Last night my group utilized the BWG scripted combat system for the first time. Everything went well and the PC’s loved the system. However, there was a situation that arose that flummoxed me a tad.
It was a moonlit night and the PC’s and a group of six baddies were playing cat and mouse on a hilly plain that had a few scattered trees. The baddies had bunkered down on a hill and their archer had taken a few potshots at the PC’s. Then, there was quiet. Unbeknownst to the PC’s, the archer had successfully stealthy’d down the hill and was moving toward them to get a clean shot.
Luckily, the PC’s decided to charge the hill. I ruled that the archer got a “free” shot while they charged past him and he missed.
Once the PC’s reached the summit, the five other baddies sprang up and the battle was joined!
The lonely archer, however, was still at the base of the hill, aiming at the PC’s.
Now, what confused me is this: Do I use the standard Fight! rules for him even though he’s so far away from the PC’s? Or do I use Range & Cover?
It just seemed strange to me that when one of the PC’s spotted him at the bottom of the hill all he had to do was “engage” him, win the positioning test, and suddenly he’d be all up in the archer’s face. It seemed more reasonable to make the PC use the “closing” maneuver for range and cover (for which he chose “Charge” and had a free shot made against him, which deflected off his armor in dramatic fashion).
That said, I don’t think I did it right. Thoughts?
