thread: 2007-08-24 : Poison'd errata and Q&A
On 2012-01-19, Lior wrote:
Next week I will finally get to GM Poison'd for some friends for the first time. After reading and rereading the text, several threads and this FAQ, I still have some questions:
1) PC vs NPC, PC vs PC, ship vs ship/fortress, gang vs mob, thats all clear. But can there be a fight PCs vs mob? Say some PCs are on land and get surrounded by the constabulary and they want to fight. Should this fail outright or should I create a "your-on-your-own crew" with very low profile for the PCs?
2) And company vs fortress, how would that work? Maybe Broadside vs Broadside with the company not dealing any damage but requiring at least one success to advance to company vs company? Or, again, is that just not a possible fight?
3) Broadside vs broadside is ship vs ship, as the text suggests, same as cannon vs cannon, yes? And I also assume a (vanilla) path for a fight at sea would be pursuit -> cannon vs cannon -> broadside vs broadside -> crew vs crew, with possibilities to abort or skip steps? But the example where Hugh McMinn wants to avoid cannon to cannon with the Resolute suggests that cannon to cannon and broadside to broadside work differently mechanically. Or is that just because the players would loose their Xs in the first fight before advancing to broadside range? Or does broadside imply that you can board the other ship at will?
4) In the same example from the text, if the player had succeeded the enduring duress test, would the Dagger have received damage for closing in under fire?
Maybe you could clarify the back-and-forth between the different types of fight at sea, how that works? Say the Dagger spots another vessel and both captains want to engage. Is it "player rolls ambition to enter the fight at his preferred distance"? Or would you always start with a pursue to clarify the range? And then once fighting has started, when and how can a captain change from one range to another? Or is it "losing one fight and starting another" as suggested for PC vs N/PC?
A suggestion: Roll ambition vs brutality if you are using deceit or stealth. Roll enduring duress if you are closing in under fire (and your ship takes wear & breakage even if you succeed). Do a pursuit if its a contest of seamanship & maneuvering and you want the other players to help you. If you are already in a fight but want to change range, you have to abort it first (taking the consequences) and then roll again to establish the new range according to the method you use.
