Author Topic: (Answered) Stealth, surprise and ambushes!  (Read 2947 times)

NGSRizzen

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(Answered) Stealth, surprise and ambushes!
« on: 15 August 2014, 07:47:49 »
Dear boards,

Last time our group got together we finished our characters (which with your system each have flair and cool backgrounds), and we were all fired up to start.  We had a great time but ran into a few situations where we had to make a judgement call after scouring through the boards and the book a few times.

Situation:
Our group of 4 was setting up an ambush in a dark alley for a group of thugs.  We rolled a series of Stealth rolls and had them roll opposing perception checks.  We had them right where we wanted them.... they were surprised.  Then we tried to find the next step but could not find any particular ruling about what happens in a situation where you have the upper hand like this. 

Questions: Do the ambushers each get a full turn before the victims act?  Does one ambusher get a full round and then initiative is rolled? Does surprise end as soon as the first ambusher has acted, or is a victim surprised until he has acted?

We house ruled (at the time) that we automatically all went first, and thugs automatically all went last... but we decimated them, and we feel that had it been the other way around we would have been in sad shape as well.
« Last Edit: 31 March 2017, 13:56:14 by Xotl »

Paul

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Re: Stealth, surprise and ambushes!
« Reply #1 on: 30 March 2017, 19:42:54 »
Apologies for the long delay in response.

Questions: Do the ambushers each get a full turn before the victims act?  Does one ambusher get a full round and then initiative is rolled? Does surprise end as soon as the first ambusher has acted, or is a victim surprised until he has acted?

You are automatically considered to have won Initiative that Turn. Looks like that was omitted in the Initiative section. In a situation where only some of the enemy is surprised (such that an initiative roll is still needed), you may find that you benefit from the Hold Action mechanism.
If the attack is using Ranged combat, you gain a +2 bonus on the target.


Quote
We house ruled (at the time) that we automatically all went first, and thugs automatically all went last... but we decimated them, and we feel that had it been the other way around we would have been in sad shape as well.

The base ATOW rules are harsh, and specifically reward sound tactical decisions, such as laying in ambush, or using overwhelming force.
The flip side is that even a weak enemy can seriously hurt you if they gain sufficient advantages or surprise.

Paul
The solution is just ignore Paul.

 

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