Moral Check

Scott Adams longshot at DARKTECH.ORG
Thu May 23 03:57:27 CEST 2002


At 06:54 PM 5/16/02 +0200, you wrote:
>Hey all,
>
>Someone mentioned a moral check on the the party. I can't find any info on
>this, but in the mass combat option it uses a moral check.
>
>So I've made a simple check. I think it should be as simple as possible

Interesting rules.  I'll have to keep them in mind.  I did some web research
the other
night and found several pages for morale pages to use as a outline like the
one
below.
I'm not developing my own version of rules and may publish them here when i
get them done.  I used for years the old Gamma World Morale system since it
was simple and fast....

Its not my info below so don't blame me..:)..just an interesting way to do
things..


     [ Home ] [ Sitemap ] [ Miniatures ] [ Rules ] [ Small Arms ] [ Mechanized
]
                                               [ Links ] [ Roleplaying ] [ FAQ
]
                                        [Morale Rules]
              OPTIONAL RULE:
              Integrated Morale

              Designer's Notes: These rules are an attempt to incorporate
              the human factor into Phoenix Command simulation. As
              combatants engage the enemy, a variety of factors will eat
              away at their effectiveness on the field. When bullets fly
              past a combatant, the natural reaction is to start being much
              more concerned about self preservation. Combatants will spend
              more effort molding themselves to cover, observing for the
              enemy, and hesitating before committing to action. All of
              these make combatants less effective on the battlefield. These
              types of reactions can be categorized as morale--the human
              factor determining the effectiveness of the combat unit.

              This set of rules tries to simulate that and integrate it in
              an easy way with the normal flow of a PCSACS game.

              THE RULES:

              MORALE STATE

              All combatants will now have a "Morale State" which can change
              between one of four states, which are listed on the table
              below.


               Morale State  CA Multiplier   DSL Bonus    Spotting CA
                                                             Bonus
              Bold                1.0           +0            +0
              Cautious           0.75           -1            +1
              Frightened          0.5           -2            +2
              Panicked            0.0           -4            +0

              All combatants start at the Bold Level, unless otherwise
              specified in the scenario.


                   Example: A group of four bank robbers is holding guns on
                   two corporate executives hostages. The leader of the
                   robbers and one of his men start at the Bold morale
                   state, while the other two robbers, who have had doubts
                   about the robbery, start at the Cautious Morale State.
                   The Hostages start at the Frightened and Panicked state.

              As can be seen from the above table, people in different
              morale states will have different levels of combat
              effectiveness. The columns in the table are defined as
              follows:

              Morale State: A description of the person's behavior in a
              particular moment in a combat situation.

              CA Multiplier: This is a multiple of the person's CA and
              represents the amount of Offensive CA the person is capable of
              taking in a phase. As the person's morale degrades, they are
              able to take fewer and fewer offensive actions, and their CA
              tends to be spent more and more on Defensive actions. In all
              cases, Offensive CA is rounded up to the nearest whole number.
              Offensive CA is CA spent on offensive actions--aiming,
              shooting, combat, moving towards an enemy, reloading a weapon,
              and so forth.

                   Example: One of the bank robbers is Green-quality (SL 2,
                   4 CA) and starts at Bold. When his morale state changes
                   to Cautious, his offensive CA drops from 4 to (4 * 0.75 =
                   ) 3 CA. This means that he c an use 3 CA in offensive
                   actions. He still has his 4 CA, but the remaining CA can
                   only be used for defensive purposes.

              DSL Bonus: This number is the change to the combatant's DSL
              ALM and represents a person's tendency to make themselves a
              smaller target as he becomes more and more unsettled.

                   Example: Our bank robber's DSL is +3 under normal
                   circumstances--when he is in a Bold Morale state. When
                   his morale state changes to Cautious, his DSL changes
                   from +3 to +3-1= +2, meaning he is taking more time in
                   using cover and is trying to really avoid getting shot.

              Spotting CA bonus: This is the bonus number of CA which a
              combatant can spend on spotting attempts--if he so chooses.
              These CA are considered free CA and can be used in conjunction
              with other actions.

                   Example: Our bank robber (4 CA, 3 Offensive CA) who is
                   now being Cautious, spends 1 CA diving over cover. He
                   spends another CA getting up to kneeling and a third to
                   assume a hip-firing stance. His final CA is spent trying
                   to spot a police sniper down the street (>40 hexes).
                   Because he is being cautious, he gains a Spotting CA
                   bonus of +1. This gives him 2 CA of spotting, and he
                   spots the sniper this phase where ordinarily, he would
                   have had to wait until the next phase to spot the sniper
                   --(see Spotting PCSACS (4d) s 5.2). This gives him the
                   effect of 5 CA in a phase.

              MAINTAINING AND CHANGING MORALE STATES

              A combatant will stay at his initial morale state until one of
              the following events happens:

                [Image]  The combatant is wounded
                [Image]  The combatant is subject to a near miss from enemy
                         fire
                [Image]  The combatant sees his element leader injured.

              Wounding:
              If a combatant is wounded or injured, his morale state
              immediately drops to Panicked.

              Near Miss:
              If a shot passes within the combant's Critical Distance
              (PCSACS (4d) s. 5.6), the combatant will drop 1 morale state
              if the person is a combat veteran, and 2 morale states if the
              person is not a combat veteran. A combat veteran is defined as
              **anyone** who has been in combat.

                   Example: Our bank robber was barely missed by a police
                   sniper when he was acting Bold, and so this near miss
                   drops the bank robber's morale state to a lower level.
                   The bank robber has been involved in some gang gunfights
                   in the past, so he is considered a combat veteran, and so
                   his morale state drops only one level--from Bold to
                   Cautious. If the bank robber had no combat experience,
                   then he would have dropped 2 levels--from Bold to
                   Frightened.

              Element Leader Incapacitated:
              An element leader is the highest skilled ally who is a) in
              command of the combatant, and b) within sight of the
              combatant. If the element leader is incapacitated, then the
              combatant immediately drops one morale level.

                   Example: Our four bank robbers have split into two teams
                   in trying to make their getaway, and are following
                   separate routes through the inner city. In a firefight
                   with the police, the leader of the bank robbers is
                   incapacitated. His companion, who started at a Cautious
                   morale state, sees that his leader is down, and so his
                   morale immediately drops one level to Frightened. The
                   other team of bank robbers, which were out of sight of
                   their leader, is unaffected by his incapacitation.

              RALLIES

              A person can upgrade their morale level by performing a
              self-rally as described in PCSACS (4d) s. 5.6, with the
              following modification. A person can make a self-rally attempt
              once under cover, and if they succeed, then they raise their
              morale state up by one level. After their Rally Time in CA,
              they can attempt to raise their morale up by another level,
              and so on until their morale returns to bold.

              If the combatant fails any self-rally, then their morale state
              remains frozen at its current level for the rest of the
              battle, or until a comrade makes a rally attempt as described
              in PCSACS (4d) s. 5.6. The only difference between a rally and
              a self-rally for our purposes is that a successful Rally
              attempt will immediately restore a combatant's morale state up
              to Bold.

              NOTES

              These rules have seen some playtesting across the internet and
              the responses that I have received from playtesters has
              typically been favorable.

              One of the suggestions has been the addition of another morale
              state above the "Bold" state--either something like
              "Fanatical" or "Enraged," representing the morale state of
              people who are hyped up on emotion, adrenaline, and fervor.

              For playtesting purposes only, the Fanatic rules are as
              follows: The effects of a Fanatical Morale state would result
              in a CA multiplier of 1.25, a spotting bonus of -1, and a DSL
              bonus of +2 -- meaning these people can do more, see less, and
              be hit much easier.

              Fanatics can start a battle in the Fanatical state, and may
              not be returned to that state if their morale state is reduced
              over the course of the battle. Roleplaying GMs may choose to
              allow player characters (or NPCs) to become enraged in the
              course of roleplaying.



Send Comments
Page last modified: January 05, 2002

Longshot - ZC of AdventureNet International Echomail Network
Fringe BBS - EWOG II - 904-733-1721
Telegard / Allfix Beta Site
Website: http://users.cybermax.net/~longshot
ICQ: 24436933



More information about the pnp mailing list