Eon Thoughts on speeding up Eon IV combat

[Yahuna]

Hi all!

As much as I love the detail offered by Eon's IV combat, I find it slow. I specially feel it because I have a large group, 5-6 players.

One I thing it will speed up combat a tiny bit, is to get rid of the 1T10 body part roll, and made the units of the attack score be the number which determines the body part hit by the attack (this won't work with the extra level of detail presented in the Strid book.).

I would like to know if some of you have made changes to the way combat works to speed it up, and which are those changes.

One thing I would love is to do to speed up combat is to remove completely the damage roll. I really like games that weapons do a "flat" damage value and the extra (randomized value) damage comes from the attack roll itself, depending how good or how bad the attack vs defense roll has been. Sadly, I think that will imply core changes in Eon IV mechanics which I am not willing to do at the moment.

 

[Celledor]

I usually make the enemies go down quick and not bother if the rules say they still should be able to fight. If they get a serious damage they are out. But not the same for PCs or "bosses".

Also armor makes things take alot longer so I go easy on using it on enemies unless it is expected.

 

[Yahuna]

I usually make the enemies go down quick and not bother if the rules say they still should be able to fight. If they get a serious damage they are out. But not the same for PCs or "bosses".

Also armor makes things take alot longer so I go easy on using it on enemies unless it is expected.

This is a fine suggestion, but at the moment, I am a rather newcomer to Eon and I would prefer not to skip details such as serious damage, armour values and locations, turnaround tables etc. I feel this is what makes Eon especial over other rpgs I have try so far. It may be that in some years I am like you, and I will prefer to skip this bits as well

 

[Ivan NWG]

thought 1: make sure people are rolling dice efficiently. Hit location and damage can be rolled in one hand full for example.

thought 1.5: i dont remember if you wait until you know if the attack hit in 4e but id strongly encourage having attacker and defender roll simultaneously.

thought 2: dont run combat until the last man. Nobody wants to die and in a realistic setting, if the enemy is clearly losing they should run away, negotiate or outright offer bribes or random.

thought 3: be disciplined, make sure you have print outs or note cards with any info you need as a gm, if you have a slow player, recap their options when it is their turn or guide an indecisive one “Jim, you are up, do you want to attack the archer again?”

thought 4: ditch combats that arent plot significant, many rpgs have too much fighting and half of it can usually be thrown out for a much tighter paces and more exciting game