This Week’s post looks at shooting in Electric Bastionland.
This is not errata. It’s a little module I’m messing with that might appeal to those who want more combat options for gunplay in Electric Bastionland.
Concealment/Cover/Barrier
Concealment partially obscures vision of the target, Impairing the attack unless it is a Blast attack.
Cover also offers physical protection against projectiles, granting +1 Armour unless the attack is powerful enough to penetrate straight through it.
Barrier completely protects the target from fire. If they peek out to fire then they count as being in Cover or Concealment as appropriate instead until their next turn.
Suppression: Weapons that can provide continuous fire can lay down Suppression, attempting to pin the enemy in place or drive them away. This takes the place of a normal attack or action.
Note the dice that would be rolled for the attack and assign them to the Suppression Pool for the target. If this is a Blast Attack then do this for every target in the blast.
The attack causes no immediate damage, but if the target takes any action that exposes themselves, including moving or attacking, they immediately roll their Suppression Pool and take damage as normal, losing the benefit of their cover/concealment. This occurs before they can perform their action.
If the target withdraws directly away from the source of Suppression then their Suppression Pool is emptied and they do not take any damage.
If the attacker is damaged or takes any action other than continuing the suppressive fire then the Suppression Pool is emptied.
Aimed Shots: Weapons that can fire with some accuracy can attempt to land a single devastating shot in place of normal fire. This involves two actions: Aiming and Striking. Each of these takes the place of a normal attack or action.
Aim: Focus on a visible target, or a piece of terrain that you expect them to emerge from. This cannot be performed on the same turn you moved. Note that you are aiming at the target. Aim is lost if you take Damage, Move, Attack another target, or are otherwise distracted.
Strike: Combatants that are Aiming can interrupt their target’s turn to Strike them. This occurs before the target’s action is resolved.
Roll the attack as normal, ignoring Cover and Concealment.
If this would cause a Wound (STR loss) then they lose an additional d6 points of STR.
If the attack would be evaded (causing only HP loss) then the entire attack is ignored, and no HP is lost.
Indirect Fire: For Mortars and similar the attack is performed as normal if the attacker can see the target, or has communication with a spotter who can.
If the attacker is predicting the location of the target then attack as normal, but dice showing an odd value are discarded.
Elsewhere
Archons March On dips into Bill Hoyt’s notes from one of the very first RPG campaigns.
Roll to Doubt talks about blackbox gaming. I’ve gotten pretty close to this approach a few times and I think there’s a lot to like about it.
Firelock is an in-development wargame that has such as specific vibe that I suggest you just go and download it for free, rather than try to explain it myself. The crunch-level is a tough sell for me, but it’s loaded with charm.
Coming Soon
Over on Patreon I wallow in the past.
This blog is now old enough that I can look back 15 years. I'll also dip into what was happening 10 and 5 years ago.
Self-indulgent? How dare you! I'll do my best to find something useful in there.
Expect the full post here and on the blog next week.
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