Equal-standing combat, how to fix?

[Discipol]

Think of two melee warriors each with Weapons 4. Assume they have no fate points left and have 4 physical stress boxes with empty consequences.

Now run a simulation of them fighting. There are basically in a stand still, as only the dice determines who gets a stronger/weaker attack and a weaker/stronger defense.

I had a PC and an NPC fighting in a duel in this way and after 5 rounds, no stress was taken. Which made the duel silly.

How can I fix this situation?

[sinker]

If they are tied and had weapons (which I guess they ought to, since they are using the weapon skill) then they should still have been doing the weapon values to each other. I guess if they tied a lot and don't have weapons then a smart thing for either to do would be to start maneuvering. Set up two fragile aspects on the other person and then tag them to get a decisive advantage.

Seems odd to me that the defender continuously won. If they had weapons then that would be the only situation in which no stress could possibly be taken. I'd call that a fluke rather than a design flaw.

[Haru]

Like sinker said, as soon as there is a tie on the roll, the defender gets 4 stress from the weapon. The defender can't benefit from his weapon, unless maybe with a stunt. For the attacker, the weapon only gets added to the stress, if his attack succeeds (or at least connects), it does not get added to the attack roll.

If you already did all that, and the defender always won, then that was one (un-)lucky fight. Maneuvers are the way to go, changing the pace of the fight, when the opponent is of equal strength.

[Wookinstien]

Perhaps the two combatants relize they are equals and retire to the nearest neutral terrority for a beer and parlay?

[Taran]

I agree.  maneuvers to set up a big hit.  Maneuvers also add some flavour to the combat as opposed to, "I attack...again."  Getting your opponent to have to defend with athletics, endurance by kicking "dirt in your eyes" or even setting up navel-gazing maneuvers like "high ground" or "I'm not really left handed!"

[Rubycon]

Yeah, that's the point. The DFRPG assumes that you describe what you are doing and that your description has consequences for the game. So two combantants just rolling dices can be assumed to just stand still and swinging their weapons. This is of course not very smart and not very entertaining. But just describing your moves, making assessments (because of the lack of fate points) and using generated aspects to ones advantage makes the fight interesting and what's mor, the more creative fighter will win...

[DFJunkie]

Don't forget Declarations.  Unless their sheets are mirror images of each other there should be room for a creative player to leverage other skills for an advantage over the enemy.

Also, you as the GM have the option to use Endurance to modify or even limit their Weapons skills as the combat drags on. 

[TheMouse]

Either both of those guys are specced for defense, or they're both rolling well for defense/poorly for offense.

If they're pretty well balanced in terms of offense and defense, it seems odd that they keep missing each other. Ties after all go to the attacker. So if they're fairly matched but both missing, something odd is going on in terms of dice probabilities.

Someone else suggested taking a, "You're a worthy opponent. Come! Let us drink as [men/ women/ intersexed individuals/ asexual individuals/ sapient conglomerates] do!" approach. Unless the two have a real hate-on for each other, this is a great way to change gears. An appreciative audience can fill the same role if this makes sense.

[mstorer3772]

It also sounds like neither was spending fate points on their (or each other's) aspects.  When fate points start flowing it comes down to who has more points to spend and more aspects that apply.

[TheMouse]

It also sounds like neither was spending fate points on their (or each other's) aspects.

... You might want to re-read the second sentence of the OP.

[devonapple]

... You might want to re-read the second sentence of the OP.

tl:dr fail

[Richard_Chilton]

Maneuvers.

If neither are connecting then the first to pull a maneuver (which he tags in the following round for a +2) will probably connect and do the 4 stress from the weapon - possibly another 1 or 2 because of the better attack roll.  4 - 6 stress usually leads to a consequence - something that can be tagged next round for another hit.

So after a round of "I attack, and nothing" Bill does a maneuver, then Ted does one. Assuming they roll the same: Bill tags the maneuver and hits for 5 stress causing Ted to take a consequence.  Ted does the same.  Bill then tags the consequence for a second hit.  Ted says ditto - or does a maneuver to give him a head start in the foot race that's about to happen - because if it's hit/hit then (all things being equal) Ted loses.  Or maybe he concedes.

Edited to add:
Okay, I give up.  What kind of melee weapon has a weapon 4 rating?

Richard

[polkaneverdies]

I thought weapons 4 meant their respective skill levels.

[gojj]

Edited to add:
Okay, I give up.  What kind of melee weapon has a weapon 4 rating?

One-handed sword with Inhuman Strength? OP never said the weapon's by themselves were weapon 4, just that the warriors had weapon 4, I bit oddly worded but I assume that either his warriors have Inhuman strength or he's just throwing out numbers as an example.

[Edit: I misread Op's first post as well, and now feel quite dumb]

[admiralducksauce]

I actually HAD a combat much like this in a PbP game.

(In-character thread gets going here.  OOC thread that accompanies it starts here.  Principals are "Falco" and "Keyes" and their posts are typically marked with the "Team Cocoa" header.  They are mechanically even in melee combat and due to Compels aren't using firearms.)

Both combatants burned through their FP really quickly and the fight slowed down significantly.  There were definitely some exchanges of pure whiffing, but on the whole it came down to one combatant suffering all their consequence slots, and one combatant suffering all but ONE consequence slot.  Even though the fight took a while in the PbP format, I think such a battle on the tabletop would be tense as hell.  And in reading the PbP posts again, I couldn't make up a better resolution for that fight.