gement | Fixed the Staking System

Kudos to

wistol, who brainstormed an elegant solution for the game-breaking stake attack mechanics in the Buffy game!

Here's how. The basic problem is that, for anyone other than the Slayer to ever land a dramatic staking shot, the rules for staking have to give it enormous power. It is, by nature, a one shot kill.

The consequence is that even a starting-level Slayer can dust infant vampires as easily as breathing, and even a very strong vampire can go down on the first or second shot. She has no incentive to try any other moves, and your lovely villain that you crafted so maliciously suddenly fits in an ashtray with no dramatic buildup.

The clever clever solution is adding a quality for vampires called Name Tag. To paraphrase Michael Caine, "I mean, look at you! You haven't even got a name tag! Why don't you just fall down, son?" A vampire with a name tag, if he has at least half his hit points left, can spend a drama point to avoid being staked. It's not a dodge modifier. You just can't stake him.

This flies in the face of combat monkeys everywhere, but, let's face it, combat monkeys are not playing a game that considers "Big Ass Gun" an acceptable weapons spec.

As a side note, does anyone know anyone that knows anyone else that actually runs (or even plays) the official Buffy RPG? I've met several sourcebook owners, but I've never met anyone outside of the group I run who has actually played it. I'd enjoy swapping experiences, and see if we've run into the same trouble spots. If you know anyone, throw them my way.