Put up your dukes, Ryan and Charles are getting scrappy.

In honour of Boxing Day, Charles wanted to know more about how melee combat works in Essence20. Ryan breaks down the rules, melee’s purpose in the system, some good options for melee builds, and the origin of the melee weapon rules.

Listen Now! (mp3)

Video

Show Notes

As Indiana Jones demonstrated, if you had a gun, why would you use a sword? What is the importance of melee in a game with guns and lasers?

Topic: Melee in Essence 20

The Essence 20 system has a great number of Melee options across all of the worlds that it covers. What does Melee give us? 

Melee In Essence20

• Might and Finesse.
• Ranged attacks in melee.
• Grappling. 

Why is Melee important to have?

• Every soldier carries a knife.
• Critical to the settings.
• More dramatic than guns. 
• A wider range of options for players.
• Sometimes a sword is better.
• Ninjas.

Good examples of Melee focused characters:

• Power Rangers: Every Power Ranger.
• G.I. JOE: Storm Shadow, Jinx, Sgt. Slaughter, Big Boa. Rocky?
• Transformers: Devastator, Bludgeon. The Dinobots.
• My Little Pony: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Big Mac. 
• Why are they Iconic?

Melee Roles

• What makes a good Melee Role?
  • Perks
  • Essence Score Boosts
• Power Rangers: Black, Green, Red, Yellow, Path of Flame, Purple 
• G.I. JOE: Commando, Renegade, Ranger, Vanguard
• Transformers: Analyst, Modemaster, Scientist, Warrior
• My Little Pony: Spirit of Loyalty

Melee weapons

• The evolution of melee weapons

Shout Outs

• G.I.Joe Headcast: https://www.youtube.com/@G.I.Joe_Headcast The Energon Protocols with Erik Smith
• Thank you Patrons for keeping our lights on.
• Thank you Wordburglar for the use of Letters From Snake Eyes part 4.

Although Ryan works for Renegade Game Studios, this podcast and the network that hosts it are not affiliated with Renegade Game Studios.