"Down and Dirty" Combat Doesn't Get Enough Love in The Chronicles of Darkness

Combat is the main event in a lot of roleplaying games, but there are times where a fight just feels inconsequential for the player characters, or it's just going to eat up a massive amount of the time you had planned for the story that night. This can be an issue in games that take a more cinematic approach to combat, such as the Chronicles of Darkness, but the Down and Dirty Combat mechanic that's listed on page 87 can solve this problem neatly and elegantly for those who want to go to narration for those fights that might be necessary, but which aren't super important.

You got this kid! Come on, one roll, and this bum's going down!

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Not Every Fight Is Supposed To Be Do-Or-Die

I've made the comparison before, but consider the first John Wick film. The scene where Vigo tasks a crew of assassins to go kill John before he can come after Iosef to get revenge. There's 11 or so assassins in black suits and ski masks, making them literal faceless goons who are all dispatched to our main character's house. John, of course, kills them all with the only damage being to his house, and his composure, just to let the audience know the kind of badass we're dealing with.

This is what I mean when I talk about thinking of combat cinematically. I'm not just talking about what it would look like, and the ebb and flow of a brawl or a shoot out. But ask where it fits in the narrative arc you're telling, and if this is an important, meaningful fight that should be slugged out round-for-round and pound-for-pound, or is this an interim fight with goons who aren't important in the grand scheme of things?

Because if you're running a Hunter game, and your cell of trigger-happy monster hunters are going after a vampire, then absolutely that fight in the vampire's lair should be a pulse-pounding scene where you dedicate a lot of screen time to the action, and you pull out all the weird powers and hail-Mary weapons for your mortals to try to eke out a victory. However, you probably don't want to dedicate that same time and attention to the fight with some club bouncers that are guarding the first layer of access to that vampire's lair, three sub-basements below The Red Circle.

You want to fight the counter guy who got your order wrong? Fine, but this is the last time...

The way this simple mechanic works is that you, as the ST, offer the chance to the players to run this with Down and Dirty rules. Because it should always be their choice. After all, regular combat mechanics and Down and Dirty mechanics both offer risks. If the players say yes, they want the D&D rules, it's fairly simple.

First, you determine which characters have what goals in this scene. For example, your bruiser might be trying to beat a combination to a locked door out of a flunky, while the shooter is just picking off as many other targets as she can. If there are distinct, different goals at-work, then these characters each make separate rolls. However, if multiple characters are all in sync with their goals (say all four members of a cell are rushing the two guards on a door, and looking to pummel them into submission), then they can use the Teamwork mechanic in order to combine their efforts together for a better chance of success.

Once you know who is trying to do what, you put together the combat pool for the player characters (Strength or Dexterity + Brawl, Firearms, or Weaponry), and then the NPCs will either roll that same pool if they're opposing the PCs, or they'll roll something like (Strength or Dexterity + Athletics) if they're trying to get away. Once both sides have rolled, count the successes, and the difference between them.

If the players get an exceptional success (5 or more on their side) they achieve their goal, and get a point of Willpower from the rush. A regular success (1-4 more on their side) and they achieve their stated goal, dealing damage equal to their weapon modifier + successes, killing enemies if that was the goal. If they fail then the opponent deals them damage equal to the number of successes they achieved over the PCs, and they escape unless they want to press things. Dramatic failure is the same as a regular failure, except the PCs are Stunned as a result of how badly things went.

Just be careful who you start a fight with... it might go badly for you.

This mechanic does a lot of heavy lifting for you as a Storyteller. On the one hand, it allows player characters who are built for fights to still contribute to the story and the game, but you don't have to eat up half (or more) of a given session making sure they get their fights in. On the other hand, it puts control into your players' hands, so they can decide what they think an important fight is, versus one they're willing to let a single roll of the dice settle.

With that said, though, as a Storyteller you should consider a couple of things before allowing the Down and Dirty rules to resolve a given combat.

- Should This Be Do Or Die? - The Chronicles of Darkness is a vicious system when it comes to combat, and the more combatants and weapons involved only ups that ante. If you want to avoid a serious risk of PC death, then this is a good time for the D&D option.

- Are These Combatants Named? - Think of your chronicle as if it were a movie. Are the people your characters fighting Named Characters, like the current villain, their lieutenant, or important characters to the plot? Or are they Gangster #1, #2, and #3? Even if you gave them names, histories, and personalities in your notes, ask if they are Important. If not, D&D is probably an acceptable way to solve things.

These two questions make a great guide as to when these rules should be invoked. Because once you have the necessary results, you can narrate what happened, and dictate what the fight accomplished, or what resources it used (how many rounds did they fire, did they manage to keep things quiet, and so on) without interrupting the flow of the current arc too much.

And if things go REALLY terribly, you can always invoke the Chase rules... but I think I'll talk about those next time if folks are interested in hearing more about this setting?

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That One Time I Shocked Storytellers By Solving Vampire Plot With Violence

I discovered Vampire: the Requiem right around the time it was first released. It was my first exposure to Vampire as a game, and though I eventually tried Vampire: the Masquerade out as well, I found that I much preferred the mechanical simplicity and altered setting of Requiem. So, when I found out there was a Requiem LARP in my area many years ago I was thrilled to break out my best black suit and put in an appearance.

Fangs were optional, but I found a set to bring all the same.

This game was not my first rodeo when it came to LARPing, but it was one of the biggest regular games I'd been to in a long time. On a slow night there were 20 players, and on a busy night there could be as many as 50. And there was a lot of RP going on in this venue. Solid costuming, commitment to character, and generally a great venue to be a part of. It was the sort of place where a Harvard graduated psychiatrist who'd been around since the 1940s could feel comfortable discussing his work on post-life states and their effect on the psychological well-being of the Kindred. I met brothel owners, political movers and shakers, deranged artists, and tortured souls... but I noticed something that I thought was very strange the longer I played.

No one ever seemed to actually do anything when a threat presented itself. Ever.

Attention Everyone... There Are Hunters on Premises!

Generally speaking, there's supposed to be a diversity of skills and abilities in any Vampire LARP venue. Some players are going to lean more toward information brokering, some will have political influence, some will be more magically inclined, and at least a handful of them will be combat brutes. Normally these are the ones placed under control of the sheriff, and when something goes wrong they'll handle the issue.

What I started to realize the more characters I interacted with, and the more games I attended, was that practically every PC in the venue was focused on wealth, art, and status. No one had gained control of the police. No one had paid off the district attorney. No one had gangs of mortals ready to handle problems with a snap of their fingers. And while there were one or two vicious mongrels, those characters weren't always in attendance.

As a result, when plot did show up (albeit rarely), it seemed the venue's main course of action was to stick their fingers in their ears and wait for it to go away.

You want to go out there? Oooh... direct action. How novel!

I'd been attending game for roughly four months or so (long enough for my psychiatrist to grow an alternate and quite violent second personality for the Malkovian bloodline), when the sheriff came in and announced the venue Elysium was being held in was currently being surrounded by hunters. Plural. Since this was important enough to warrant a warning being given, I figured that something should happen. The extent of the reaction, though, was that there was a polite murmur of acknowledgement, and then everyone went back to cocktail hour.

I'd expected the Prince to wave his hand, and send out a squad to deal with the problem. Or at the very least for the sheriff to do something... instead he sat down and started playing cards with another Kindred. When Henry made anxious but polite inquiries about what was being done, he was told that nothing was being done. It was raining outside, and there was a barricade manned by mortals. As long as we stayed inside we would be safe.

That didn't sit well with Edward. So when Henry excused himself with the intent of leaving a dangerous situation, it was another man who took to the streets. A man with murder on his mind.

You Want To Kill Them? Well... I Suppose You Could...

Once the face switch had happened, I approached on the storytellers and told him my cunning plan. I'd been banking XP for the past several months, and had just spent most of it on increasing physical prowess and combat skills (since the character had begun as a genius and a doctor, he had some areas to compensate for). With the ability to turn himself invisible, and a full pool of blood to spend, Edward wanted to hunt the hunters.

I will never forget the look on the ST's face. He'd been helping run the Requiem game for over 5 years, and in all that time he had never once had a player walk up to him and declare they were going to initiate combat. He went from slightly mystified, to gleefully excited. It was the most life I'd seen out of the staff the entire time I'd been coming to the game, and the feeling was contagious.

Let it ride! Let's see how far you can take this...

Finding the hunters wasn't hard. They'd split up, and were converging on the Elysium from three different directions. Lightly armed and staggered out, they made for surprisingly easy prey.

The first went down in a single strike, as a broken broom handle rammed straight through his heart from behind. Drinking his fill, Edward left the body in a dumpster, and then retreated to begin the stalk once more. The second hunter trigged that something was up, but not fast enough. He survived the first skull-shattering blow from the shadows, but before he could scream had his throat torn out by a pair of fangs. The third hunter, realizing he was alone, tried to retreat. He backed right into Edward's embrace, meeting the same fate as those who came before.

The scene was tense, engaging, and despite the brutal slaying, I felt like my character was really at-risk for the first time since I joined the game. I had to leave soon after that, but the storyteller who'd run my scene was excitedly sharing the tale with the other members of the staff as I went. When they said they hoped I'd make the next game, there was an animation there I'd never heard before.

A Markedly Different Experience

Most Vampire players I speak to, regardless of which edition or setting they prefer, tend to have stories of games that are all combat all the time. Constant stand-offs with werewolves, honor duels and infighting, and dozens of other threats that must be handled with tooth and claw, blade and blood. And honestly, I long for that kind of experience. Because while I appreciated the thought, the energy, and the roleplaying that I experienced at the venue... I didn't realize until I was breaking the Hippocratic Oath along with a hunter's entire rib cage just how bored I'd been exchanging pleasantries and listening to players talk about imaginary mansions they'd bought with imaginary fortunes.

So remember... sometimes it's good to get the blood flowing. Because if you never feel like you're at risk, then there are no stakes in the game. Pun very much intended.

Next Time on Table Talk!

With so many games paused thanks to the pandemic, my Runelords tales are on-hold for the time being. But hopefully I can keep sharing a few amusing asides like this week's tale until we can finish out the last of that campaign. So stay tuned, and I'll see you next time on Table Talk!

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