The Bloody Versus rules seem geared for one-on-one confrontations. What happens when there are multiple fighters on one or both sides?
I assume the helping rules represent multiple fighters, correct? So each side picks a ‘main fighter’, with any other combatants piling on their +1D’s to his base skill pool.
I’m a bit unsure what happens when wounds are taken: Is it only the main fighter who takes the wound, or do all his helpers take the same wound? That is, if a B6 wound is being dealt, everyone on the same side is hit for a B6? This could lead to odd situations where either everyone makes it free of the fight with nary a scratch, while in another situation all the group members take a crippling B10 wound. On the other hand, if it’s just the main guy who takes the wound, it seems a bit far-fetched that his helpers are at no risk in the fight.
How are Steel tests resolved? Do you use the lowest Steel with the highest Hesitation of the group, with other people helping?
Similarly for the opposed Speed/Forte/Power tests: do you use the lowest exponent in the group, with everyone else helping? This would make the most sense as it seems a bit unfair to use the highest exponent (a group with a sprinty elf in it shouldn’t be at such a great advantage when fleeing).
One way you could alleviate the issue of all-or-nothing, everyone-on-one-side-gets-injured Bloody Versus is by splitting up some intents each group fighting for something else. Of course, that would really be dependent on situation, but an example would be holding guards at bay in the bottleneck while your friends take down the Caryatid Guardian protecting the MacGuffin, of split folk securing an exit while the others perform the assassination they all came for. I think the important difference between this and your spark (which I totally think you should test out against Fight, btw) is that each individual rolling has a separate intent, meaning that we’re not dicking with Intent/Task.
Also, Luke, would Slowest/Loudest apply in picking the primary for BV? Or can the best fighter carry in that situation.
A good idea, but as you said, highly dependant on situation. I find that when faced with a group of enemies, it’s often clear what each group’s intents are. In fact, I suspect that having each individual make a separate intent could lead to an even more hairy situation: what happens if your buddy on the right is captured by an orc while you ran off their leader? In this case, you would most surely need a new round of fighting to save your friend. But definately a good idea when you have several, more or less linked goals in one fight.