The last time I ran a relatively large scale combat (for me, mind you; I think we had like 14 people), what I did was tell people what they should do OOCly, to wit:
"¶ One of the mercenaries turns, his eyes locking on the group, and shouts a warning! "To arms! To arms!" The crowd begins to move, the men and women of the company grabbing their bows and blades and dashing towards the tree line where you're hiding. ((Everyone gets 1-2 mercenaries to fight. Go ahead and narrate how you dispense with them or how you get disabled, your choice))"
(The ¶ symbol is how I identify narration in a channel.
)
This puts the power in the hands of the players; you're basically asking the players to decide for themselves if they win or lose and to write their own part of the story. On the other hand, it presupposes the outcome and tells the players exactly what's going to happen in the end, which some feel eliminates some of the drama. It also glosses over the blow-by-blow description of the fight, which is what some are looking for in a combat scene (personally, in MMOs and LARPs, I prefer for the combat to end quickly, advancing the plot, but that's just me).
"¶ One of the mercenaries turns, his eyes locking on the group, and shouts a warning! "To arms! To arms!" The crowd begins to move, the men and women of the company grabbing their bows and blades and dashing towards the tree line where you're hiding. ((Everyone gets 1-2 mercenaries to fight. Go ahead and narrate how you dispense with them or how you get disabled, your choice))"
(The ¶ symbol is how I identify narration in a channel.
)This puts the power in the hands of the players; you're basically asking the players to decide for themselves if they win or lose and to write their own part of the story. On the other hand, it presupposes the outcome and tells the players exactly what's going to happen in the end, which some feel eliminates some of the drama. It also glosses over the blow-by-blow description of the fight, which is what some are looking for in a combat scene (personally, in MMOs and LARPs, I prefer for the combat to end quickly, advancing the plot, but that's just me).
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
