Dalmuti Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 Here is the relevant rule from the BRP (I bolded the confusing bit): Volley Fire The attacks-per-round (Attk) for missile weapons on the weapons charts in Chapter Eight: Equipment are based on the assumption that your character will be launching attacks at a normal rate. However, at times, your character will wish to send as many attacks at an opponent as are possible in the shortest amount of time, perhaps as suppressing fire or in a desperate attempt at bypassing a particularly effective defense. If your character chooses to throw, fire, or launch weapons as rapidly as possible, use the relevant weapon’s attacks-per-round entry, with the first attack at the normal DEX rank and subsequent attacks happening at 5 DEX rank intervals. If the DEX ranks for any attacks are below 0, your character loses that attack. Though your character may have enough DEX ranks to attack more than the attacks-per-round, that amount is the limit and all further DEX rank attacks are not used. For example, if your character with DEX 12 uses volley fire with throwing rocks (which get 2 attacks-per-round), the first throw will occur on DEX rank 12, and the second will occur on DEX rank 7. There are a few drawbacks to volley fire, however. First and foremost is that it makes all attacks Difficult. Second is that it is (potentially) expensive in terms of ammunition expended. Another negative aspect to volley fire is that the fatigue cost is doubled for every round your character uses volley fire. Ok, so what is it? Do you get the weapons ROF as listed as the number of attacks per round as your normal rate or do you get the listed ROF as the number of attacks as rapidly as possible and at Difficult skill? One guess was that you normally only get a single attack per round, regardless of ROF, if you want to use a ROF greater than 1 it was difficult. You can also double the ROF with Unaimed Shots at 1/4 skill. Dalmuti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalmuti Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 I haven't gotten any response on this :confused:, how is everyone else playing with ROF and are they using the Volley Fire rule? Dalmuti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vagabond Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I don't have the book in front of me, but this is my guess: The normal ROF is correct. I believe that the first attack occurs at DEX, the second at the end of the round. Not sure how weapons with a ROF of 3 or better work, perhaps normal rate is DEX-10. I'd need the book for that. Volley fire assumes the same number of shots per round, but has them occur earlier in the round (DEX, DEX-5, DEX-10, etc. until 0). Each attack is a Difficult task. -V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalmuti Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 I don't have the book in front of me, but this is my guess: The normal ROF is correct. I believe that the first attack occurs at DEX, the second at the end of the round. Not sure how weapons with a ROF of 3 or better work, perhaps normal rate is DEX-10. I'd need the book for that. Volley fire assumes the same number of shots per round, but has them occur earlier in the round (DEX, DEX-5, DEX-10, etc. until 0). Each attack is a Difficult task. -V I don't have the book in front of me either but I'm pretty sure that this is not the difference. I believe that in the Attacks paragraph in the Combat section it states that if a weapon allows for more than a single attack per round it happens 5 Dex Ranks later. It does not, as far as I remember, differentiate between types of attacks, which is why this rule is confusing. It says in the very first line that the ROF is the weapons normal number of attacks per round, it also say this in the Un-aimed shots spot rule BTW, but then in the very next line states that firing at a weapons ROF is not normal but a "desperate" type of attack and thus Difficult. Dalmuti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch0n Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 This is an area of great confusion to me, as well. I've never been quite able to understand if the default in BRP is one attack, or ROF... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMiddleton Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 (edited) Volley Fire looks like we (as in the play testers) didn't catch marrying the Elric! volley fire spot rule (written for archaic missile weapons - thrown weapons, bows etc) with applying it in a multi-genre context where it might be applied to self-loading weapons capable of fully automatic fire... As I said here, I'd house rule Volley Fire so it only applies to pre-firearm missile weapons, and only against large targets (such as groups of combatants etc). Cheers, Nick Edited January 11, 2009 by NickMiddleton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalmuti Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 Volley Fire lie we (as in the play testers) didn't catch marrying the Elric! volley fire spot rule (written for arcaic missile weapons - thrown weapons, bows etc) with applying it in a multi-genre context where it might be applied to self-loading eapons capable of fully automatic fire... As I said here, I'd house rule Volley Fire so it only applies to pre-firearm missile weapons, and only against large targets (such as groups of combatants etc). Cheers, Nick Fair enough, but this is a pretty important rule and there should be some official ruling on it. Right now most of us are guessing, house ruling, or just ignoring new BRP rules that don't make sense and using the rules of whatever other Chaosium title we play most. Plus it's not like this is the only confusing rule in the book (someone read Aura Attacks and tell me definitively how long the effects last, to name one), it's interfering with the fun of the game. I've been playing with Chaosium's games since the early 80's and have to say that my only real problem with them is the lack of follow-up on rules support. It's been more than a half a year and still no errata or clarifications sheet. Dalmuti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vagabond Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Looks like a typo in the rule. The example given states that the ROF for a rock is 2 SR, however, it is only 1 SR normally. So, I suspect that the Volley Fire Rule should allow double the ROF. I like the Elric!/SB5 rule best. Volley Fire Rule allows spears and axe to be thrown at double the rate, and arrows, rocks, etc. (crossbows are not in the YK universe) at triple the rate. However, it can only be sustained for CON rounds, and then normal rate for CON/2 rounds before continuing the volley rate. Also, attacks are at 1/3 normal chance during Volley Fire. -V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason D Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 (edited) I'm in the middle of some stuff, but here's a quick clarification (hopefully not muddling things even more). The volley fire rules apply specifically to thrown/self-propelled weapons. These are almost always utilized at the rate of 1 attack per combat round, with the RoF used for volley fire. The Difficult modifier applies here. The vagueness with ROF rules and how they are applied is more-or-less deliberate, or it's more a case of "I know how I like to use them, but some folks might want to do them the other way." My preferred method is as follows: a firearm/energy weapon can be used up to its RoF in a combat round, with each attack staged at the DEX, DEX-5, DEX-10, etc. rank. If you lack the DEX to fully exploit the RoF of the weapon you're using, then you might reconsider your weapon of choice. Some folks like to play Call of Cthulhu style, where all shots go off at the Investigator's DEX value. I am not one of those folks. I (hopefully) let the rules be vague enough to allow for both approaches. The damage values for the generic firearms were deliberately selected to balance against the RoF. A problem I later realized with the playtest (and, had I the time, would have addressed) was that many of the playtesters were BRP veterans, and as such often ignored the rules as written with an attitude of "yeah, I already know how that works" which unfortunately caused some oversight, particularly when changes were made. I'm just as guilty of it as a writer, as I've been using BRP games for something like 25 years and occasionally didn't explain them clearly enough to a newcomer. As for the lack of follow-up, I can't really call myself an official voice. I'm just a freelancer at this point, and am sort of waiting for some stuff to be straightened out before I'm even a Chaosium freelancer again. Edited January 11, 2009 by Jason Durall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al. Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 A problem I later realized with the playtest (and, had I the time, would have addressed) was that many of the playtesters were BRP veterans, and as such often ignored the rules as written with an attitude of "yeah, I already know how that works" which unfortunately caused some oversight, particularly when changes were made. Guilty, oh so very guilty. Most of the changes have only been made clear to me by queries about them on these here pages. Even worse I almost subconciously houserule the new rules in ma heid when I do see that they are different. Al Quote Rule Zero: Don't be on fire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Conformist Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 *applies belladonna for puppy-eyes effect Is anyone collating Jason's clarification into an FAQ? Quote The black rivers of pitch that flow under those mysterious cyclopean bridges - things built by some elder race extinct and forgotten before the beings came to Yuggoth from the ultimate voids - ought to be enough to make any man a Dante or Poe if he can keep sane long enough to tell what he has seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trifletraxor Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 *applies belladonna for puppy-eyes effect Is anyone collating Jason's clarification into an FAQ? Added to the errata in the wiki. :thumb: :beetle: Quote Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub! 116/420. High Priest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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