Well, that changes things.
Realism : 1
Cinematic: 1
Undecided: Everyone else...
Realism is fine and all, but this being build on an anime I would probably look to the source material to determine if realism is better then cinematic, but I have never watch Gate so can't really say what is the best approach here to make me feel I'm part of the anime.
I am in favor of encounters to teach the rules initially. Throwing in deadly high challenge encounters as we learn seems like a good way to not enjoy the game. An initial set of less complex rules would be great. I still have lots of questions and plan to read all the rules again.
The anime is cinematic for sure.
So is that 'cinematic' Daniel? Or real? Not sure, you kind of waffled back and forth.
For now simpler is better. I thought I was clear.
So, three for cinematic, 1 for realistic.
One more for cinematic, please.
Ok, so, cinematic it is then.
My perceptions, not the GM's!
So, we're in "Indian Country" this generally means that slightly different rules apply.
A military unit has rules of engagement. Often times in neutral or friendly areas this means no shooting unless shot at. However, we're in hostile territory. This means we would likely have a ROE that allowed us to fire first. In this case, the instant the guard's aimed or threatened any of our team their life was forfeit.
Now, once rendered as a non-threat (i.e. captured), different rules come into play.
First, none of the people in this world are signatories of any treaties or rules of conduct. There are no Geneva Conventions. We may follow our rules for our own ethics and morals. We do not have any expectation that anyone here will follow them.
Even though we are just a reserve unit, we're actually operating in a very special circumstance. Consider the first encounter when the enemy invaded. We certainly had the soldiers and capability to handle captured and surrendering individuals. Same thing with the second battle when we breached the gate and established our beachhead. The third battle was the same way. After the battle we could capture injured or surrendered enemy soldiers and deal with them.
However, we are a small, isolated unit. We do not have the capability to accept surrender. We don't have the manpower to guard, nor the resources and space to house captured enemies.
While this doesn't automatically mean killing any of them, it also doesn't automatically mean releasing them either.
If it was a local militia and a misunderstanding, we would likely release them. But this guard is a different situation. From Brona and Calia we know that the imperial guard remains an active threat to the success of our mission. I don't see a difference in killing him while laying on the inn floor than taking him out from ambush with a sniper rifle, to sneaking into his room and cutting his throat while he was sleeping.
Let's keep in mind, he is a direct representative of the empire that invaded and slaughtered civilians, including children.
So while we may be required to follow the Geneva Convention and other relevant rules of conduct, we are operating under "behind enemy lines" and in a small specialist unit.
I agree with most of this. Lets not forget that we are in foreign but neutral territory at the moment and are NOT in enemy territory. The locals are not friendly to the empire. How we act could change that and make them hostile to us though. My hope is that standing up for the boys and preventing their capture will win us local points.
As far as Daniel goes, I am not sure he has ever killed anyone up close and personal like. So it makes sense that he hesitated to kill an unconscious person. He likely would have gotten around to it, but its not gonna ever be an easy thing for Daniel.
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I would have found it interesting to rp Jacob during the execution as he has a beef with the aliens but also a sense of duty and a code of conduct. If our unit was weapons free in conduct of mission or following specific target protocols such as sniper against high value target etc I would agree with you, however, the majority of American Military units follow the Geneva convention and a code of conduct specifically. Orders and conduct are related to morale and thoughts of self and enemy and understand that it is easy to qualify and quantify in your chair at home versus the field of battle to be sure.
There's also the psychological element, which is what I am playing with Genie. Just because they might have been given permission to go medieaval on the enemy, doesn't mean that she thinks its right. It goes against a lifetime of conditioning to treat prisoners fairly.
Exactly. Part of what I was trying to portray when Daniel reacted in shock and outrage when a "knight" so callously shot Jacob just for standing up. No knightly code there and Daniel wanted to believe knights would have knightly codes.
I fully endorse Genie's response. And yeah, most main stream military is going to have an issue the first time they're in a close quarters engagement. (This often doesn't apply to behind enemy lines, special forces, etc)
Most of us were involved with the gate assault, and the attack by the imperial army, followed by Calia's rescue. So most of us have been blooded.
I don't know that I would call this neutral territory. Didn't we pass a forest that is known to be enemy controlled where one of our other patrols is assumed to have been killed or captured?
While Dawn isn't sadistic, she also doesn't have any hangups about it either. Her duty requires her to follow the military's established rules, but she's open to a flexible interpretation.
As far as Dawn is concerned, the knight's callous and unprovoked attack on Jacob has pretty much painted all imperial knights into the category of "shoot first, ask questions of someone else." Her first impression just wasn't very good for the empire.
Apologies for my absence, but I was dealing with the holidays and a few minor injuries.
It's ok, I've been sick off and on since Christmas.
I moved to TX to get away from extended cold snaps. Blech.
Arizona! We had a cold snap! It got down to 36 on 12/22.
To my fellow players and gms
I will be updating my games at a slower pace for a while longer, you'd probably already noticed it's been slow from me the last weeks.
I might be going down with psychological stress from the new work I started after new years. I had barely worked a week before we were told our jobs were in jeopardy and could be lost at any moment. I tried to handle it but instead ended up bottling it untill I broke down last night after I got home.
I have an appointment with my doctor and union tomorrow and will take things from there.
I'll keep you informed and update the game when I have some good moments
To my fellow players and gms
Take care of yourself, that's always the most important thing. Thanks for letting us know.
Sorry to hear that!
Hopefully your union will be able to help you with your options.
To my games,
I'm on steroids and antibiotics. I've been cycling being well and sick since Christmas, and it appears my lungs were trying to develop pneumonia again. So bear with me and apologies for not posting as regularly as I could have, been a lot more tired/distracted than I realized.
I understand. I think we all go through our ups and downs. Get well and come back when its enjoyable.
Hi all,
Feeling better, which is good, because I leave on vacation today. Getting sick the week before vacation sucks.
I'll be driving all day today, but will begin vacation posting Thursday. Going to be a bit of a boring vacation (visiting in-laws in the boondocks, so not much to do). Should be able to post frequently.
MDT
Glad to have you back with the living and ready to move forward. :)
I leave for a week of skiing next Tuesday so my posting might be slow until the following Tuesday.
Howdy all!
Hello. Hmm ... things have been pretty slow.
Sorry, between sickness, and my wife having plans for our vacation other than mine (I wanted to putter around the lake house, she's had me going hither and yon), I've not had a lot of time to post. I'll try to move us forward today. Apologies.
Hi everyone.
I'm again sorry for not posting, and it's turning into a normal thing, rather than an exception. :( This particular game is very time consuming, partly because it's in GURPS, and partly because the GM has to communicate everything about the world in every post, so that takes much more time than posting into an existing game world that everyone already has in their mind.
Unfortunately, between health and work, I am going to have to cut back on my games, and I feel like it's not fair to keep everyone waiting for a week or so between posts by me. I can just barely find time enough to post in 2 or 3 games where it takes me 10 or 15 minutes to post. The half-hour or so I usually spend on this game, with some taking an hour or so due to needing to work out complex formulas or type up notes for future reference, are just getting beyond me.
I'll leave the game up for a few days to allow people to post in response, and then shut it down. I apologize again for doing so.
Get better, mdt. Thanks for the game.
Thanks for the dip back into GURPS. It had been way too long. I was surprised how slow the rules were coming back to me. I liked the world very much and had grand plans for Daniel, which is part of the fun of the game.
If you ever decide to pick back up and run a GURPS game please keep me in mind.
Sorry to hear it, understand it as well.
GL, and see you next game.
Also understand, although I'll be sorry to see it go. I think it was a neat world and was my first time testing out the GURPS mechanics. I will never complain about the complexity of Pathfinder again :) Thanks again.