One of the great things to come out of playtesting NUNA, my roleplaying game of Inuit & Iceships, is that it has given me lots of insight on the Stormbringer rules on which it is based.
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| I had this What If? comic back in the day. Absolute banger. |
And it has helped me solve the riddle of shields.
Chinks in the Armor
In the old Stormbringer rules, shields were both touted as important but not given enough explanation or mechanics to answer why. The rules for Shields were, as usual, split throughout the rulebook, so as is my practice, I try to put them in one place so I can better understand what the designers were trying to do at a glance.
Here are the rules on shields.
[3.3.3] reminds us that you cannot try to Parry with a weapon then switch to Shield for a second Parry on the same attack. Fair enough.
[3.3.3.1] adds that a Shield is the only way to Parry an arrow. Useful.
[3.5.2] gives us the stats for Shields as weapons, while [3.5.2.1] gives extra descriptions. A bit fiddly, so I always rewrote it in one place.
Buckler - Light & small, banded in iron, advantage is lightweight & ease of movement.
- (6 throwing) STR / 12 DEX / 1D4 (1D6 thrown for 9 meters) Damage / 30 cm or 1 ft Length / 50LB Price
Target - Larger round shield, covers most of torso. Wood covered in leather, banded in iron, BUT can be cast in iron, but not iron or steel. This confused me as a lad, but I now realize 'cast' doesn't mean made in metal, it means thrown, and indeed the Target is the one of the two shields on the projectile weapon list. Iron and steel are too heavy, so if you want to go Captain America and throw your shield, bronze is the only way, but doesn't cost any more or affect its durability.
8 (16 throwing) STR/ 7 DEX / 1D6 (2D4 thrown for 6 meters) Damage / 90 cm or 3 ft Length / 75LB Price
Heater - Typical mounted knight's shield, square at top and pointed at bottom.
8 STR / 9 DEX / 1D6 Damage / 90 cm or 3 ft Length / 100LB Price
Tower- Infantry man's shield, suitable for hiding behind. Best for shield walls, using short sword and fixing shield into ground.
12 STR / 6 DEX / 1D6+2 Damage / 150 cm or 5 ft Length/ 150 LB Price
But the meat of Shield rules come from [3.5.5] and [3.5.5.1], introducing the general concept of Shields and their use as weapons. We find that Shields are considered indestructible, and can only be killed by Critical Attacks or Demon Weapon Attacks (and Parrying demon weapons, one assumes). The description of a Shield rush, where you can bash with your Shield AND follow up with a weapon attack, is dropped in with little fanfare, except to remind us that an attacking Shield can't be used to Parry. This is a HUGE hidden rule, and could be applied to two weapon styles a la Moonglum, giving you the option of double Attacks or a combination of Attack & Parry.
There are more rules in the Magic chapter, but for now I want to stick to mundane Shields and their properties as listed above.
First, there seems to be some little inconsistencies. If both Target and Heater do 1D6, but the former is cheaper AND can be thrown, why use the latter? I'd be tempted to bump Heater and Tower up to 1D8 damage, but this would be unnecessary if their cover were mechanically supported.
The two biggest oversights seem to be elaborating Shield advantages such as lightness and cover without giving rules underpinning them. In the NUNA playtest, modern players were aghast they couldn't Dodge firearms, and so this oversight in Shield rules really stood out to me.
Here's what I did in NUNA.
The Benefits of Using a Shield
To make Shield rules clearer and add value to carrying one, I codified three advantages to using a Shield, in addition to the original uses in Parrying and Attacking.
1. Sword & Shield can reduce the Parry penalty versus multiple attackers.
This is not a new rule, just a clarification of the benefits of lugging a Shield about.
If you are facing three opponents and only hold a sword, your second and third Parry will be reduced by 20% and 40% respectively. This is a great rule and replicates the attrition factor of combat which I know well from my years in karate tournaments and SCA duels, without adding any other mechanics such as POW depletion.
However, with a sword and shield you can alternate between these for Parries and thus slow the rate of attrition. Facing the same three opponents, your first sword Parry has no penalty, ditto your first shield Parry. Only your third Parry faces the 20% penalty. This is a lifesaver in combat.
2. Advancing (or Retreating) under fire with a Shield increases your Armor Value
Taking a note from historical castle sieges and the NUNA playtest feedback about defense versus firearms, I implemented the following house rule.
When advancing or retreating under missile fire, you can hold your shield in front of you and get the shield's Armor added to your own. Shield armor is equal to its melee damage. Note that when doing this, you cannot Attack & Parry as usual.
For example, let's image you are wearing Leather Armor (1D6) and being fired upon by multiple archers and only have a sword and shield (Target 1D6). By the old rules you have to Parry EVERY arrow, which becomes more difficult the more attackers there are. Instead, with my Advancing house rule, you now get 2D6 armor for every arrow fired against you, so you have a better chance of Advancing and attacking or Retreating out of range.
Critical shots of arrows would avoid the Shield and be applied straight to the Armor. For attackers trying to shoot around the shield, its size would also give a penalty to the Attack roll as follows:
Penalties for Attacking vs Shields
Buckler minus 20%
Target minus 50%
Heater minus 50%
Tower minus 80%
Since there is no skill for Advancing or Retreating under a shield, noncombatant or unarmored characters can also use it to increase their survivability. Movement speed is half whether Advancing or Retreating, and if you Attack a nearby foe you lose the added Armor benefit.
Note that this applies to ALL missiles, so a shield can save your life when facing a firearm.
3. Shields are portable Cover
Similar to the above rule, if you are trying to peek out on a busy battlefield (ie make a See roll to find troop composition or gain a strategic advantage), you can apply the above Penalties for Attacking vs Shields above.
This house rule is especially important when using Theater of the Mind, in other words no battlemats or minis, just descriptions. I find that with battlemats, players can see EVERYTHING and have omniscient knowledge of the terrain.
That is fine if you want a superheroic and gamey feeling combat. But if you want gritty or tragic combat, characters should have to literally stick their necks out to get useful information, and the Fog of War around them should hide important information from characters who are busy fighting for their lives and can't see anything beyond their combat tunnel vision. I would suggest having characters trying to See an advantage make a Luck roll, failure of which means they are subject to an attack following the above Shield Cover rule penalties above.
Interested in Seeing NUNA?
If you are interested in seeing how different NUNA is from Stormbringer, check the links below.
The link to the FREE preview of 7 PCs from Inuit Hunter and Shaman Whisperer to Rigger Roughneck & New Scientist is HERE or at the link below.
PC Preview
https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/575125/NUNA-Rpg-Player-Characters-Free-Preview
The link to the full Quickstart, priced at $1.99 because I believe $15 quickstart PDFs are a scam, and which contains the Moorcock-inspired gonza scenario The Silver Machine, can be found HERE or below.
Quickstart
https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/575172/NUNA-Rpg-Quickstart
