Jack Calgary vs. Ebon Bane Commentary

[jc_madden]

This ought to be good.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Verrain, PM me your Wolf, please.

[Verrain]

Ebon Bane sent. Glory to the Legion!

[jc_madden]

Sweet, let's get it on!

[Thor Olavsrud]

I have to run out to eat someone for dinner, so we probably won't get started until morning. :(

[jc_madden]

awww nuts.

[Verrain]

Just as well. I wasn't really expecting to be challenged until the current fight was done so that suits me.

The orcs trying to hold back Ebon Bane with chains look dismayed but that's not really my problem. :)

[Drozdal]

Glory to the Legion, you got my vote Verrain do not waste it! :evil:

[Viper]

I have to run out to eat someone for dinner, so we probably won't get started until morning. :(

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Did you take a bite out of me when I wasn't looking?

[Thor Olavsrud]

I have to run out to eat someone for dinner, so we probably won't get started until morning. :(

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Did you take a bite out of me when I wasn't looking?

:shock: :? :lol: :lol: :lol: :twisted:

[Thor Olavsrud]

PM me your scripts!

[Yagathai]

Shoot him a lot!

[Verrain]

To quote a favorite movie:

"That's your superpower? You've got guns?"

Anyone mind pointing me towards these rules so I know what I'm up against?

[Yagathai]

pp95-96, pp195

[Yagathai]

The suspense is killing me -- in both combats!

[jc_madden]

Yeah sleeping on it sucked...

[Yagathai]

Am I a bad person because I already have my backup character burned and ready to rock?

[jc_madden]

No, it makes you smart. I should probably just make a kennel of pit fighters....

[Verrain]

I'm already working on the Orc that's out for revenge of his favorite Wolf. Never hurts to be prepared. :)

[jc_madden]

Yeah I was going to make a 15 year old child prodigy little brother of Po Gui Lo named Pi Wei Ding Ling.....

[Thor Olavsrud]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a FIGHT! Holy crap! One, I can't believe Ebon Bane made his armor roll. That was incredible! And then Jack passed his Steel test! The luck is with both of you!

[Yagathai]

Next time: Teflon-coated musketballs. ;)

[jc_madden]

no shit. hmph.

[Verrain]

Well bad luck followed by good it would seem. 3 successes out of a 10 dice Howl of Doom? Feh.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Well bad luck followed by good it would seem. 3 successes out of a 10 dice Howl of Doom? Feh.

What can I say? On the upside, 3 is all you needed. More successes wouldn't have changed anything.

[Yagathai]

Doesn't matter. With 7 successes on the Steel...

[Thor Olavsrud]

Doesn't matter. With 7 successes on the Steel...

You wouldn't believe the number of 6s that came up!

[Thor Olavsrud]

As Pete just pointed out, I screwed up on the Ob for Jack's pistol shot, though it didn't change anything as Ebon Bane made his save. It should have been base Ob 1, +1 Ob for Walking, +2 Ob for Medium Range, -1 Ob for Aiming = Ob 3. Jack still hit, but would not have gotten the +1 to the DoF, so if armor had not stopped the shot, it would have been incidental, not Mark. I'm going to edit the fight thread to reflect this.

[jc_madden]

I like the old armor rules right now. But being that I'm more heavily armored right now I think that opinion will change shortly.

What's up with the poll?? I was in the lead now I'm trailing by two votes... am I forever to be the underdog? Just the way Jack likes it.

[Thor Olavsrud]

It's getting GOOD!

[jc_madden]

lucky break for me.... finally.

[Yagathai]

Just out of curiousity, did you take Practiced Precision - draw weapons?

[jc_madden]

Negative it's a Taikishido ability.

[Verrain]

This gets more and more interesting doesn't it? :) Twould seem I'm saving up my successes for my armor. I can live with that.

[jc_madden]

me too :D you'll need em

[Yagathai]

=D

Very nice. Whatever happens next, it's going to be ugly...

[Thor Olavsrud]

Wow! You guys are tearing each other apart!

[Thor Olavsrud]

And WE HAVE A WINNER! Sorry for the screwup folks!

[jc_madden]

At first first glance i assumed Taikishido be inferior to other martial arts, through doing I have seen my error.

[Yagathai]

Huh. How 'bout that. My vote was not misplaced.

[Kublai]

Yay! Go Samurai Jack! My faith in you was well placed! :D

[jc_madden]

HEY someone got that!

[Thor Olavsrud]

Heh! This was one crazy bout! I really thought it was going to be all over for one of you by the end of the very first volley! And then you stopped to Assess when he was Striking at the beginning of the Third Volley and I winced! i thought you were a goner for sure right then.

[Yagathai]

That's what armor's for, isn't it?

[Yagathai]

Now, if he decided to strike/lock instead, then Jack would have had a real problem.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Sure, but Great Wolf Jaws are Add 2 and +3 POW!

Also, the Locking Bite ability was difficult against Jack because his Weaving Snake ability from Takashido allowed him to use his skill as Natural Defenses. Combined with the Block from his Blocking-Strike...

[Yagathai]

Is that all? How's their VA?

[jc_madden]

No I opted against deviding my dice. As for the assess I was looking for an unarmored spot and was wrongfully guessing that the beat had b5 reflexes rather than b6 and thought I could soak a possible hit in order to unleash a more devistating attack against and unarmored target.

[Kublai]

Normal Great Wolves have a VA2 for their teeth. Traits can make that worse!

[Verrain]

Ah well. Easy come, easy go.

For the curious in the audience, here were the stats on Ebon Bane.

Concept: Black Destroyer of the Legion

Character Name: Ebon Bane

Lifepaths: Born Legion, Shadow Chaser, Howling Beast, Black Devourer

Age: 5

Stats: Pe:B4 (B6) Wi:B4 Ag:B6 Sp:B6 Po:B4 Fo:B4

Attributes: Re:B6 Ste:B6 He:B4 MW:10 Hesitation:B6 Faith:- Presence:- paces

PTGS: Su:B3 Li:B5 Mi:B7 Se:B8 Tr:B9 Mo:B10

Skills: Howling B3, Stealthy B3, Rider Training, Mounted Combat Training, Savage Attack G6,
Intimidation B5, Brawling B3, Man-wise B2, Orc-wise B2

Gear: None

Weapon Stats + IMS: Crushing Jaws Pow +3, Add 2, VA 2 IMS: B4/B7/B10

Contacts: Whip Master, Shadow Chaser

Traits: Common Wolf Traits, Vile Language, Demented, Submissive, Tasting the Lash, Howl of Doom, Intense Hatred, Great Cunning, Fearless, Cold Blooded, Brutal, Dominant, Fearsome Beast, Formidable Bark.

Beliefs:
- Submit to my masters, dominate all others
- The Legion is life and death.
- One day I shall dominate all

Instincts:
- Unless battle is upon you, Intimidate then fight. (Howl of Doom first if distance allows)
- Chase fleeing prey. (Sprint at any target that runs away)
- Take your share of the kill first.

[Thor Olavsrud]

By the way, I don't know how many of you saw the initial Volley 3 before I corrected it, but if you didn't, you'd be interested to know that a simple a simple +1 Ob, or lack thereof in this case, made all the difference.

With Takashido, you can ignore the +1 Ob penalty for jog/dashing. If Jack Calgary had been subject to that penalty, the fight would still be raging, and both opponents would have Midi wounds.

[jc_madden]

Good fight Verrain, it was short but I got the feeling that it could have gone either way. As I said before what I dismissed as an inferior martial art had two "tide-turning" advantages! Well fought.

[luke]

Stats: Pe:B4 (B6) Wi:B4 Ag:B6 Sp:B6 Po:B4 Fo:B4

Too much Agility, not enough Power. With a B6 Power... you're just three successes away from killing.

It's interesting (if I may offer a little insight), you made an all Speed/Agility character, but you played him like an armored brawler. If you're going to go light-weight with a wolf, you've got to have an Avoid in every volley. Gotta keep moving and choose your points of attack. This guy had no chance in a Charge -- his Power's too low -- but he could have wore down his opponent with nips and bites while keeping away from the weapon.

We really need to introduce you all to the new positioning rules...
-L

[luke]

Good fight Verrain, it was short but I got the feeling that it could have gone either way. As I said before what I dismissed as an inferior martial art had two "tide-turning" advantages! Well fought.

We build 'em to last here at Games Headquarters!

:roll:

[jc_madden]

I was curious what pushed the Pe: to B6?

Reflexes B6 was unexpenced that's why I made the mistake of Assessing in the 3rd volley assuming he'd defend with his last action on the chance that the intial rush/assualt failed (silly me he was all aggression).

[Thor Olavsrud]

To be fair, it is really difficult to accurately control Striking Distance without the new Positioning rules (I'm very excited to see how they change the Arena!). It's a mini-game to try to guess what your opponent's Speed is and figure out where you'll end up after your move. Being really speedy can even become a disadvantage as you overshoot the target!

Also, I can't fault Verrain for the Charge. Only the fact that jc's character was a master of Takashido allowed him to avoid the Charge easily. Otherwise it would have been much closer!

[Verrain]

I was curious what pushed the Pe: to B6?

Reflexes B6 was unexpenced that's why I made the mistake of Assessing in the 3rd volley assuming he'd defend with his last action on the chance that the intial rush/assualt failed (silly me he was all aggression).

Woodland Ear, and Wolf's Snout. Both add bonuses to Perception that figure into Reflexes.

[Thor Olavsrud]

I was curious what pushed the Pe: to B6?


Great Wolves all get the Wolf's Snout and Woodland Ear traits, which each give +1 to Perception.

[Verrain]

Stats: Pe:B4 (B6) Wi:B4 Ag:B6 Sp:B6 Po:B4 Fo:B4

Too much Agility, not enough Power. With a B6 Power... you're just three successes away from killing.

It's interesting (if I may offer a little insight), you made an all Speed/Agility character, but you played him like an armored brawler. If you're going to go light-weight with a wolf, you've got to have an Avoid in every volley. Gotta keep moving and choose your points of attack. This guy had no chance in a Charge -- his Power's too low -- but he could have wore down his opponent with nips and bites while keeping away from the weapon.

We really need to introduce you all to the new positioning rules...
-L

I was counting on the Howl of Doom to give me some room to work. Thank you for the insight. I am using the Arena to learn and learning I am.

[jc_madden]

Man that's broken having a trait that grants bonuses to senses shouldn't effect combat speed/reaction time I dont think. They should only count towards assessing/finding hidden things and the like (you know real things that keen ears and snouts would be good for). This is just my opinion.

Verrain: Yeah I got lucky on that Ste test vs your howl. Im really happy the battle didn't go past Exchange 1 because I din't want you to try it again.

[Verrain]

Good fight Verrain, it was short but I got the feeling that it could have gone either way. As I said before what I dismissed as an inferior martial art had two "tide-turning" advantages! Well fought.

Good fight indeed jc! A few dice here or there made all the difference. Now I've got an Orc bent on revenge to burn, and perhaps after him, Ebon Bane Mark II. :)

[luke]

I was counting on the Howl of Doom to give me some room to work. Thank you for the insight. I am using the Arena to learn and learning I am.

Yes, the Howl is usually a good gamble. One action of hesitation can spell Doom!

I can't wait to see your next character. (I think that was only JC's second match ever.)

[jc_madden]

Yessir it was. Was I lucky or good?

[Thor Olavsrud]

I was counting on the Howl of Doom to give me some room to work. Thank you for the insight. I am using the Arena to learn and learning I am.

Make sure to use your Wolf's advantages! First, always Move! Your Massive movement rate (14 paces on a Sprint!) is a huge Advantage!

If I may, things may have been different if you had scripted thusly:

Volley 1
Howl of Doom
Howl of Doom
Movement: dash backward (6 paces)

Volley 2
Avoid
Aggressive Stance
Movement: Sprint forward (14 paces)

Volley 3
Charge
Locking Bite
Movement: Sprint forward (14 paces)

Your charge would have been at B9! (Power B4 +2 Aggressive Stance +3 for Charging 3 Actions!) Also, you would have been Outside of Pistol range for most of the Exchange (and he would have been at +4 Ob to hit you for the rest).

[jc_madden]

Volley 2's Avoid action would have to be scripted as an "Avoid In" else the movement for the volley default to a dash backwards.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Man that's broken having a trait that grants bonuses to senses shouldn't effect combat speed/reaction time I dont think. They should only count towards assessing/finding hidden things and the like (you know real things that keen ears and snouts would be good for). This is just my opinion.


I disagree. Wolves are supposed to be really fast and terrifying. And they have terrific senses. But to be fair, these are some of their few advantages against heavily armed and armored opponents. Wolves get very few Resource points. Verrain took the best armor he could afford, and that was Quilted! If you hit him in the chest (as you do in an un-called shot), he needed to get 3 successes on B3 armor in order to not take a wound. As we just witnessed, one shot did him in.

[luke]

Yessir it was. Was I lucky or good?

Lucky. But you scipted well for your character. Simple and effective is all that really counts.

-L

[Thor Olavsrud]

Volley 2's Avoid action would have to be scripted as an "Avoid In" else the movement for the volley default to a dash backwards.

God I hate Burning Wheel Classic's movement system! :evil:

[jc_madden]

It's all I have to go on!

Also I guess you're right about the Wolf's strengths vs weaknesses ballancing out.

[jc_madden]

Man now i'm itching for another fight.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Whoops! One correction to my script above. Wolves may keep Stance when Charging, but they don't benefit from the dice. So it would have been a B7 Charge. But you would have had the Aggressive Stance dice to help cancel out the Sprint Penalty for the Locking Bite after!