Post by Admin on Apr 2, 2012 8:55:51 GMT -5
Partially during this event, but mostly after the event, some "rules" calls were brought to my attention during the event by PCs against NPCs. These "rules" calls had impact on the NPCs and led to a good deal of confusion regarding them for the NPCs involved. Some I cleared up during the event but most I did not have an opportunity during the event to review.
Before I go into specifics about them, I want to point out two important matters:
To be very clear about this, a PC can call an NPC for a violation of the rules as they are written. If there is a disagreement between an NPC and a PC about the rules, then that disagreement should be brought to Jay or myself for review.
CLAWS: A number of PCs told my NPCs that they were not allowed to stab with claws. After at least one battle, when an NPC who was stabbing asked a PC how he took as much damage as he did without the carrier attack having an effect, that NPC was told that the PC was not taking the damage because the NPC had been stabbing with a claw.
Unfortunately, this one was never brought to my attention by a PC or NPC during the event. If it had been, then I would have been able to address it and provide the proper call.
Claws can be used to stab. There is nothing in the rulebook that prevents this. But, you might say, in real life a tiger could not stab you with its claws, right? While that is true, in real life a sword or mace would not injure someone with a flick of the wrist. Also, a 400 pound tiger would not simply sit back and allow you to block its claw swipes with your shield. It would be on top of you, using its superior strength and size to shred your intestines out. Since this isn't a viable option, there is no restriction on how claws are used.
Do I want NPC tigers dancing around in fencing poses and using karate-style moves to fight? Absolutely not. And, when these things are brought to my attention, I deal with them. I am sure that many of you saw me during the massive late-night undead battle grabbing NPCs and correcting their behaviors as a marshall. But, these sorts of errors are not rules violations that a PC has the authority to call an NPC on.
I will do a better job of having NPCs bringing these sorts of things to my attention during events so that they can be resolved properly. As PCs, though, please work within the limits of the rules. Do not call an NPC on making a rules violation unless the NERO Ninth Edition Rulebook supports the claim you are making against an NPC.
Pinning/Trapping Weapons: A few NPCs were called for "trapping weapons" during this event. Trapping, per the Rulebook, occurs when an player uses prongs or other decorative pieces of their weapon to take hold of another's weapon. Since the NPCs who were alleged to be doing this were wielding claws with no cross-guards, it is hard to imagine how the NPCs could have conceivably "trapped" a weapon with a claw.
Pinning is a potentially different story. Pinning occurs when a player uses his/her weapon to hold another's weapon up against an immovable object. Indoors, this is not allowed. Outdoors, it is allowed, so long as the player still is able to draw his/her weapon backwards to free it.
One of the instances of this (brought to my attention after the event) ocurred outdoors and the other indoors. In both of the cases, however, there was nothing to stop the PC from drawing their weapon backwards away from the NPC. In neither case was the PCs weapon trapped up against an immovable object. According to the information that I have, then, pinning would not have been an appropriate call for the action taken by the NPC.
To be clear, a player is permitted to maneuver the placement of their weapon for blocking in open air however they like. If you try to slide your weapon along their weapon in order to make a hit and they are able to continue to block this contact, there is no rules violation. In fact, you should be drawing your weapon back for another swing in any case.
NPCs are far from perfect, especially when we have new ones like we did at this event. Their job becomes especially frustrating when rules calls are made that are improper and they are left in this position where they feel like they can do nothing right.
Standing in as marshall for the large undead battle on Saturday night was very informative for me and allowed me to correct a number of issues that I saw taking place, both from PCs and from NPCs. I think that many of you saw me making rules calls both for and against NPCs and PCs.
In NERO Detroit, we want the rules to be followed. If you want to refuse to take damage when there is a rules violation, then you are entitled to do so per the rules. In doing so, we only ask that you can point to the section of the rulebook that makes the activity a violation.
However, this is a two-way street. You cannot, as a player, choose to apply strict adherence to the rules against your opponents (NPCs) and then fudge the rules for your benefit.
Do you properly enunciate every word of your incants even if it means you won't get a defense off on time? Or do you fudge it so that you can get off the long incantation for a shield magic before an NPC who is casting properly can finish his attack?
If you see a PC violating the rules as they fight by your side do you call them on the violation just as you would an NPC? Or do you prefer to only use the rules calls when they serve as a defense to you?
If you want to play by what I have in italics above, then you are the kind of player we want in NERO Detroit. I witnessed instances of both of these things occuring while I marshalled the undead fight on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, I also witnessed the non-italicized portions. I saw those PCs who were brave enough to call their fellow PCs on rules violations receive scorned looks from their fellow PCs. How dare they "betray" their fellow PCs?
I will end this very long post with the following. We want a fun game with a great story, where the rules are applied evenly against PCs and NPCs. "Rules Lawyers" are welcome, because they help us all to play the game better.
"Rules Lawyers" who use the rules as a second set of defenses for their characters while they trample the rulebook for their own benefit, however, will not be welcome here.
NERO Detroit reserves the right to refuse admission to anyone who chooses to play the game that way.
Before I go into specifics about them, I want to point out two important matters:
Help our new NPCs
At just about every event, we’re going to have some new faces NPCing. Make them feel welcome by helping them to learn the rules of the game. They’re here to entertain you for free, so make the event an enjoyable one for them. If you have a problem with how any NPC is fighting or acting, bring that to the attention of Jay Vasseur or Bill Godfrey if you cannot peacefully resolve it with the NPC in question.
At just about every event, we’re going to have some new faces NPCing. Make them feel welcome by helping them to learn the rules of the game. They’re here to entertain you for free, so make the event an enjoyable one for them. If you have a problem with how any NPC is fighting or acting, bring that to the attention of Jay Vasseur or Bill Godfrey if you cannot peacefully resolve it with the NPC in question.
If you are struck by an improperly cast spell or gas, a weapon attack with a damage call that was unintelligible, or have any other rules reason not to take an attack made against you, you MUST use the call “blown” to signal to the attacker that the attack was not effective for a rules reason. If the attacking person wants to know what they did wrong, you must then explain to them why the attack didn’t work. You cannot simply ignore the attack. By promptly announcing a blown call and explaining the reasoning, NPCs and PCs alike can improve their level of gameplay, and avoid mis-calls in the future.
To be very clear about this, a PC can call an NPC for a violation of the rules as they are written. If there is a disagreement between an NPC and a PC about the rules, then that disagreement should be brought to Jay or myself for review.
CLAWS: A number of PCs told my NPCs that they were not allowed to stab with claws. After at least one battle, when an NPC who was stabbing asked a PC how he took as much damage as he did without the carrier attack having an effect, that NPC was told that the PC was not taking the damage because the NPC had been stabbing with a claw.
Unfortunately, this one was never brought to my attention by a PC or NPC during the event. If it had been, then I would have been able to address it and provide the proper call.
Claws can be used to stab. There is nothing in the rulebook that prevents this. But, you might say, in real life a tiger could not stab you with its claws, right? While that is true, in real life a sword or mace would not injure someone with a flick of the wrist. Also, a 400 pound tiger would not simply sit back and allow you to block its claw swipes with your shield. It would be on top of you, using its superior strength and size to shred your intestines out. Since this isn't a viable option, there is no restriction on how claws are used.
Do I want NPC tigers dancing around in fencing poses and using karate-style moves to fight? Absolutely not. And, when these things are brought to my attention, I deal with them. I am sure that many of you saw me during the massive late-night undead battle grabbing NPCs and correcting their behaviors as a marshall. But, these sorts of errors are not rules violations that a PC has the authority to call an NPC on.
I will do a better job of having NPCs bringing these sorts of things to my attention during events so that they can be resolved properly. As PCs, though, please work within the limits of the rules. Do not call an NPC on making a rules violation unless the NERO Ninth Edition Rulebook supports the claim you are making against an NPC.
Pinning/Trapping Weapons: A few NPCs were called for "trapping weapons" during this event. Trapping, per the Rulebook, occurs when an player uses prongs or other decorative pieces of their weapon to take hold of another's weapon. Since the NPCs who were alleged to be doing this were wielding claws with no cross-guards, it is hard to imagine how the NPCs could have conceivably "trapped" a weapon with a claw.
Pinning is a potentially different story. Pinning occurs when a player uses his/her weapon to hold another's weapon up against an immovable object. Indoors, this is not allowed. Outdoors, it is allowed, so long as the player still is able to draw his/her weapon backwards to free it.
One of the instances of this (brought to my attention after the event) ocurred outdoors and the other indoors. In both of the cases, however, there was nothing to stop the PC from drawing their weapon backwards away from the NPC. In neither case was the PCs weapon trapped up against an immovable object. According to the information that I have, then, pinning would not have been an appropriate call for the action taken by the NPC.
To be clear, a player is permitted to maneuver the placement of their weapon for blocking in open air however they like. If you try to slide your weapon along their weapon in order to make a hit and they are able to continue to block this contact, there is no rules violation. In fact, you should be drawing your weapon back for another swing in any case.
NPCs are far from perfect, especially when we have new ones like we did at this event. Their job becomes especially frustrating when rules calls are made that are improper and they are left in this position where they feel like they can do nothing right.
Standing in as marshall for the large undead battle on Saturday night was very informative for me and allowed me to correct a number of issues that I saw taking place, both from PCs and from NPCs. I think that many of you saw me making rules calls both for and against NPCs and PCs.
In NERO Detroit, we want the rules to be followed. If you want to refuse to take damage when there is a rules violation, then you are entitled to do so per the rules. In doing so, we only ask that you can point to the section of the rulebook that makes the activity a violation.
However, this is a two-way street. You cannot, as a player, choose to apply strict adherence to the rules against your opponents (NPCs) and then fudge the rules for your benefit.
Do you properly enunciate every word of your incants even if it means you won't get a defense off on time? Or do you fudge it so that you can get off the long incantation for a shield magic before an NPC who is casting properly can finish his attack?
If you see a PC violating the rules as they fight by your side do you call them on the violation just as you would an NPC? Or do you prefer to only use the rules calls when they serve as a defense to you?
If you want to play by what I have in italics above, then you are the kind of player we want in NERO Detroit. I witnessed instances of both of these things occuring while I marshalled the undead fight on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, I also witnessed the non-italicized portions. I saw those PCs who were brave enough to call their fellow PCs on rules violations receive scorned looks from their fellow PCs. How dare they "betray" their fellow PCs?
I will end this very long post with the following. We want a fun game with a great story, where the rules are applied evenly against PCs and NPCs. "Rules Lawyers" are welcome, because they help us all to play the game better.
"Rules Lawyers" who use the rules as a second set of defenses for their characters while they trample the rulebook for their own benefit, however, will not be welcome here.
NERO Detroit reserves the right to refuse admission to anyone who chooses to play the game that way.