We’ve been talking quite a bit lately here at d21 about ways to enhance a story-driven RPG experience.  Here, then, are some practical examples of how to handle combat in a story-based system.

For our example today, let’s imagine a city-based gothic fantasy campaign.  Let’s suppose that I am using the rules from the Theatrix system, which is completely diceless, but does allow players to spend a “plot point” in order to take over an encounter.  Our player character is Sir William Leicester, a somewhat down on his luck nobleman scoundrel and swashbuckler.  At the moment, Sir William is in the middle of something of a “spotlight” encounter early in the session, so the other players are content to sit back and watch, and perhaps even take on the roles of other spectators to the fight, whooping and hollering along.

GM: So, as you start to head out of the tavern with your newly purchased treasure map, and before you can get to the door, you are surprised when someone suddenly splashes a beer into your face.

Player (in character): What!  I just washed this shirt!

GM: You turn to face a rather unpleasant looking local named Garg the Unpleasant.  As he speaks, he sort of gurgles at you.  “We don’t like your kind of fancy pants here in MY tavern, mister…”

Player: Well, it’s time I teach this cur a lesson.  I draw my rapier and carve my initials into his chest.

GM: As you draw your sword, Garg the Unpleasant smiles at you and drools a bit, before raising his fists.  A few of the other patrons begin to step back, forming a circle around you.

Player: I have “Gentleman Swashbuckler” as a descriptor, and my rapier skill is excellent, so I should be able to make short work of this loser.

GM: Ah, if you were out on the street, that would certainly be the case.  However, Garg has made something of a career out of tavern brawling.  In fact, “Tavern brawler” is his primary descriptor.  His brawling skill is almost a match for your rapier skill.  Still, you do have a sword…

Player: Well, I lunge at him, like I said.

GM: Whether deliberately or not, you aren’t sure, but Garg sort of stumbles back a bit, and the next thing you know, he’s parrying your sword with the chair that he just picked up.

Player:  I still have plenty of skill for this.  I attack him again.

GM:  What do you want to do?  Go for his legs?  Try to slash his arm?  Maybe a feint of some kind?

Player: I like the idea of going for his legs.

GM: Once again, Garg manages to step back, causing you to miss.  He backs up against a support beam, so he decides to throw the chair at your head.

Player:  My agility is pretty high.  I duck the chair.

GM: You avoid most of it, but one of the legs still manages to catch you on the arm.  That will leave a bit of bruise, but nothing worse.

Player: I’m getting tired of this, but I don’t want to spend a plot point just yet.  It seems like we are still much too early in the adventure for me to be blowing plot points.  Anyway, now that he’s unarmed, I’m going to put on a little show for the people in the tavern.  Lots of flash, but no real attacks.  I’ll wait for Garg to do something stupid and make a mistake.

GM:  Now there’s an idea.  Your steel flashes in the air, and the people in the tavern begin to hoot and holler in appreciation of your skills.  Garg ducks and weaves a bit, dodging around the beam, etc., but you manage to keep him moving.  Finally, Garg does get a little frustrated, and he sticks out his left arm in such a way that your sword cuts into his forearm, but it opens you up for the haymaker that he’s about to deliver.

Player:  Hmmm.  Do I want to kill this guy or not?

GM: It’s up to you.

Player: Well, since I’ve been waiting for him to make his move, I’ll step back and dodge his haymaker, and I’ll give him a good swift kick in the butt as he goes by.

GM: You kick Garg firmly in the buttocks.  He ends up planting his shoulder into the support beam, and falling face first to the floor with a big thump.  However, before he can get up, one of the tavern wenches smashes a heavy pewter mug across the back of Garg’s head.  Apparently, she’s been looking for a chance to do that for years.  Garg collapses back down onto the floor.

Player:  Alright then!  I carve my initials into his ass. 

GM: Just before you can start the carving, you hear a big crash behind you.  Apparently, two or three members of the city watch have just come through the door.  Still , they have to jostle their way past the onlookers, so you still have a few seconds to work.

Player:  Hmmm.  Okay, some other time then.  I give a wink and a smile to the tavern wench, and then I head for the back door.

GM:  Like a good swashbuckler, you make an excellent vault over the counter and into the kitchen.  A moment later,  you find the back door and make your way out into the alley.  Perhaps the city watch saw your coat, but they certainly didn’t get a good look at your face.

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Okay, then, what did we learn from the above example?

1) Keep in mind the purpose of the encounter.  The scene above was all about helping to establish the player’s swashbuckler persona, while providing a short but entertaining combat encounter.  Garg was just tough enough that the player would have to do something creative to beat him, but not tough enough to present a real threat, unless the player did something really stupid (like trying to swing from a chandelier in a small and crowded tavern).

2) Build tension, then release.  Notice how the GM doesn’t allow the player to get away with his first couple of combat requests?  The GM wants this battle to last for more than a few seconds, but he doesn’t want it to last all night, either.  Letting Garg get in one or two punches (in this case, a thrown chair) allows for some increased tension, but not too much.  However, once we get a littlte tension going, the GM lets the player have some fun, and thereby releases the tension of the scene.

3) Make the player participate.  Simple commands like “I attack him” shouldn’t be good enough to work in a story-driven combat.  Notice how the GM trains the player here.  With an inexperienced player, it is perfectly okay to offer the “multiple choice” set of combat commands.  This suggests to the player the sort of detail that you, as GM, want to achieve in this combat.  Of course, some of the options that you give to a player may in fact be “bad” options.  At that point in the tension-building, it probably didn’t matter very much what option the player took, because he was probably going to miss anyway, but the player’s action still helps to determine the flow of the combat.  Notice that, by the end, the player was picking up on things and giving out good suggestions on his own?  Here, the GM rewards the player’s creativity by letting the player get his way at the end of the fight, but still frustrates the player slightly by not letting him have time to carve his initials.

4) The little details count a whole lot.  Don’t be afraid to set a little “slow motion” or “freeze frame” moment right as the combat starts.  Did you notice that Garg was drooling right at the start of the fight?  That one little detail adds a lot to an otherwise incidental throwaway NPC.  When a bad guy gets knocked out of a fight, don’t just say, “he’s down.”  Instead, say, “he hits the ground like a sack of potatoes, losing a tooth in the process.” 

5) Use the environment.  A tavern brawl should be a tavern brawl.  You don’t need to map the tavern out in five foot squares, but throwing in a few details like tables, chairs, support beams, and pewter tankards helps to sell the setting of the fight.

6) Player Choices Matter.  Under the “Build Tension” discussion, above, I hinted that there might be moments, especially early in a battle, where the player’s choices don’t matter that much, because the bad guy needs and deserves to get a few shots in.  However, in the grand scheme of things, player choice is precisely what matters in a story-driven game.  The encounter above is all about HOW the gentleman swashbuckler wants to deal with a drunken lout in a bar.  The player, by the end, catches on to the idea that what really matters here is whether or not Sir William is the sort who would actually kill someone over an insult.  The other important decision that the player makes is whether or not he wants to stay long enough to carve his initials, at the risk of greater problems with the city watch later on.  Perhaps correctly, the player decides to make a hasty retreat.  These are choices that give shape to the campaign, going forward.

7) A good story build up layers that can be explored later.  The GM started this encounter with the goal of helping to establish the gentleman swashbuckler’s character, both for the benefit of the person playing that character, and also for the benefit of the other players in the group who got to watch.  However, several incidental things happened along the way.  Sir William built up his reputation with the locals as a “flashy” fighter.  He might very well have made an ally out of the tavern wench who finally got her own revenge against Garg.  Garg, by the way, did survive, and might show up in a later episode.  Sir William may still end up having some complications with the city watch.  Sometimes, the little things that happen organically in the course of an encounter such as this can have larger implications for the unfolding story, a story which the players have helped to shape!

I hope that the above lessons are helpful.  A good deal of what I covered today should be applicable to all sorts of dice-based RPGs as well, so good luck with that.