Surrounding vs Charging

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MaxIrons

MaxIrons

Knight
Marshal
If someone is surrounded, and has no other way to "flee" from combat except by moving directly at one of the people in the circle surrounding them, how should this be handled? Is the person effectively trapped because to move at the surrounding persons (who aren't moving away from combat) is charging? Should the surrounded person be allowed to leave the circle as they're being placed in a position where the only escape option is charging?

I saw this at my first event, and want to know so that I can act appropriately should I be surrounded or be part of a group that is surrounding someone.
 
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We have always told our players not to "encircle" an NPC. NPCs will also call out "going through" and point at a direction if encircled, then head on through players. Everyone one has learnt not to surround out NPCs and give them "a way out". Not many instances of it has happened since then. It's just part of the "culture" that we are working with our players and NPCs to enstill.
 
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Howdy,
We (the marshals in the OR/SEA chapters) talked about this after the event that it occurred at, and I think we came to a consensus on it, we just never announced anything. The basics of it are this:

  • If someone is put into a situation where they can't fight safely, a hold should be called, and the combat should be moved to a safer area/people should step back/whatever needs to happen to ensure that combat is safe. This is a safety situation, not a rules mechanic situation.
  • If someone is in a situation where they can't fight without charging and they're surrounded in such a way that engaging anyone would be charging to someone, the 'surrounding' people are charging, so the impetus is on them to back away to resolve the situation. This is a safety situation, not a rules mechanic situation.
  • If someone is surrounded by opponents and everyone can fight safely, there is no issue and the surrounded person may not ask for an OOG way out of it. This is not a safety situation, it is a rules mechanic situation.

Basically, the idea is that using tactics (such as surrounding someone) should work, and there's no reason to grant an OOG trump card to avoid these situations when IG solutions already exist. The person who is surrounded always has the option to RP their way out of it, use effects like Shun, Repel, or Fear to force people to move, use effects that remove other characters from combat such as Web, Flame Bolt, Paralysis, or Death, to alter their surroundings with abilities like Rift, Recall, or Circle of Power, to use melee skills to fight their way through a weak point in a circle, or any number of other mechanical ways to get out of the situation. If the person who has been surrounded does not have any of these abilities, they have basically been defeated. Basically, "sometimes you're just screwed," and we found that there is not a sound reason to allow someone out of a bad situation IG for no OOG reason. Because there is not a safety concern, this situation has to be dealt with by IG means.

Matt,
OR/SEA Marshal
 
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So long as no one is using the OOG charging rule to prevent someone's escape, circling people is kosher.

I like the idea from Calgary, that's something I'd like to see become more widespread.
 
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phedre said:
I like the idea from Calgary, that's something I'd like to see become more widespread.
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While at one point I thought that a system like that was a good idea, I've since been convinced otherwise, and pretty strongly disagree with it now. There really isn't a good reason to use a system like that; the primary reason for allowing it usually comes down to "If this were real, I could push right through you/use my monster strength/whatever." The obvious counter is, of course, "This isn't real, otherwise we could shield-bash/fight hand-to-hand/whatever." Always keep in mind that Alliance combat isn't supposed to be mock combat; we're not striving for realism. We are an RPG that has a padded-stick and birdseed combat resolution system. What you can do with physical contact, proximity in combat, etc is clearly defined, and what powers or abilities your character possess are also clearly defined. "My character got itself into a bad situation and I don't want them to be there," isn't any more valid a reason to let someone escape than "My character can run faster than me." It's really not something that I think should ever be allowed.

(If we're going to keep down this line of conversation, maybe we can copy the previous few posts and do a split into Rules Theory? This one doesn't need to stay in the Marshal thread, I said my Marshally bit in the previous post.)
 
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