ExMod/DefusingBombs
Okay, this isn't really a combat system, but it is a neat idea that I wanted to write down before I forgot it.
You've all seen those action movies, where The Bomb Defuser has to cut the right wire, and be sure he cuts JUST the right wire. There's always a visible timer counting down, as well.
A means of handling the tension of such a timer in Exalted just occured to me. To disarm a bomb, you have to build a Disarming Pool, which maxes out at your Wits+(Relevant Ability; Firearms or Science?). Turns become unlinked to the three second rule, however- instead, each turn takes 3d10 seconds, while defusing takes 1d10 second.
This should lead to someone with a 13 die pool in disarming bombs taking 13 * 3d10 + 1d10 second, and- if everything is timed out right, there should always be single digits left on the bomb's timer. It also provides some real tension.
(originally, this was always 1d10 second. However, in my head, that means no bomb defusal would ever take more than a minute... which seems off...)
And opens up for a 'bomb defusal' path of Charms that cut down on time, add more dice per turn, and so on :)
- DS
Comments
Of course, if clipping the wrong wire results in the death of all PCs in the ensuing explosion, why roll dice at all? According to the genre conventions and the typical social contract, the PCs have to survive, so just let them snip the correct wire and be done with it. - Quendalon
By that logic, if bad luck while confronting the Big Bad will result in the deaths of all the PCs in the ensuing carnage, why roll dice at all? According to genre conventions and the typical social contract, the PCs have to survive, so just let them beat the Bad and be done with it. Or why actually use illness and infection rules when playing with Heroic Mortals? Etcetc.
Not that there's anything WRONG with such a sentiment. But Exalted is a fairly crunchy game with lots of potential ramifications. If the bomb cutter screws up, due to lack of skill or because he's too rushed, it's Bad News. The rest of the Circle would be wise to clear out as far as possible while they're at work. - DS
Well, yes, but that's a rather underwhelming death, in most cases. It's like tripping and dying from falling damage: "good job. Some Lord of Creation you turned out to be!". Disappointing, at best. Now, if he's hurled from a cliff only to drag his archnemesis with him, that's another thing entirely.
Additionally, since there are theoretical Charms available, but only so many interesting effects, you quickly enter the realm of Perfect Interactions, which spoils the tension anyways. Mechanically and thematically, it's perfectly fine for a PC to fail at disarming a bomb, but, at least as Exalted's concerned, PCs should probably be given a fair chance to survive, even if their pride or some other thing important to the character doesn't, unless it's a character-defining sort of failure. Difficult to convey through mechanics, but deserving to be explicitly mentioned.
Mechanically, it seems a tad overcomplicated. A simple extended action should be more than sufficient, leaving the timer to Storyteller control. That said, though, you might add an example, since I'm not positive I could replicate the mechanics after a simple reading. ~Jabberwocky
Example: Adam West, Heroic Mortal Bomb Disarmer, has been brought to the Scene of the Bomb. The timer says there is 200 seconds remaining before it goes kerblam. Adam has a bomb disarming pool of 8, and the difficulty of the defusing is 3.
Adam, working on how to defuse the bomb, has to 'build' his pool one die per turn. Each turn, the count down goes down by 3d10 (16.5 on average) seconds. Therefore, it'll take 132 seconds on average for Adam to build all the way up to his full pool, leaving 58 seconds on the clock. He then uses 1d10 seconds to make the actual cut attempt, rolling his bomb disarming pool of 8 against the difficulty of 3. Success, and the bomb is disarmed. Fail, and his pool is wiped out- but he could try building it up again. Botch, and the bomb explodes.
_A_ bomb defusing Charm should be all that's required, and something with other uses as well. As for screwing up, just say the timer starts speeding really fast, and the characters have to run before it blows up. If it kills an NPC or levels their headquarters, well and good, but the PCs can get away with immediately biting it. hplovescats
Something to keep in mind- when I write crunchy stuff like this, I am thinking of Heroic Mortal games. It's akin to writing new Infection rules or the like. In a Solar game, unless one of the players had a deep and abiding desire to play a Legendary Bomb Disarmer, there wouldn't probablly be bombs. While I can see where a Charm or Charms slot in to resolve this problem for a Solar, that doesn't mean it's not a problem for Mortals (I'd still make it two Charms- one that lets you always use the minimum amount of time for disarming turns, the second to perfectly disarm the bomb in one normal turn).
Also, I like interesting crunch (a subset of rules heavy) AND strong player authorial rights (a subset of rules light); I dislike overt ST fiat, and making combat the only interesting mechanical aspect of Exalted.
Thus, while I do appreciate critism, 'This is too crunchy' and 'This is bloody pointless' isn't terribly useful critism, as all it does is leave me with the impression we have different tastes and discounting anything else you say. - DS
