Incoming!

It's rather late now so I can't write a long post, but I spent some time working on Van Gogh today. I finished the dueling rules I was working on and then started cleaning up the combat section. I think it's mostly finished. I'm still wrestling with the grappling rules (yeah, I know, I hate puns too), but I'll start posting some of the combat rules tomorrow or the next day. Just wanted to post a head's up for now. I'll probably split the combat stuff up into several posts.

I think my favorite part to write was the section on weapons. Weapons are essentially all the same: they let you fight armed and apply greater force than your bear hands. Ever since I first played AD&D 2nd Edition (more years ago than I like to think about) I never really liked the way you could stick 6 inches of dagger blade into someone and it's only 1d4 damage but sticking 6 inches of sword blade into someone was 1d8 damage. In Van Gogh a weapon is a weapon. Your choice of weapon will be based on it's qualities. Some hit a little harder, some are easier to use, some have more reach, some can be used in tight spaces, some make you look cool, some are just scary looking, some are more defensive, etc. Every weapon is different. You should choose a weapon based on what you want to do with it and not based solely on which one does the most damage. The part I really liked was that the exact same weapon might have different qualities in different settings based on the themes of that setting. Even in superficially similar settings.

For example, shooting zombies in the head. In Raccoon City, a pump action shotgun is just your basic, standard issue, zombie-popping boomstick. In Silent Hill, that reassuring K'CHAK gives you something to anchor your courage and help convince yourself that you're not a total coward.