Rock, paper, scissors: No Dice

[clash]

I was making over a thought in my head for action resolution system that doesn't use dice, or in fact any random arbitrator to decide the result of the action. That doesn't precisely mean you know the result of the action before performing it. This is where the rock paper scissors mechanic comes into play. By that I mean rock paper scissors doesn't use random resolvers. Instead it is based in declared actions where some actions trump others.

Example:
Shield trumps weapon attack. Enemy chooses to attack, player chooses to use his shield. Player takes no damage.

Now say flanking trumps shield use. A second enemy attacks the player at the same time. He is flanking. Player takes damage.


The point of the above is demonstrating that rather than a random dice deciding the result it is entirely based on correctly predicting and countering what your opponents are doing. Is there an existing system like this I could try out? Does the idea even have merit? Let me know what you guys think.

[GentlemanVoodoo]

I am reminded of something like this being in the old World of Darkness Mind's Eye Theatre which involved a rock, paper, scissors type of mechanic. Though it has been a while and don't remember much of it.

That being said, the idea you are wanting can work but depends on the game type. Such a system could work in perhaps a LARP (like Mind's Eye), a co-op storytelling game, or something very rules light. Getting into more complex aspects like D&D (yes even 5e) is where you run into the difficulties as there is more complexity which will require significant redesign or stripping of race and class abilities.

So for the design the real question is how complex will things be, and how many of these "trump" other actions are you needing to make.

[Damon_Tor]

I fiddled a bit with a card-based system.

Each time you take any action in combat you play cards face down and some amount of rounds later that action is revealed and resolved. Some powerful attacks are slower and take an additional round to fully resolve even when revealed.

Random chance is introduced via card draw, though deck construction rules are generous and may reduce this quite a bit at the cost of having a predictable strategy. You could build an entire deck out of nothing "advance" and "greatsword sweep" but once your opponent figured out that was all you could do he would easily wreck you by perfectly timing his blocks and attacks.

There are three "stacks" for each player, representing right hand, left hand, and movement. You want to time your defensive cards (blocks, parrys, dodges) to your enemies' big attacks. There are cards which modify the speed the stacks move, for example, a "feint" made with one hand moves up your other hand's stack by 1.

[clash]

I fiddled a bit with a card-based system.

Each time you take any action in combat you play cards face down and some amount of rounds later that action is revealed and resolved. Some powerful attacks are slower and take an additional round to fully resolve even when revealed.

Random chance is introduced via card draw, though deck construction rules are generous and may reduce this quite a bit at the cost of having a predictable strategy. You could build an entire deck out of nothing "advance" and "greatsword sweep" but once your opponent figured out that was all you could do he would easily wreck you by perfectly timing his blocks and attacks.

There are three "stacks" for each player, representing right hand, left hand, and movement. You want to time your defensive cards (blocks, parrys, dodges) to your enemies' big attacks. There are cards which modify the speed the stacks move, for example, a "feint" made with one hand moves up your other hand's stack by 1.

That sounds pretty cool. Something kinda similar to the action bonus action mechanic where you can do more than one thing. Ooh maybe have separate actions available for main hand and off hand.

As for adding complexity I think that could be done with a reference sheet of sorts where each action states explicitly what it trumps.

[Anonymouswizard]

Getting into more complex aspects like D&D (yes even 5e) is where you run into the difficulties as there is more complexity which will require significant redesign or stripping of race and class abilities.

You'd want a significant rework for something like D&D, but you can totally do high-complexity games with no randomisation. I'm a great fan of stuff like Chuubo's.

I've personally been considering a staking system. You have pools of resources, and to do an action you commit a number of those resources. If it's just a simple action you're just going to need to beat it's difficulty and have enough leftover for your intended result, but when going against somebody you both reveal what you're staking at the same time, add relevant modifiers, and the person who staked the most wins and gets to decide the outcome before all participants discard their stake. Resources would refresh relatively slowly, making the gameplay focused around managing your resources before you're left unable to act.