Thwip is ready for dinner!
Nic’s bow does full damage to 180 yards and half damage out to 240 yards.
However:
A 200 yard shot is at -12 skill. Range/speed modifiers are rounded up.
They began about 400 yards away, they’re closing at about 15 yards/second (AKA 30mph). Loading the bow takes one second to draw an arrow (avoidable with Fast Draw skill), one second to load, one second to fire. Aiming is advisable.
See the post above for range modifiers.
The Thwipgun has a range of nearly 500 yards, but only does full damage out to 60. Aiming gets you +1 per second (up to +3, Acc-1 plus two extra seconds of Aim), All-Out Attack gives +1, getting into a braced position would be another +1, the centaurs are +1 because they’re big targets.
But their speed gives a -5, and a 100 yard shot is -10. And if they know you’re shooting at them, they can try to Dodge. So, what range do you want to let fly at?
Anglish. 
(It’s got a bit more Norman French influence)
Also, keep in mind range penalties for spells. Regular spells are -1 to skill per yard (but pointing your spear can reduce that by two).
Potatoe.
I mentioned the range penalty as part of his thought process.
Well… assuming Hawk’s warning goes out before he has reason to fire, Thwip will do as he is told and get away from the horse as quickly as possible. Thwip is working under the idea that his teammates know what they’re talking about.
What Thwip does after that will depend if Blue Hawk’s gambit pays off, or if he and everyone else gets skewered because of it. He will try to maintain as low of a profile as possible as he sill moves towards the carriage to try and minimize the chances any skewering that might happen.
However, the plan was to wait until 80-90 yards to fire because the spears don’t seem like they’re designed for range regardless of how strong the centaurs are.
or if they threw them at him. Whichever came first.
I like the “Hawk speaks first” option. I guess it depends on the sequence of events you judge happens.
Yeah, @William_George, when you wrote that Thwip fired before these guys even closed to the point where we could attempt diplomacy, my reaction was:
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I think that’s the problem with the meta and the narration being separate. Me saying Thwip waits until they’re in range in the narrative thread. Discovering “in range” can mean “further than from where they started” here and needing to narrow it down. And then diplomacy breaks out in the other thread while I’m doing some math that renders it all moot.
That’s some serious fog of war right there.
I guess that’s why we need GMs for something other than handing out loot.
It was in character, though:
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Oh, man.
The absolute worst thing is people who have both the Curious and Impulsive disadvantages, and roleplay them correctly.
“Hey, what does that thing do?” WHOOSH. “Oh, sorry guys.”
Current situation:
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Jibril and de Courcy are dismounted, sheltering behind their horses, drawing their weapons. They’re out of sight of the carriage, behind a hill, around a right-hand bend.
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Hawk is dismounted next to the carriage, shouting in Arabic Northland.
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Thwip is still mounted, riding towards the carriage from the rear. He’s aiming at an incoming centaur, poised to fire.
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Waiting to hear what Ranar’s up to.
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The centaurs don’t show any sign of slowing down. They’re at about 200 yards now.
In Arabic?
Hawk shouted at the party in Anglish, and then called out to the centaurs in Northern. There’s a Salaam in there to indicate that he speaks Arabic if they don’t speak Northern, but only that one word has been in Arabic.
Whoops, sorry; Northland.
Apart from the Arabic Jibril shouted…
Okay: here’s where we’re at.
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Jibril and de Courcy sheltered behind horses, aiming missile weapons.
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Ranar and Aronn plodding along in the carriage.
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Hawk standing by his horse behind the carriage, calling out in Northland.
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Thwip trotting after the carriage, aiming at a centaur.
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Centaurs at about 150 yards. As well as the spears they’re holding, they appear to each have a couple of javelins strapped to their backs. They’re naked apart from some bone/horn/feather jewellery, and their faces are painted. They’re continuing to whoop and holler in an intimidating manner.
I need some threshold numbers for the missile weapon folk: do you trust in Hawk’s diplomacy and let the centaurs continue their charge, or is there some distance at which you fire?
Also: Thwip, give me a 3d6 roll vs 12 (control rating for your Impulsiveness disadvantage) to see if you successfully resist your earlier impulse to open fire. If you fail, you let fly immediately (150 yards); if you succeed, it’s up to you.
My pretty dice say: 6, 2, 3 = 11. Got it… Maybe? Is there any sort of fudge factor or is it a strict succeed/ fail thing? The last time I played GURPS we were only on Mambo No.5.
If it’s a full success, his actions will be;
- Trust Hawk and do what he says about getting away from the horse.
- Seek cover.
- Start shooting should Hawk get skewered.
But if it’s a partial success he’ll hold fire until about 80 yards.
As an aside, each die rolled exactly like I expected them to which suggests they’re all off balance. I might try that salt water test I think I saw here a while back. The worry is that they’re all bad and it’s a pain in the arse to get gaming dice here in Korea.
You needed 12 or less, so the trigger-happy impulse was successfully avoided.
So, Thwip dismounts and starts chasing the carriage on foot.
Jibril/de Courcy: fire at what range, if at all?
