Surprise Attacks

Attacks that come unexpected to the target of those attacks.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

Winning strategies in the Diplomacy often hinges upon betraying an "ally" at a convenient point by doing a Surprise Attack on that "ally".

Game masters in Tabletop Roleplaying Games such as Dungeons & Dragons and GURPS can easily create Surprise Attacks for players in the form of traps or hidden monsters. Many times, however, players are given some chance to discover these to let characters with high perception help the group of adventurers.

In the first installment of the X-COM series, the player's characters could only see enemies in their line of sight. This could easily lead to Surprise Attacks if rooms where not completely searched or aliens had the opportunity to sneak up behind the characters.

Using the pattern

Can Be Instantiated By

Game Masters, Stealth, Traps, Ultra-Powerful Events

Fog of War or Imperfect Information in games with Combat

Can Be Modulated By

Flanking Routes, Sniper Locations

Consequences

Can Instantiate

Betrayal, Cut Scenes, Damage, Surprises, Tactical Planning, Tension,

Can Modulate

Combat

Potentially Conflicting With

Exaggerated Perception of Influence

Relations

Can Instantiate

Betrayal, Cut Scenes, Damage, Surprises, Tactical Planning, Tension,

Can Modulate

Combat

Can Be Instantiated By

Game Masters, Stealth, Traps, Ultra-Powerful Events

Fog of War or Imperfect Information in games with Combat

Can Be Modulated By

Flanking Routes, Sniper Locations

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

Exaggerated Perception of Influence

History

New pattern created for this wiki by Staffan Björk.

References

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Acknowledgements

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