Combating Combat - Building The Mechanics

Biggus Geekus

Episode 166 Streamed Live Tuesday November 21, 2023

Main Topic: Combating Combat -Things to consider as you design a combat system for a fantasy TTRPG.

What kinds of feel or experience do you want combat to give?

Frenetic, fog of war, cinematic/heroic action, gritty blood-n-bone combat, other?

Emulation vs. Simulation
Need to decide if BALANCE is important, and HOW to handle it

Complexity can often stall the game.

How “old-school” do you go? (all attacks do d6, weapon vs. armor, speed factor, phases)
How should the offense and defense capabilities interact?

D&D: AC, attack roll, damage rolls vs HPS

Armor as DR, wounds vs vitality

Simplified comparison: combat skill vs defensive skill/opposed rolls.

Include a separate Dodge/Parry/Block/Evade mechanic?

How many actions does a character get per turn? And how does it affect combat

Movement: double moves, running, AOO’s, withdrawals

Attack: melee, range, spell, number of attacks,

Other types: speaking, opening a door, interacting with an object.

Do actions effect initiative order?
Character types and limitations if any in combat.

Armor and weapon limitations.

Combat skill limitations.

Who gets to be good at what?

Can wizards wear armor and cast spells?

Can warriors sneak around?

Spell disruption (OSR vs 3.X vs 13th age)
Fear of Magic dominance

How does the initiative system interact with combat?

Is it turn-based? Side initiative (OSR), individual (3.X, Savage Worlds), # actions based on speed (GURPS/Hackmaster/Shadowrun), He who starts the fight goes first/free form, highest roll goes first then around the table in clockwise order (horde Wars)

How important is it?

OTHER considerations:

Setting and Rules often feed into each other.

If the game is mainly about combat, then perhaps the combat system should be robust and detailed.

If the game is meant to be about the story that gets told around the table, then maybe the system needs to be more fluid with interchangeable pieces to increase or decrease complexity in the system.
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