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So the current group I GM for never stand up to a straight fight. Anytime some sort of combat ensues they come up with new and exciting ways to run away. Using spells, skills, and abilities to get out of dodge. I have DMed and GMed for years and never had a group handle situations like this. I have to say the parties tactics are always creative and unorthodox so I award good xp for their plans and actions. I'm pretty good at on the fly GMing so when I plan out encounters that get botched I can roll with it so my questions are...

Anyone ever had a group like this?
How do you force a fight?
How can I better prepare for the inevitable and still give quests and tasks that can be completed without fighting?

If any other campaign info would be beneficial could help just ask.

Sounds like a fun group!

Put them in a race.

Never had a group like that, I have played in a group were one member was like that.
We finally said stand your ground or we will execute you on the spot, that was after denying them any part of the loot. We figured since they ran away and hid while we had to fight then they didn't deserve anything. It would be different if they acted as sniper, or buffed us with magic, heck I would have settled for a look out.

Kind of difficult to force a fight unless you get into rail-roading territory. The only thing I can suggest is try and make it more of a personal connection for them, give them a reason to want to fight.

Perhaps alter the campaign so running suits the story line, kind of like Cyberpunk or a City Rat campaign. What RCC's/OCCs is the group comprised of ?
Not every character is a straight up brawler, I wouldn't expect that out of a Rogue Scientist, so IMO they shouldn't be penalized for coming up with creative escapes (and I see from above that you are not doing that). However, if you have a full conversion 'borg running at the first sight of danger simply because he/she doesn't want to damage their mdc body, or what ever ridiculous reason, then I think you should definitely talk to the group. I mean a full conversion 'borg/juicer/soldier is meant to fight that is kind of their role in the group. The healer heals, the mage casts and the fighters fight.

What RCC's/OCCs is the group comprised of ?

The party consists of a Crazy, Line walker, and a monster trainer (OCC of my own design, kind of like a vagabond meets a tattoo monster man but without magic)
The crazy is a BAMF in combat but doesn't realize it, she is kind of role playing that way which is cool. And the monsters that get summoned can be super tough or great utility. The line walker is filling her role perfectly (she uses lesser paralesis on a bad guys trigger hand so they cant shoot at them...genius)

I am excited that this party handles the game so drastically different than most others do. I think I just need to get better at GMing investigation or mystery type scenarios. So anything that you fine GMs could suggest in this area would be awesome.

have a friend get kidnapped and they must rescue them, gotta force a fight for a change

andyskyhawk wrote:So the current group I GM for never stand up to a straight fight. Anytime some sort of combat ensues they come up with new and exciting ways to run away. Using spells, skills, and abilities to get out of dodge. I have DMed and GMed for years and never had a group handle situations like this. I have to say the parties tactics are always creative and unorthodox so I award good xp for their plans and actions. I'm pretty good at on the fly GMing so when I plan out encounters that get botched I can roll with it so my questions are...

Anyone ever had a group like this?
How do you force a fight?
How can I better prepare for the inevitable and still give quests and tasks that can be completed without fighting?

If any other campaign info would be beneficial could help just ask.

This is the answer you are looking for.




Petty tyrants thrive when they have authority backed by vague regulations.

Just out of curiosity - What are the stakes of your adventure?

Like are they concerned about innocent casualties? Do the PC's have wants and needs? Do they have any NPC families or obligations?

Like are they concerned about innocent casualties? Do the PC's have wants and needs? Do they have any NPC families or obligations?

Ok so all three of the party are not originally from "rifts" earth. All were rifted here at the same time into the same general area, found each other in the woods and decided it was better to stick together than die alone. One of them received this weird audio transmission when the rift appeared. It was from his brother who had recently gone dimensional traveling with an old professor. So his purpose in life is to find his brother, the party recently found the old professor who has a lab in the town they've recently come to. But the brother hasn't been around for sometime since the old man set up shop in town.

As a whole the group is kind of concerned about collateral damage and from what I can tell they don't exactly want to attract the wrong kind of attention, having already been associated with a dragon wanted as a criminal by the coalition. They're not exactly good guys, but not really bad either. Its seems so far they're not overly willing to stick they're necks out for anybody other than each other.

The other two party members don't have any personal story hooks yet (family members, enemies, goals, etc...) but I'm trying to work something in for each of them.

The guy looking for his brother came up with that as part of his back story so I rolled with it.

Reduce xp when ever they flee. Have them gain a reputation as Chickens. Like a HF 8 but instead of fear the are made fun of and not taken seriously.

Each adventure the keep with the retreats increase the Hf by 1.

say652 wrote:Reduce xp when ever they flee. Have them gain a reputation as Chickens. Like a HF 8 but instead of fear the are made fun of and not taken seriously.

Each adventure the keep with the retreats increase the Hf by 1.

That sounds more like a punishment than a solution.

Glistam wrote:

say652 wrote:Reduce xp when ever they flee. Have them gain a reputation as Chickens. Like a HF 8 but instead of fear the are made fun of and not taken seriously.

Each adventure the keep with the retreats increase the Hf by 1.

That sounds more like a punishment than a solution.

The road weary team walks into the bar. A Torvil looks and recognizes them "Hey guys it's the Thunder Chickens!" He jokes.

Hushing the laughing crowd the Waitress asks "what'll be? And don't run from the Tab......"

say652 wrote:
Reduce xp when ever they flee. Have them gain a reputation as Chickens. Like a HF 8 but instead of fear the are made fun of and not taken seriously.

Each adventure the keep with the retreats increase the Hf by 1.
That sounds more like a punishment than a solution.

I have to agree, I don't want to punish them for playing the game in an unorthodox way. If they don't want to scrap it out with every thug or monster along the way then so be it. This is a role playing game and if that's how they see their characters, that's how I should see the characters.

My real question hear is suggestions to tailor my game mastering to they're play style, just because you or I may prefer to kick down the door and blast wild with our L-20's and sawed off shotguns doesn't mean that's the only way. Batman for instance beats up the bad guys and turns them into the proper authorities while the punisher takes a more direct approach.

True, I am gming for a Cook Mage currently, poor Combat Cyborg is bored to tears. They use him to carry heavy stuff at the Restaurant :/

I haven't actually run into this myself, but I have to say some of my experience with battletech involves finding ways to try to encourage more behavior that encourages something other than a stand up fight to the death.

with that in mind, you have a couple options:
roll with it and keep coming up with things where they can succeed by "bugging out".
come up with scenarios where at least sometimes leaving won't meet the "victory" conditions.

for instance you want to do a "gunfight at the OK Corral type situation" so you have an opposing force they have something the characters want, gear, hostage money etc. so completely avoiding the fight won't get them what they want. at least some fighting maywill be necessary, of course once they get their hands on "goal aka the football" then they can or can try to bug out with it.

andyskyhawk wrote:So the current group I GM for never stand up to a straight fight. Anytime some sort of combat ensues they come up with new and exciting ways to run away. Using spells, skills, and abilities to get out of dodge. I have DMed and GMed for years and never had a group handle situations like this. I have to say the parties tactics are always creative and unorthodox so I award good xp for their plans and actions. I'm pretty good at on the fly GMing so when I plan out encounters that get botched I can roll with it so my questions are...

Anyone ever had a group like this?
How do you force a fight?
How can I better prepare for the inevitable and still give quests and tasks that can be completed without fighting?

If any other campaign info would be beneficial could help just ask.

Razzinold wrote:Never had a group like that, I have played in a group were one member was like that.
We finally said stand your ground or we will execute you on the spot, that was after denying them any part of the loot. We figured since they ran away and hid while we had to fight then they didn't deserve anything. It would be different if they acted as sniper, or buffed us with magic, heck I would have settled for a look out.

Kind of difficult to force a fight unless you get into rail-roading territory. The only thing I can suggest is try and make it more of a personal connection for them, give them a reason to want to fight.

Perhaps alter the campaign so running suits the story line, kind of like Cyberpunk or a City Rat campaign. What RCC's/OCCs is the group comprised of ?
Not every character is a straight up brawler, I wouldn't expect that out of a Rogue Scientist, so IMO they shouldn't be penalized for coming up with creative escapes (and I see from above that you are not doing that). However, if you have a full conversion 'borg running at the first sight of danger simply because he/she doesn't want to damage their mdc body, or what ever ridiculous reason, then I think you should definitely talk to the group. I mean a full conversion 'borg/juicer/soldier is meant to fight that is kind of their role in the group. The healer heals, the mage casts and the fighters fight.

I applaud any group that chooses to solve an problem with brains/skills over firepower.

I'm currently GMing a Robotech group with three players new to Palladium and one experienced player. To prevent the Munchkin style and to prevent those new to the system from rolling up potatos I handled them a pile of pre-generated Zentradi character sheets, all fairly "balanced" but with some variety and let them pick.

Player composition is just as important as their characaters. If you as a GM can get inside your players heads when you are designing the adventure it will be more fun for both you and them. I've done D&D campaigns with the group before, one player will try to kill everything and anything, one is heavy into Roleplaying, one gets bored easy an and either livens up the session or kills it. the last is middle of the road. So I know exactly what Mr. Rambo and the Roleplayer will do in any situation. My job is to figure out what the other two players will do and write the adventure accordingly.

So sounds like there are at least four objectives that they should be concerned with based on what you wrote:

1. Finding the brother.
2. Clearing their name with the Coalition.
3. Finding a way back home to their own dimension.
4. Who/What brought them here and why.

That's a meaty pool to pull from. If this group is good at avoiding combat, maybe they'd be good at spy/stealth. Perhaps a more spy mission to find they info they seek would be the route to go. Perhaps along the way, they will learn more about the powers at play on Rifts Earth and find causes they want to champion. Oh, and maybe exploit the "Lost Family Member is actually the Bad Guy" trope.

If this group is good at avoiding combat, maybe they'd be good at spy/stealth. Perhaps a more spy mission to find they info they seek would be the route to go

I can dig on this. I think it might go like this. Party gets captured by the coalition, in order to clear their name they are given the ultimatum, work for us or die. Giving the game a suicide squad/mission impossible vibe. Then maybe they are put at odds when they finally come across the brother. Then facing he choice of side with the brother and truly become wanted criminals or kill the brother to seal their allegiance to the coaltion.