-posted to the Indy list, since most of my friends can relate to the pain of running a combat involving a 15-person boot party. And because sending it to the list didn't quite get the rant-y venting out of my system. (Also edited slightly, since I found some typos and decided to re-word some things from the original email.)
Hi folks,
I'm going to take a few minutes to discuss mass combat. To be blunt, I hate it. I even designed a new "unit" combat system for groups of 20+ combatants because I hate standard MET mass combat that much.
Point blank: I do not create plots that require boot parties of more than 5-6 people. I hate running combats with more than 6-8 people, so I avoid creating situations that require them. More challenging opponents require more powerful characters, not a greater number of low- to mid-point characters. If there is ever a fight that is meant to require half the game, it will be made very apparent IC and OOC (like the Aminosh fight at GenCon).
There are a lot of reasons for this. First, most fights have a targeted power level assigned by the STs. It's not random; when planning a combat scene, we determine what sort of point value we want to cater to. Being a low-power character in a high-powered fight is boring at best and infuriating at worst (in addition to having a high risk of fatality for your character). You're fighting a character that can usually shrug off your attacks, and that can probably cripple or kill you if it focuses on you for a round or two (especially if you don't have Aegis). So you basically stand there being largely ineffective. Even if you manage to be effective, there's a decent chance that you'll get smoked for your trouble. It's not good.
Conversely, a high-powered character in a low-powered fight stomps all over what was supposed to be a fight meant to be enjoyed by comparatively weaker PCs who can't necessarily fight elder kolduns, and leaves the players who were supposed to enjoy the fight standing around feeling useless. Instead of getting to flex their muscles against foes of a caliber equal to their own, the 50-point Brujah feel radically outshone as the 600-point death machine mows through the 40-point Sabbat pack like Sauron through the Numenoreans. (Like this, only without the cheesy music and part where Sauron loses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPeZ8PVtF9Q)
Here's some more behind-the-curtain info: there are antagonists of pretty much every power level represented by PCs in the game. The STs try to match the power level of the PC or PCs who get involved in plots, and plan encounters with that power level in mind. This becomes impossible when half the game wants to throw down. We have to abort the plan and pull out the biggest baddies we have because a.) there are 15-20 PCs involved, and anything that doesn't have FAP and tons of traits will be buried in a round or two, and b.) when half the game comes along, there are going to be at least a few of those juggernauts with 300+ points. So it comes down to one of two scenarios: the PCs find nothing and return frustrated, or the PCs find the worst enemies in the game and return frustrated. In scenario b.), even if they win, there's a pretty good chance that we all just stood in a room for 5 hours playing RPS, so everyone is frustrated. And if the baddie wins or gets away, the players are frustrated because they either accomplished nothing or just got wiped out.
Also, more people make fights take longer, especially in high-level fights that involve Aegis. The amount of time it takes to run each round is exponentially increased with each person who is involved, even if they aren't accomplishing much. Consider this: Anything that is encountered by a 15-person boot party WILL have Aegis. Otherwise it dies in a round. Now, there's a pretty good chance that 3-5 combat characters will be able to dish out enough hurt that said baddie will have to blow Aegis to survive the round. This means that the other 10-12 PCs are attacking an opponent that they are literally incapable of damaging. We all stand around for the rest of the round listening to a dozen exchanges of "I shoot him!" "He relents; nothing happens." So once again, that extra dozen people are neither necessary nor particularly helpful.
Here's the point: Keep your boot parties small. Boot parties of more than 5 people are not necessary, and they're not helpful to anyone. They only make things worse. If you ever need half the game to take out a bad guy, you'll know IC and OOC, and you'll know it well in advance. Even if you're fighting a major villain (like the Koldun), you want quality, not quantity.
The point of the game is to have fun. Mass combats are the opposite of fun for pretty much everyone involved. We as STs try to keep combat relatively infrequent, and when we do utilize it, it's supposed to further enjoyment of the game, not make everyone frustrated because they spend 3 hours in a room throwing chops and didn't even hurt the bad guy.
Hi folks,
I'm going to take a few minutes to discuss mass combat. To be blunt, I hate it. I even designed a new "unit" combat system for groups of 20+ combatants because I hate standard MET mass combat that much.
Point blank: I do not create plots that require boot parties of more than 5-6 people. I hate running combats with more than 6-8 people, so I avoid creating situations that require them. More challenging opponents require more powerful characters, not a greater number of low- to mid-point characters. If there is ever a fight that is meant to require half the game, it will be made very apparent IC and OOC (like the Aminosh fight at GenCon).
There are a lot of reasons for this. First, most fights have a targeted power level assigned by the STs. It's not random; when planning a combat scene, we determine what sort of point value we want to cater to. Being a low-power character in a high-powered fight is boring at best and infuriating at worst (in addition to having a high risk of fatality for your character). You're fighting a character that can usually shrug off your attacks, and that can probably cripple or kill you if it focuses on you for a round or two (especially if you don't have Aegis). So you basically stand there being largely ineffective. Even if you manage to be effective, there's a decent chance that you'll get smoked for your trouble. It's not good.
Conversely, a high-powered character in a low-powered fight stomps all over what was supposed to be a fight meant to be enjoyed by comparatively weaker PCs who can't necessarily fight elder kolduns, and leaves the players who were supposed to enjoy the fight standing around feeling useless. Instead of getting to flex their muscles against foes of a caliber equal to their own, the 50-point Brujah feel radically outshone as the 600-point death machine mows through the 40-point Sabbat pack like Sauron through the Numenoreans. (Like this, only without the cheesy music and part where Sauron loses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPeZ8PVtF9Q)
Here's some more behind-the-curtain info: there are antagonists of pretty much every power level represented by PCs in the game. The STs try to match the power level of the PC or PCs who get involved in plots, and plan encounters with that power level in mind. This becomes impossible when half the game wants to throw down. We have to abort the plan and pull out the biggest baddies we have because a.) there are 15-20 PCs involved, and anything that doesn't have FAP and tons of traits will be buried in a round or two, and b.) when half the game comes along, there are going to be at least a few of those juggernauts with 300+ points. So it comes down to one of two scenarios: the PCs find nothing and return frustrated, or the PCs find the worst enemies in the game and return frustrated. In scenario b.), even if they win, there's a pretty good chance that we all just stood in a room for 5 hours playing RPS, so everyone is frustrated. And if the baddie wins or gets away, the players are frustrated because they either accomplished nothing or just got wiped out.
Also, more people make fights take longer, especially in high-level fights that involve Aegis. The amount of time it takes to run each round is exponentially increased with each person who is involved, even if they aren't accomplishing much. Consider this: Anything that is encountered by a 15-person boot party WILL have Aegis. Otherwise it dies in a round. Now, there's a pretty good chance that 3-5 combat characters will be able to dish out enough hurt that said baddie will have to blow Aegis to survive the round. This means that the other 10-12 PCs are attacking an opponent that they are literally incapable of damaging. We all stand around for the rest of the round listening to a dozen exchanges of "I shoot him!" "He relents; nothing happens." So once again, that extra dozen people are neither necessary nor particularly helpful.
Here's the point: Keep your boot parties small. Boot parties of more than 5 people are not necessary, and they're not helpful to anyone. They only make things worse. If you ever need half the game to take out a bad guy, you'll know IC and OOC, and you'll know it well in advance. Even if you're fighting a major villain (like the Koldun), you want quality, not quantity.
The point of the game is to have fun. Mass combats are the opposite of fun for pretty much everyone involved. We as STs try to keep combat relatively infrequent, and when we do utilize it, it's supposed to further enjoyment of the game, not make everyone frustrated because they spend 3 hours in a room throwing chops and didn't even hurt the bad guy.