Rules Hack - Tactical Combat

I've been playing Age of Decadence recently -- the combat demo -- and realizing how fluid the combat system is while still being highly tactical.  Combats don't take long at all, and the winner is determined in the same way as in traditional pen n' paper RPGs: a die roll modified by stats and skills. 


 Age of Decadence itself promises to be a fantastic game, somewhere on the order of Fallout meets Baldur's Gate, and the combat system alone is well done.

There's something to be said about the tactical environment.  While I don't care for 3E's or 4E's version of that, I can think of ways that combat can be made more interesting than just a bonus here or a wearing down of your foe's hit points.

I began thinking about how to easily port the same system into D&D, and realized that I'd have to radically change the initiative model.  Action points in this game can allow multiple attacks.

Spot Rules:
1) Use DEX to figure out "Action Points," which would be determined by the Ability Score bonus.  

Everyone has at least 1 Action Point. 

AD&D/D&D3:
14-15      2 APs
16-17      3 APs
  18         4 APs

Basic D&D:
For basic, you simply add 1 to the Ability Score bonus.
13-15      2 APs
16-17      3 APs
  18    4 APs     

Action points are modified by the following:
Using a light weapon      -1
Using a medium weapon -2
Using a heavy weapon    -3

Generally lighter weapons do less damage.  Medium weapons do a moderate amount of damage.  A heavy weapon usually requires two hands, and does the most damage. 

Wearing armor can slow you down as well:
Wearing no armor  0
Wearing light armor -1 (leather)
Wearing medium armor -2 (chain)
Wearing heavy armor -3 (plate)

You will never go below 1 AP. 

It costs 1 AP to attack someone. Therefore, someone who has an 18 DEX, uses a light weapon and wears no armor can attack 3 times in a single round. 

2) You may want to double or triple hit point values, to avoid insta-kills in this system.

3) You have four things to take into account, hitting, critical hits, dodging, and blocking with a shield.

 A critical hit is that telling blow that allows something special, like knocking you down or interrupting your attack.
Dodging is getting out of the way of a blow.
Blocking is putting up your shield in hopes of deflecting a blow.

A D&D character in this system would rank these four things in order of priority, higher numbers mean you want to focus on that action more.  Dodging and Blocking are special in that they're mutually exclusive.  A shield will do nothing unless you are blocking, but if your dodge is a higher priority you will dodge instead.  You can dodge and hit in the same round, as a defense costs 0 action points.  So, a typical character might look like this:
4   Hit
3   Dodge
2   Critical
1   Block

This means he wants to hit most of all, but he also wants to dodge a lot.  Criticals are less important to him, and he won't be using a shield.

So, to translate these numbers:
To hit: +4 to hit
Dodge: +3 to AC
Critical: 18-20 (20 - Critical Priority)

Note that "Hit" is only to hit, not damage.

As a defense is separated from the Action Point system, you might wish to allow Dodge and Block to be performed on a successful Ability Check, rather than having them add to AC.

4)  Next we focus on weapons.  Each weapon has something that it does on a critical hit: 
Daggers - x1.5 damage (bypassing armor).
Swords - +1 to Critical Strike, x2 damage on critical.
Axes - split shields, if no shield x2 damage.
Hammers - knock your opponent to the ground.
Spears - interrupt attempts to close in.
Bows - +2 to Critical Strike, x1.5 damage on critical.
Crossbows - knock your opponent down.
Thrown Weapons - x1.5 damage (bypassing armor).

5) One square of movement is going to cost 1 AP.  So if you have 4 APs and you move 4 Squares, that's it for that round.  You must wait til next round to attack.  You may still defend, however, as that takes 0 APs.

Will this flow as well as traditional D&D combat?  I dunno.  I can't imagine that it would take that much longer to complete.  I wonder if it's workable...
 

Yay! Another Meme!

Perpetuating the meme I found over at Save or Die!, here's my 15 games in 15 minutes:

1. D&D - the boxed B/X and BECM, starting with Moldvay and moving to Mentzer.
2. Gamma World 1st Edition
3. Palladium Games, particularly TMNT, Fantasy, and Heroes Unlimited
4. Feng Shui
5. WoD (old), particularly Vampire and Mage, for better or for ill.
6. Warhammer FRP (1E)
7. Risus
8. Atlantean Trilogy
9. Gothic II (since I'm an avid video gamer)
10. Drakensang (another CRPG, itself based on a P&P rpg)
11. Risen (another CRPG)
12. The Fantasy Trip (first Melee, then Wizard, and then Labyrinth)
13. Baldur's Gate & Torment (more CRPGs, this time based on D&D)
14. GURPS (3e)
15. The HERO System (particularly Champions 1st-3rd editions)

This list could be a lot longer, but 15 was the rule.  I've also been influenced by Ars Magica, Fading Suns, Theatrix, Riddle of Steel, Sorcerer, etc.  The sad thing is that some weren't necessarily all good -- the World of Darkness in particularly seemed almost a parody of itself over time (look at me...I'm so dark).  And some (like Risus or Feng Shui) I wish I could play more.  

Some of them are computer games, as I've long held that some video games have content in them that need to be ported over to the pen n' paper genre.  Of course, this can be way over the top.  I have little love for MMOs or RTS games.  Those games are the way they are for a specific reason, and while I am familiar with them, I don't think they necessarily need to influence much in the way of gameplay.  Flavor?  Yes.  Gameplay?  Unlikely.

Others have pointed how 4E is like an MMO.  While I won't get into that here, it makes me wonder if that's why I don't care for 4E?  I've tried MMOs and mostly what they seem to be is quite pretty Roguelikes.  This isn't to say Roguelikes aren't fun, but I don't have fun with 'em for very long anymore.  

It's interesting to see what you can glean about others from looking at their lists. 

Drakensang vs. Dragon Age

After my laptop died, I didn't hold much hope for computer gaming, but my wife kindly let me install some games, so I can while away some time here and there, having some good high-tech fun.


I installed Drakensang, in a wistful fit, revisiting the world and making different choices.  During combat, I had a few epiphanies that made me realize that another game I own, Dragon Age: Origins, was completely inspired by other things, and that it was so transparent it hadn't hit me until now.


Everyone who owns Dragon Age: Origins who is a fan of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series knows that the computer game is highly derivative of that series, especially if you play a Human Noble.  The betrayal of the King by one house that has designs on the throne, the eradication of other houses loyal to the King, an organization dedicated to fighting back the forces of darkness, etc.  Almost slavishly derivative.  I didn't have a chance to replay before my laptop died, but I finished one game, so I got a chance to experience everything first hand.


What hit me playing Drakensang is that combat in Dragon Age is identical, and yet Drakensang was out for several months before Dragon Age went gold.  Here are the similarities:


1) The auto-pause option to issue orders.  Not unusual in and of itself, but taken with everything else it tends to look bad for EA...


2) Once you issue your orders and unpause the game and your orders are carried out in realtime.


3) Everyone has a few special abilities that can be brought to bear on the foe.  These options can be trained and new options are bought in a skill tree fashion, where once you have one combat ability new ones are automatically unlocked.


4)  Characters can fall unconscious during combat if they take enough damage, and if everyone falls unconscious the game is over.


5) When the characters who fell unconscious get back up, they have wounds that must be healed manually, usually by some manner of "Treat Wounds" skill or similar.  Unhealed wounds cause penalties to everything, particularly fighting. 


Both games have all 5 things there in common.  So, not only did one of Dragon Age's stories come straight out of fiction, its game play came straight from another video game!


True, there are some things about Dragon Age, the interactions among the characters, that were truly humorous and in many cases genuinely moving, and in a few cases outright disturbing.  I have to give it kudos there.  Few other games I've seen captivated me like Dragon Age.  Other games that gave me similar "must play" compulsions were Redguard, Arena, and Morrowind.


But this new revelation has challenged my belief in the creativity of the designers.  Was it intentional?  I dunno, I've come up with original mechanics and settings only to see them surface in published works weeks, months, or even years after the fact.  But, on the other hand, I'm not under a deadline, and I game for the love of it, not money or any other discernible reason.


I'm not saying that there is a clear case of plagiarism, but I'm merely musing about it.  It's a question I will probably never have an answer to.