[FtA!] Stunts before or after melee?

[RPGPundit]

So, in FtA! the GM can choose to either allow the stunt phase before or after the melee phase.

This choice make a big difference, in my experience, in how the game will end up "feeling".

If you put melee before stunts, then the game will be closer to the old-school D&D feel; stunts will still be something cool, but they will be mostly the domain of either rogues or those who cannot do anything else that round (ie. if your character is not in a melee range of an opponent, and can't cast a spell or fire an arrow, but wants to help the team anyways).

On the other hand, putting stunts first before combat make stunts a far more prominent feature in the game.  The combat in the game will then become one with way more special maneuvers, people trying to do all kinds of special actions to disable opponents in order that they cannot get a shot in during the melee phase. This instantly changes the feel of the game into something much  less "old school"; but maybe more appealing to people who want a game of being able to do really cool stuff in combat on a regular basis, more swashbuckling, even (dare I say it) wuxia-like, and about creativity. A party might choose as a team that they have a better chance out-stunting an opponent that is closely matched to them than just out-bashing.

Which of these two kinds of play do you prefer?

RPGPundit

[flyingmice]

Which of these two kinds of play do you prefer?

RPGPundit

I have no preferences, being for the far greater part a GM, but my players preferred the stunts before combat. Kids!

-clash

[Skyrock]

Definitively stunts first. Straightforward clobbery is something that I can have everywhere else, while stunts are really a cool idea that deserve a place where they especially shine.

I could live with melee first, however, though IMHO it would play less to the strengths of FtA.

[Nicephorus]

Stunts first.  
 
I've thought about but not tried an optional rule to make play extra cinematic.  You can do a stunt in place of a move - if you don't move you can stunt and then melee/missile/spell without penalty.  This would give it an action movie or martial arts movie feel where characters can do a trick or maneuver and then immediately take advantage of it in their attack.

[flyingmice]

Stunts first.  
 
I've thought about but not tried an optional rule to make play extra cinematic.  You can do a stunt in place of a move - if you don't move you can stunt and then melee/missile/spell without penalty.  This would give it an action movie or martial arts movie feel where characters can do a trick or maneuver and then immediately take advantage of it in their attack.

That's how I ran it, due to the kids' demands. And it was, indeed, cinematic and tres cool. Not very old-skool, but nostalgia finds no place in my heart. It actually answered every problem I had with old-skool combat.

-clash