„Zako / Sentry“ scenes have a powerful or especially capable fighter facing a small horde of lesser opponents, and usually end with the capable fighter mobbing the floor with the opposition. They are a common element in certain anime, movies and tv shows, and are popular with people that enjoy one sided fighting as well. The following chatfight rules allow two players to enjoy such a scene, while giving the zako (literally: „little fish“) a slim chance to perhaps win in the end.
The player of the powerful/capable fighter is called „Main Player“ in the following, and his character referred to as „Protagonist“ while the other is called „Zako Player“ and his host of minions are called „zako“ (which do not deserve a capital Z).
STAT SET UP: the Zako Player uses the “!set” command to create stats for 5 to 9 zako, with 10 points each. How many are used influences the length of the scene If time is short, 5 zako will do. While these may be given actual names (Zara, Mike, Wolfgang), that would not be much in the spirit of zako-play. Thereby, the Zako Player rather should name each minon after a prominent descripting element (Tall, Scarface, Whitesuit). As zako often have a uniform appearance and even may be masked, a mix of haircolour and hairstyle might be used (mohawk, piggytail, ponytail,ginger, etc) or the colour of their sash, which might be the only individual thing of their attire (blue, green, red, etc). Whatever floats your boat. If it is a scene that involves weapons, the zako may be named after the weapon they use (sai, bo, katana, jackknife, etc),
The Main Player sets the hitpoints (or whatever you folks like to call it) for the protagonist to [number of zako times eleven].
After the scene is agreed upon and set by both players, the Zako Player starts as the active player.
ACTIVE PLAYER >> ZAKO:
The Zako Player picks a zako for an attack by describing what the INTENT of the zako is and how the minion goes about it. If this is not the first attack of the Zako Player, it should be avoided to use the same zako twice (but this is not a hard rule). What follows is a game of rock-paper-scissor (abbreviated to RPS for the rest of the ext) with the Main Player.
VICTORY MAIN PLAYER: the Main Player describes how the attack of the zako is doged/blocked/countered by the protagonist and continues with the description of a counter attack by the protagonist. Then, the Main Player uses the !damage function against the attacking zako( e.g. !damage zako1) and the Zako player describes the impact on the zako (wound, reaction to the pain, how the zako is taken out or killed if it reduced the it to zero). The Main Player becomes the active player
DRAW: as above, but the Zako Player stays the active player and picks another zako that will launch an attack.
VICTORY ZAKO PLAYER: the attack was successful and the protagonist is hurt! The Zako Player uses the !damage function against the protagonist and The Main Player describes the impact/wound on the protagonist and how the character´s response. The Zako Player stays the active player and picks another zako that will launch an attack.
ACTIVE PLAYER: MAIN
The main player picks a zako to be attacked by the protagonist and describes the attack in the form of an intend. The, RPS is initiated with the Zake Player
VICTORY MAIN PLAYER: the protagonist deals !damage to the attacking zako, and the Zako Player describes the impact on the zako. The Main Player stays the active player
DRAW: as above, but a coin flip decides if the Zako Player becomes the active player again (happens on „tails“)
VICTORY ZAKO PLAYER: the attack was not successful. The Zako Player describes how the zako blocks, deflects or dodges the attack and then becomes the active player
VICTORY CONDITIONS: the Main Player wins when the all zako have been taken out, the Zako Player wins if the protagonist is taken out (and that is a BIG “if”).
OPTIONAL VARIANT: BOSS & BODYGUARDS
This rules variant is for scenes where the protagonist has the role of a hit man, and the zako that of the bodyguards of the target/victim that is also part of the scene. One of the zako is therefor replaced with a „boss“ (which still counts as a “zako” in all other regards of the rules) instead with a higher hit point stat (20 are suggested) The play ends when the boss-character of the Zako-Player is taken out. The rules are the same but for the following changes
ATTACK ON THE BOSS: an attack on the boss is only possible after an attack against a zako (bodyguard) was successful AND the Main Player still is the active player. The attack does not use RPS but the standard !attack function instead. After the attack (successful or not) the Zako Player becomes the active player again as the bodyguards rush in to defend their boss.
DRAW: when the Main Player is the active player an RPS results in a DRAW, the Zako Player automatically becomes the active player (no !coin flip).
Karla and her Gladiators
2022-09-10 15:51„Zako / Sentry“ scenes have a powerful or especially capable fighter facing a small horde of lesser opponents, and usually end with the capable fighter mobbing the floor with the opposition. They are a common element in certain anime, movies and tv shows, and are popular with people that enjoy one sided fighting as well. The following chatfight rules allow two players to enjoy such a scene, while giving the zako (literally: „little fish“) a slim chance to perhaps win in the end.
The player of the powerful/capable fighter is called „Main Player“ in the following, and his character referred to as „Protagonist“ while the other is called „Zako Player“ and his host of minions are called „zako“ (which do not deserve a capital Z).
STAT SET UP: the Zako Player uses the “!set” command to create stats for 5 to 9 zako, with 10 points each. How many are used influences the length of the scene If time is short, 5 zako will do. While these may be given actual names (Zara, Mike, Wolfgang), that would not be much in the spirit of zako-play. Thereby, the Zako Player rather should name each minon after a prominent descripting element (Tall, Scarface, Whitesuit). As zako often have a uniform appearance and even may be masked, a mix of haircolour and hairstyle might be used (mohawk, piggytail, ponytail,ginger, etc) or the colour of their sash, which might be the only individual thing of their attire (blue, green, red, etc). Whatever floats your boat. If it is a scene that involves weapons, the zako may be named after the weapon they use (sai, bo, katana, jackknife, etc),
The Main Player sets the hitpoints (or whatever you folks like to call it) for the protagonist to [number of zako times eleven].
After the scene is agreed upon and set by both players, the Zako Player starts as the active player.
ACTIVE PLAYER >> ZAKO:
The Zako Player picks a zako for an attack by describing what the INTENT of the zako is and how the minion goes about it. If this is not the first attack of the Zako Player, it should be avoided to use the same zako twice (but this is not a hard rule). What follows is a game of rock-paper-scissor (abbreviated to RPS for the rest of the ext) with the Main Player.
VICTORY MAIN PLAYER: the Main Player describes how the attack of the zako is doged/blocked/countered by the protagonist and continues with the description of a counter attack by the protagonist. Then, the Main Player uses the !damage function against the attacking zako( e.g. !damage zako1) and the Zako player describes the impact on the zako (wound, reaction to the pain, how the zako is taken out or killed if it reduced the it to zero). The Main Player becomes the active player
DRAW: as above, but the Zako Player stays the active player and picks another zako that will launch an attack.
VICTORY ZAKO PLAYER: the attack was successful and the protagonist is hurt! The Zako Player uses the !damage function against the protagonist and The Main Player describes the impact/wound on the protagonist and how the character´s response. The Zako Player stays the active player and picks another zako that will launch an attack.
ACTIVE PLAYER: MAIN
The main player picks a zako to be attacked by the protagonist and describes the attack in the form of an intend. The, RPS is initiated with the Zake Player
VICTORY MAIN PLAYER: the protagonist deals !damage to the attacking zako, and the Zako Player describes the impact on the zako. The Main Player stays the active player
DRAW: as above, but a coin flip decides if the Zako Player becomes the active player again (happens on „tails“)
VICTORY ZAKO PLAYER: the attack was not successful. The Zako Player describes how the zako blocks, deflects or dodges the attack and then becomes the active player
VICTORY CONDITIONS: the Main Player wins when the all zako have been taken out, the Zako Player wins if the protagonist is taken out (and that is a BIG “if”).
OPTIONAL VARIANT: BOSS & BODYGUARDS
This rules variant is for scenes where the protagonist has the role of a hit man, and the zako that of the bodyguards of the target/victim that is also part of the scene. One of the zako is therefor replaced with a „boss“ (which still counts as a “zako” in all other regards of the rules) instead with a higher hit point stat (20 are suggested) The play ends when the boss-character of the Zako-Player is taken out. The rules are the same but for the following changes
ATTACK ON THE BOSS: an attack on the boss is only possible after an attack against a zako (bodyguard) was successful AND the Main Player still is the active player. The attack does not use RPS but the standard !attack function instead. After the attack (successful or not) the Zako Player becomes the active player again as the bodyguards rush in to defend their boss.
DRAW: when the Main Player is the active player an RPS results in a DRAW, the Zako Player automatically becomes the active player (no !coin flip).
Happy Fighting!
Karla and her Gladiators
2022-09-11 10:05(In reply to this)
Oh! I forgot a "change" to the "BOSS & BODYGUARD".
Zako -should- get 12 hit points each (it becomes more unlikely to take them out with one hit, and it MIGHT need three blows to remove one)
When there are no bodyguard-zako left, the rules for "Attack the Boss" do no longer apply.