How to Make Combat Interesting

By TheTenaciousYuzzum, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Here is an example of combat that should have been a boring one turn kill but @awayputurwpn made it into a fun little brawl just by playing to character.

1 hour ago, Archlyte said:

This is an interesting point. The GM does have the power to give free maneuvers beyond the limit or circumstances if you want to approach it that way, but I am intrigued by this idea of movement as description for the purpose of the energy of the scene. Thanks this was a great suggestion.

Here's another PvP example of movement in a fight scene. Feel free to skim past all the OOC discussion, the whole of the duel is kept to the first 3 pages of the thread.

11 minutes ago, SithArissa said:

Here is an example of combat that should have been a boring one turn kill but @awayputurwpn made it into a fun little brawl just by playing to character.

That was crazy fun!

I was thinking mechanically, what environmental penalties, hazards or opportunities you built in, and how would the various floors be effectively used in a combat encounter that usually ends fairly quick. Would it be a chase scene? Or would it be like kill bill?

I find with high quality miniature maps, the details of the map often give you ideas as to how to go about detailing environmental effects. Also, in Star Wars there are flying vehicles, droids, and any myriad number of ways to get from point A to point B vertically.

The real beauty is in the sheer scope. You can get knocked down a level or two, and now the entire combat encounter is vastly different!

I would advise against running a chase using a miniature-scaled map, though. They are too small for an adequate chase sequence to take place, IMO. Chases are best left to theater of the mind, or to occasional graphics (if you run that kind of game). If you do use miniatures in a chase scene, I would only use them for tracking relative distances, not for to-scale movement.

Environment is everything!