Recently Sahh and a few other folks put together a blog bandwagon topic called reCalled From Action where bloggers describe a fight scene from a source of media, and try to frame it as if it were an at-the-table play session.
There have been several posts for this challenge so far, including Sahh’s, Havoc’s, diregrizzlybear’s, and Mr. Mann’s. I’ll try to remember to update this with additional entries that I hear of, but I make no promises, so apologies to anyone I have missed.
I will be using the fight from Berserk that inspired the challenge, the fight between Harvey Berkman Guts and Lord Zondark. For rulestext, I’ll use Primeval 2d6 for the resolution mechanism. I will also be posting images and describing the scene from the comic, which has hefty violence and gore, so feel free to skip this post if that is an issue.
Guts’ character sheet is piece of paper that the player has a number of traits and gear written on, we might imagine it is something as follows:
Guts
+ Expert swordsman
+ Dragon Slayer sword (massive, monster-killing)
+ Cannon arm (pull mechanism to unleash blackpowder fire)
+ Missing hand (replaced by cannon arm)
+ Missing eye
+ Marked by the Brand of Sacrifice (attracts monsters)
+ Traumatic past
...
etc
Our character has been on the run from several knights who are attempting to take him in for accusations of aiding heresy. We’ll say Guts’ player is named “Berk” for fun.
Berk: Alright, I’m going to try to get out of here without a confrontation.
Ref: Cool, let’s roll, and if you succeed you’re going to get away without them catching you. If I succeed, they nab you. There’s also a lot of them, so you’re gonna have to really outpace them to completely escape.
They roll off, the Ref gets a 9, and Guts’ player rolls a 10. Since they’re near each other, the Ref decides for a compromise.
Ref: Ok, that’s pretty close, and there’s so many of them, and this is their home turf, so I think they have you cornered. You’re not apprehended yet, and their leader has yet to show, giving you some time before this escalates even more. Sound fair?
Berk: Sounds fair to me.
The player decides it’s time to tear through some tin cans.
Berk: Alright, given that I’m stuck Guts will draw the Dragon Slayer and start chopping through these mooks.
Ref: Awesome, so given everything we know about Guts probably the most the enemy could do to you is injure you before their boss shows up – you might have a chance of decimating them before Lord Zondark arrives, let’s see what the bones say.
Another roll is made, and as such with 2d6 vs., we arrive at very close results – the knights with 7 and Berk with an 9.
Ref: Swing after swing your massive blade connects with knights who continue to pile in like a herd of steel, although their numbers are not enough to extinguish your battle fury. Where the sword is unable to connect with flesh, it crushes armor – every adversary struck dies a painful and gruesome death.
The referee decides yet again that the roll was too close, especially considering numbers of the knights, their knowledge of the location, and Gut’s back to the wall to allow a full break, and total achievement of Berk’s intent just yet.
Ref: You see the resolve of those left standing begin to falter, their confidence tested. They are rattled, but not broken. As they begin to back up you hear heavy steeled steps upon the cobblestone courtyard, and you see a massive figure part the armored hoard and loom before – Lord Zondark, the heavily armored commander of these knights, wielding a massive pick-hammer in two hands, wearing a covered helm with a cruel, stoic face depicted upon it.
The referee may already have an index card made up for Zondark, or they might pull one and start listing the various traits outlined above, plus or minus specific callouts they want to make or be reminded of.
The Ref then monologues as Zondark, telling the player his intent.
Ref: Zondark then hefts his mighty pick-hammer above his head, preparing to sunder your blade.
Berk: Hmm, could I hit him with my sword first?
Ref: Well, you’re both using pretty long ranged weapons, so closing the distance is probably its own kind of roll. I think if you’re just going to swing for him there’s a chance he’ll still damage your sword, even if you do hit – unless the dice gods are massively in your favor.
Berk: Ok, if my sword is broken that’s going to be a huge problem, even if he dies his underlings might pile in. I just want to dodge and make sure my sword won’t get broken. I’ll look for an opening when possible.
Ref: Alright, since defending against a sunder maneuver is your priority, he’ll only get that if he massively out-rolls you, if that’s cool let’s roll.
Dice hit the table, and Zondark gets a 6, but Berk gets a 10. The ref decides that this warrants both Berk getting their intent of dodging, as well as some consequence on Zondark’s side.
Ref: Zondark’s swing narrowly misses the Dragon Slayer as Guts dodges out the way. The heavy pick-hammer plants deep into the stone at your feet. He wrenches the massive implement free, callously swinging it without caring for the soldiers of his that are struck in the battle.
You see shock and terror in the eyes of his followers as he clobbers several of them while trying to strike you.
He continues to press the attack never-the-less, slamming a massive overhead swing that connects with the wall behind you.
I think about offensive and defensive cycles quite a lot, thanks to jiu jitsu. Since Zondark was such an imposing figure, he took the initial offensive impetus. Berk could have attempted offense as well, but with a high chance of simultaneous intent being achieved on both sides. Instead Berk cycled through a series of defenses, and citing that they were looking for an opening in their dodging, and the poor roll from Zondark, the “cycle” is turned over to Berk.
I could have had that overhand swing be its own roll, maybe the player would have expressed an intent to have the captain collide his weapon with the wall – that’s definitely a fine way to rule the situation. I, however, think that it serves better as color for Zondark’s relentlessness, and provide that “opening” in the intent that Berk said they were looking for.
Ref: Zondark insults you and your sword as useless, belittling your lack of offense as he pulls his pick from the wall behind you.
Berk: This sounds like as good of an opening as I am going to get. I want to wait for the momentum to shift, for him to start moving forward again, and time it so I can strike both his weapon, and his face.
Ref: Great, if he succeeds he’s going to strike you with his weapon, severely injuring you, ok?
The bones are cast, and Berk pulls ahead – a 10 vs. a 6.
edit: Over on the OSR discord server, Havoc asked if Zondark’s intent was still the same, and I realized I hadn’t made it explicit that Zondark is basically out to wound Guts now. The reason for this is twofold – I don’t like to spam intent for variety purposes – if something doesn’t change at least a bit, I almost always pick a different action or goal. The second is that it can keep play from getting too far into a “I swing and you block” loop. Which isn’t always bad, sometimes combat needs to be abstracted and shuffled through (sorta like how we did at the start with the mooks), but for a case where it’s super zoomed-in, I want to prevent that, and have found this helps in practice.
Ref: Great success, you pretty much have free reign over Zondark at this point, go ahead and describe it.
Berk: The massive Dragon Slayer blade arcs up through the hilt and head of his weapon, breaking it as well as his helm. Shrapnel pierces his ruined face, and he falls bleeding to the ground. I then quip at him, implying it is HIS weapon that is dead weight and useless.
The referee describes the knights hanging back, and Zondark wallowing over his injuries. Berk decides to literally kick the opposition while they’re down.
Ref: You can easily kick him, what’s your goal here?
Berk: I mostly want to humiliate him in front of his crew.
Ref: Ok, that won’t require a roll, but his knights will be outright offended and angered by you.
Berk: Grud. I mean, good.
