Friendly Fire Rules?

[michaelcurtis]

I wish I could claim the credit. Sadly I can't remember who I borrowed this idea from, but I have to say it's made the whole process a lot quicker and simpler.

I stole my use of it from Finaryn when he mentioned it was his method over on the OD&D Discussion forum. I don't know if it was his own creation or, like so much else in the hobby, it came from somewhere else and just spread.

[Mr.Joel]

At 50/50 odds like that, it's completely nuts to fire into melee, indeed. I use a lower chance partly because the combat round is so long: it's not as if the shooter is plunking at two guys wrestling. They're five or six feet apart, circling, etc.

More importantly, it keeps all the players involved. Character types who should really not be up there at sword range still get a chance to help take down the foes, instead of standing around watching. YMMV

[Geldor]

Have any of you tried an aiming rule?
If the shooter spends one round aiming carefully, he will get a bonus to hit or might be able to shoot into melee with no ill consequence?

That sounds good. Even if they arent firing into combat- an extra round spent aiming gets a bonus "to hit".

It seems I do similar to many here:
-2 missile fire To Hit penalty if you are not a bow specialist firing into melee
if you miss, then there is a 50% chance of accidentally targeting a friendly

Taking a your initiative for one round to aim negates the penalty, but if you miss, the same 50% applies. If you are a specialist, then you actually get a +2 To Hit!