Shooting the Giant Monster Before It Eats You

While I was away from the Intertubes this weekend, there was quite a discussion on RisusTalk about Ranged Attacks, Cover, and Kill Shots. I've been chomping at the bit to jump into this discussion because these are issues that come up a lot in any game that involves violence. Handling these situations in Risus - indeed, just talking about handling these situations in Risus - can be very disorienting for players who are more used to traditional notions like "to hit rolls", "rolling for damage", and "hit points".

Initially, I'm going to restrict myself to the rules as written. There is nothing wrong with house rules ["there is no wrong way to play"] but I think it is important to note that such rules are often unnessary. Risus gives you all the tools you need to handle almost any situation. If house rules are employed (and I'll discuss some of my own later) then they are most often for the comfort of the GM's and Players' sensibilities rather than for any inherent deficiency in the system.

Let's review the three ways to handle any challenge in Risus:

Target Number Rolls: The GM presents a challenging situation to a character. That character then selects which cliche to use while the GM assigns a Target Number based the difficulty of the challenge. The Target Number varies depending on the cliche being used and will be ridiculously high if the cliche is woefully inappropriate. After the character rolls the dice, the GM arbitrates the results based on the margin of success or failure.

Simple Contest: As above, except that the GM personifies the challenge in some way. Instead of a fixed Target Number, the challenge is represented by dice assigned to a cliche. An NPC is usually involved, though this does not have to be the case. There is nothing wrong with having a character pit his "Halfling Burglar (4)" cliche against an "Insidious Dungeon Death Trap (5)". If a character lacks an appropriate cliche for the contest then the rules for "When Somebody Can't Participate" are invoked. Dice are rolled for both the character and the challenge and the GM arbitrates the results accordingly.

Full Combat: As with a Simple Contest, the challenge is personified as a character with one or more cliches. Instead of a simple roll, however, the challenge is resolved over several rounds of combat, with the character and the opposing challenge (usually another character) working to gain advantage over each other. The rules for "Inappropriate Cliches" or "When Somebody Can't Participate" can be invoked as needed. Eventually, one side is reduced to zero dice, a winner is declared, and the loser suffers the consequences.

It is really important to remember that any of these three approaches can be used for any challenge. It all comes down to the GM deciding what method would be the most entertaining. Just because there is violence involved doesn't mean that it has to be treated as a Full Combat (especially if the combat would be lopsided or if it distracts from other more interestng combats). And non-violent encounters with inanimate challenges can receive the Full Combat treatment.

To address the topic of discussion, let's consider what happens when one party faces off against another party in what would appear to be ranged combat...

One Party Cannot Fire Back
Drawing inspiration from the example presented in the RisusTalk discussion, let's say your party of player characters are facing off against a Giant Monster (12). The party is equipped with ranged weapons while the giant monster is restricted to the not inconsiderable reach of its claws, tails, tentacles, reproductive organs, or what-have-you. As GM, you have several options:

Target Number Contest: The party is trying to kill or at least damage the monster before it gets close enough to step on them. Individually (or possibly as a Team), you can define a Target Number required to A) kill the creature out-right or B) weaken the critter enough that it will actually by a Wounded But Very Pissed Off Giant Monster (6) when it finally gets in range to fight. In fact, A and B are not mutually exclusive. You can set a Target Number for a minimal effect like dropping the beastie by one or more dice and a much higher Target Number for putting it down in one shot/volley. Results between these two values can be used to adjust the amount of dice the monster loses before full combat begins.

Simple Contest: As above, but you allow the Giant Monster (12) to roll its own dice against the party. This isn't combat (in the Risus sense) because the Monster isn't actually wearing down the party but you can certainly inflict "damage" on the Giant Monster (12) based on the margin of success. This approach has the disadvantage of greatly favoring cliches that are appropriate in harming Giant Monsters with ranged weaponry (which may actually be an advantage in more "serious" games). I happen to like this approach because using the monster's roll saves me from having to think too hard about what Target Number values to use.

Full Combat: It never hurts to remind players and GMs that Risus damage does not have to mean physical injury. There is no reason* why you can't start the combat even before the monster closes to melee range. Just because the monster can't shoot back doesn't mean that he can't "wear down" the party as they plink away with their pitiful ranged weapons. Ammunition can be expended, the structural integrity of the party's position can be weakened, and morale can be damaged as the terror of a one-hundred foot tall Monstrosity From Space (12) blasts their sanity and soils their underwear.

* Actually, there is a good reason not to use Full Combat in this situation. It's a lot harder for player characters (with cliches in the 3 to 5 range) to win. Even with the Teaming Up rules, they are most likely toast. Softening up the critter with a Simple contest or Target Number roll can add drama while giving the party a chance to run away before the real danger hits. It all depends on the scale of the threat and whether or not you are prepared for the PCs to lose.

Cover
What about cover or other mitigating circumstances? Certainly, the Giant Monster (12) cannot persue the party into a narrow cave entrance or similar hidey-hole? Well, if the party's position is that secure, it really is most likely a simple Target Number roll to see if they can damage or kill the creature before it gets bored and moves on to easier targets. But if the party's cover isn't 100% perfect then you can simply adjust Target Numbers downward or invoke the "When Somebody Can't Participate" or "Inappropriate Cliche" rules for the disadvantaged monster.

HOUSE RULE: I have often found it useful to reduce a cliche by half for a serious tactical disadvantage that isn't serious enought to warrant the use of the "When Somebody Can't Participate" rules. I rationalize it by saying that the disadvantaged character/creature "lacks the proper tools" to deal with their opponent properly.

Killshots
I think Killshots have been pretty much covered in the Target Number Roll example. As a House Rule, however, I don't see a problem with allowing a character to attempt a Killshot - even if they are currently embroiled in Full Combat. I would, however, make sure that the Target Number was sufficiently high and that the character suffered some kind of consequence for failure (losing an action in combat being the absolute minimum).