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DefKab
2012-03-27, 08:01 AM
Ok, so, I'm working on a homebrew system focused on variable tactical combat. Three 'supported' formats are Army, Squad, and Hero. Each should be self explanatory... These are supported only in that they're the specific examples I'll give. The system itself has a build up/build down rules mechanic to allow it to be one Hero fighting, or a whole army, and absolutely anywhere inbetween to play it your way.
I'm gonna start putting up my ideas as this is entirely brand new, and I ask for feedback and critique, especially on mechanics.
The one thing I've developed will be the framework for the combat system, and it's dependant on initiative. Lemme explain, starting with the core mechanic.

The core mechanic is simple: d10 dice pool. An attribute determines the number of dice to roll, and another designates the number to be under. The number to be under is called the Target Number, and is ranged 1-10. Each die hits the TN seperately. The number of times you need to reach the TN is called the Number of Successes. Say you have 5d10 to use searching an area. Your TN to find something is 4, relatively hard, and the NoS to find something is 1, because if you find it, you find it. For each success you have above the NoS, you get a bonus, such as finding more and more stuff. Simple, right?

This example should explain the differences between Army, Squad, and Hero rules, at least as they're intended, and maybe I can get some feedback on the actual initiative system itself. Lets start with Armies. The lawyerspeak mumbo jumbo for initiative is as follows: Initiative is determined by rolling a number of d10's intending to hit the TN of 6. The number of dice rolled is equal to the number of squads in your army. There is no NoS. The Army with the least Successes will declare first, followed by second least. Break ties in any way that seems fitting. The number of successes determines how many ways your actions are broken. 5 success means you can (but dont have to) break your Armies Actions into 5 Blocks. The Army with the least number of successes has Initiative, and declares all actions for the Block on Initiative count 5. After all actions are completed, the next Army with priority declares actions on Count 5. Play proceeds around until every Army passes, or uses all remaining actions. Then play repeats for Count 4. On every count other than 5, any army with a Block (earned by successes) remaining may declare an interrupt. When an interrupt is declared, that Army then declares all actions to use. After actions have been resolved, play resumes until every Army has passed on Initiative Count 1.

Thats the rules speak, but it doesnt explain much. Lemme try an example.

It's you and I in combat, I have six squads in my Army, and you have 4. Initiative is called, and we roll a number of d10's equal to our squads. I roll six, you roll 4, and we each try to get under 6, the TN. I end up rolling 4 Successes, and you got 3. As the least number of successes, You have priority, and 3 blocks to use your actions. Count 5 comes up (its the first count) and you declare no actions, biding time for your loss. I also pass on Count 5. Count 4, you pass again, daring me to go first. I take this opportunity to take one of my blocks to make some minor move. Count goes to three. Now that I'm in the open, you strike, declaring a massive move and attack on my moved squad. I use another block to declare an interrupt, taking actions before you to move my squad out of harms way. Since your action was declared, you charge out and find nothing to attack. Actions resolved, Priority passes to me. For my third block, I take advantage of your hubris, and move the remainder of my Army into attack position. Attacks are made, and casualties are taken. At the end of count 3, I have 1 block, but no actions, and you have 2 blocks, but no actions. The round concludes.

It took a lot to say, but I'm hoping it'll be almost second nature in game. As combat should be quick an lethal, even a skirmish between Armies should be resolved in hours. Obviously, those rules above would be a little more exciting with several armies in play, as is the hope...

For Squad, the rules are mostly the same. Squad mechanics have each squadmember a little more fleshed out than Armies, where every soldier is nothing more than a gun. Squadmembers in this example have an Awareness skill, which determines things like perception checks, and in this case, initiative. Initiative would go as such;
Each squad will individually roll for initiative. Each Squad will pick one Member's awareness skill. That skill rank will become the TN for initiative. The number of dice rolled is the number of members in the squad. The number of successes determines the number of Blocks, as above, while this time, the lowest TN with at least one success is the Squad that has priority. Combat proceeds as above.

What this means is you have two options. You can either try to go first by getting a lower TN than the opponents, or you can prepare more interrupts by scoring more successes. Remember, interrupts cannot be declared on Count 5, so players with priority should act then to take advatage of the first shot.

If all that makes since, things get even more advanced when each player has an individual Hero to command around...

A Hero is a fully fleshed out Squadmember of an Army. He has skills aplenty, and deals in the most advanced of rulesets. All classic RPG abilities are now open, such as social interaction, and character developement.
Because of this advanced ruleset, the Awareness Skill has branched out to become the Awareness Tree, which contain at least the skills Initiative, Reaction, and Perception.
Initiative here works a little different. The TN for initiative is his Skill Rank, while the number of dice he rolls is determined by his Initiative Skills 'supporting attribute', like Dexterity, or Intelligence. The number of successes he gets now becomes the number of Reactions he can make. Each Hero has a set number of action points. Lets say ten. On count five, the hero with priority can go first, and unlike before, reactions may be taken immediately. A reaction is declared after any other Hero's actions are declares. The reacting Hero then attempts to roll under his Reaction rank, scoring as many successes as action points he is using. If he succeeds, his actions are resolved first, and modifiers may then apply to the Hero with Priority's action. If he fails, his actions take place immediately after the Priority's actions, and may suffer modifier from IT's actions. So, taking a reaction to shoot a Hero after he pops out of cover could either succeed, throwing off the other Hero's aim, or fail, wasting the shot after the hero has popped back into cover, and taking a shot yourself. Reactions can be declared in between actions (such as after the Priority had popped out of cover) and in response to other reactions (such as Priority's buddy taking a potshot on Priority's now exposed target.) The Hero with priority may not declare an interrupt (dodging talents may modify this rule.)

Does any of this make sense? Am I babbling inanities? Does anyone see any flaws with any of the above systems? Hypotheticals are a must.
I thank you for reading all of this.

Glimbur
2012-03-27, 07:22 PM
So, the larger an Army is, the more dice it rolls for initiative, so the better chance it has at being more maneuverable and acting later in the round (which is good). That's strange.

In Squads, again a larger squad can interrupt more and act later.

You don't really have a system yet. You have a mechanic (roll Xd10, roll under and tally successes) but you don't have the ability to resolve... anything except initiative.

Star with the question of what you want the system to be able to resolve. RISUS (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm) can deal with anything by the simple expedient of huge abstraction. GURPS can deal with (mostly) anything via a plethora of rules. Wuthering Heights (http://www.unseelie.org/rpg/wh/index.html) can deal with Rage, Despair, and ennui because that are what the rules cover.

It looks like you're intending to build a war game, so read up on Warhammer Fantasy and 40K, Flames of War, Warmachine, and War War War War. (I made that last one up, but it fits the theme). See what they do that you like and don't like, and go from there.

DefKab
2012-03-28, 02:53 PM
So, the larger an Army is, the more dice it rolls for initiative, so the better chance it has at being more maneuverable and acting later in the round (which is good). That's strange.

In Squads, again a larger squad can interrupt more and act later.

You don't really have a system yet. You have a mechanic (roll Xd10, roll under and tally successes) but you don't have the ability to resolve... anything except initiative.

Star with the question of what you want the system to be able to resolve. RISUS (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm) can deal with anything by the simple expedient of huge abstraction. GURPS can deal with (mostly) anything via a plethora of rules. Wuthering Heights (http://www.unseelie.org/rpg/wh/index.html) can deal with Rage, Despair, and ennui because that are what the rules cover.

It looks like you're intending to build a war game, so read up on Warhammer Fantasy and 40K, Flames of War, Warmachine, and War War War War. (I made that last one up, but it fits the theme). See what they do that you like and don't like, and go from there.

Agreed, on all parts.

Dealing with the 'strange' initiatives. Yes, larger groups have more manueverability. This is intentional. It's an obvious way to show that a larger army has a better chance at winning. I do plan to offset this. Many rules will allow for a small team to gain the upper hand, such as stealth rules for guerilla tactics, and the ability to act first should also be a major advantage, as you can pop out, attack, and then hide again before the major army has time to react (since you can't interrupt on Count 5.)

And you're also correct, I only have one mechanic. I've attempted to develope this before, to no avail. Setting in this one mechanic, however, provides the framework for the rest of the system. Now that I know how actions are resolved, I can gather how the actions work, what they are, the numerics for it, and how they fit into the Initiative. For instance, I'll need a chart that shows some example actions a Hero can perform, and how many action points they each take up. With that, I can develope the rules to use these actions, and with those inplace, hopefully I can flesh it out at the end with CharGen...

Again, yes... All of those RPG's you listed (with the exception of RISUS) are sources of inspiration for me. Several others, as well, as I'm looking throughout to find the best mechanics to do what I'm hoping to do...

Maybe I should call this War War War War....

DefKab
2012-03-31, 04:13 PM
I've decided to make a few changes to the initiative mechanic to suit how I want things to play. In both Army and Squad version, now only the team with Priority is uninteruptable. As such, there is no longer a count. Team with Priority goes, then every team beyond that can go. Interrupts can also interrupt other interrupts.
I'm wanting play to kinda look like this. Team 1 has priority, with 4 squads. He has 3 blocks to spend. He dedicates 2 squads to suppressive fire on Team 2's Army. He declares exit out of cover (to improve accuracy), automatic fire, and entrance into cover. Because cover is extremely important, the bullets will suppress, but are unlikely to hit. Team 2 goes next. With 6 squads, and 4 blocks, he's pretty well off. He sends 3 squads down the hill to advance on Team 1. He declares a move, entrance into cover, and then automatic fire on Team 1's position. Team 1 declares Interrupt, using a block, and places it after Team 2's move, and before his entrance into cover. He declares exit out of cover and automatic fire using his final two squads. The interupt costs Team 1 the final action to return into cover. Team 2 then declares an interrupt, and places it after Team 1 exits cover. His remaining squads exit cover, and lays precision fire on the now exposed Team 1.
Actions resolves, Team 2 advances, Team 1 pops out of cover, and then is pelted by reserves of Team 2. The range means only a few of Team 1's squads are lost. Team 1 takes negatives from incoming fire, but manages to reduce Team 2's forward forces by a large margin (grenades are probably the reason). Team 2 finishes it's turn by returning fire, taking its negatives, and picks off a few more of Team 1's squads. They then enter cover. At the end of the round, Team 1 has 2 squads in cover, and 2 badly wounded squads. Team 2 has 3 decimated squads, in the cover, and 3 exposed at full health. If Team 1 gains priority again, they might be able to deal a bit of damage on Team 2 before Team 2 can hide again.

That's how I want it to look, so that a smaller squad gains the Priority benefit, and can still win against superior numbers.

DefKab
2012-04-03, 10:16 AM
I think I have a working title, so far...

The core ruleset, that covers the three styles of play, is called the W.A.R.R.I.O.R. Multisystem. This will describe the core ideas of the game, and instruct and encourage on customizing the ruleset to fit a particular game style.
It's then broken down into the three styles.
Warrior: Operation Iron is a style focusing on singular characters controlled by a player, and is the most indepth style.
Warrior: Fireteam Zulu focuses on Squad based tactics, and has each player controlling several squad members. Contains some personal depths.
Warrior: Regimental Tactics Manual deals with whole faction play. Each player assumes control of multiple squads for mass combat. Very quick, lethal combat is involved.

The final part of the Basic Warrior booklet is the Tango Codex. The Tango Codex shows how I developed the rules into my own playstyle, which has a single squad leader (using Hero rules) supported by a combat cast for each player (using Squad rules). It's a premade campaign, dealing with the Warrior Canon World, and has everything prepped for immediate play.