--- In wushurpg@..., "Aaron Smith" <blackcat@m...> wrote:
> Hey all. I"m looking for a little advice for how to handle big nemsis
> fights with my PC's all in a group. I'm not sure how to keep the fight
> going long enough to involve everyone... Either I give the nemsis a
> HUGE amount of Chi, or I work out some way that the nemsis fights each
> of the PC's at the same time with the same amount of chi... I'm really
> not sure. What's folks experience with this? Ideas? Opinions?

I've tried most of the tactics used below at one time or another:

1) Nemesis defends and attacks all PCs simultaneously. I used this one
with a sorceror nemesis last weekend. He was floating off the ground,
encased in a bubble of negative energy that could absorb or deflect any
and all attacks up to whatever dice successes he had allocated as yang.
The sorceror also attacked with area attack magicks, so that all PCs
were engaged in both attacking and defending simultaneously with the
nemesis. Note, that the sorcerors actions were rolled and a single die
roll with yin/yang allocation was made each round, then applied against
all PCs.

2) Nemesis defends against all, but attacks only one at a time. You've
seen this kind of thing - the musketeer who holds off a virtual army
simultaneously with lightning parries and dodges, but only skewering a
single adversary at a time. Nemesis rolls dice - allocated yin dice are
applied against all PCs, but yang dice can only be applied to one -
usually whoever seems most threatening.

3)Nemesis attacks and defends against one at a time. I tend to avoid
this one, as a group of PCs can take the nemesis down easily unless he
uses special tactics. (such as those mentioned below).

4)Nemesis automatically regenerates a chi point each round. This is
directly based on the old werewolf regenerating rapidly schtick.

5) Memesis does lifedrain. For every succesful hit against a PC's chi,
nemesis replaces one point of his or her own lost chi.

6)Nemesis harries PCs with mooks. PCs get to choose whether they are
attacking the nemesis or the mooks, but they must defend against mook
attacks regardless or take a mook hit - usually a fixed number of yin
successes per round need to be allocated, which reduces the amount of
yang dice the players can throw at the nemesis.

7)Nemesis fights, but PCs must cope with environmental problems. Pcs
must defend as per above against a fixed environmental threat - such as
pumice falling from above during a volcanic eruption or a collapsing
building. I also apply this to things like slippery ice, fighting while
hanging off the side of mountains and the such - in this case, if the
players would normally lose a point of chi, they instead take an
environmental setback (you lose your balance and slide across the ice,
you lose your grip on the cliff-face, etc).

8)Nemesis fights, but PCs are plagued by a distracting time limit. For
instance , the Nemesis, who can breathe underwater, drags the PCs down
with itself. The PCs are forced to seek air every three rounds or lose
a point of chi to drowning. Or, the Pcs are fighting in space, but
only have a certain amount of air left in their suits,. Or the PCs are
trying to stop a core meltdown, and must reach the reactor before a
certain time has elapsed - and there may also be a serious radiation
threat to deal with. In any case, while fighting the nemesis they must
deal with some other urgent time-limited need.

9) Nemesis fights but hides behind a different target. In an upcoming
game, I intend to use a possession demon that on the death of its host
will transfer to another body and start again with the chi of that
person. Think "The Hidden" or "Fallen". It may take a little while for
the PCs to catch on that killing the temporarily supernaturally
enhanced vessel does not kill the demon - for that they need a Taoist
ritual...
As another aspect of this, what if the nemesis possesses a PC? The
other PCs don't want to kill him, but do need to stop him so that the
ritual can be performed. This can be fun, having the nemesis actually
being a PC that needs to kept alive.

10) Nemesis fights, but triggers an escape plan before losing all chi.
This is best suited to Pulp-Fu type villians. The nemesis falls against
the wall, supposedly pummelled into submission - then he smirks as he
touches a button and drops through a trap door as the room that the PCs
were fighting in turns into some kind of (escapable) death trap.
Needless to say, the nemesis will return again in some future chapter
of the Exploits of.....

11) Nemesis has unholy amount of Chi - Reserved for truly over the top
villians - like Godzilla....

Hope this helps...Just ask if you want me to give more examples of any
of them...

Escherwolf