Author: Sarducci (---.mit.EDU)
Date: 04-10-2003 10:09
The type of mechanics you need for a given game is directly related to the type of action you want in that game. However, if your goal is to have high-roleplay, very fast (as close to realtime) combat as possible, this system is still far too cumbersome.
First off, it requires the presence of a GM. That means if there is no GM right around, you have to go search for one before combat begins. Thats all well and good if you're gaming with a dozen players in a tightly confined gamespace, but what if you are playing at a con, univeristy, or weekend retreat? With 30, 50, 150 players? Mechanics have to beable to be resolved independant of GM presence in these situations. Further, including this kind of mediation will slow down your combat.
Second, reflips (or rolls or tests) are the bane of LARP combat. Your average MET combat round drags on for minutes even with only two combatants due to the endless piles of retests each player has.
Combat can happen in nearly real time sans boffers through several simple approaches. The easiest is to make combats predestined, but before the game even starts, so no dynamic decision making is required. This is most easily accomplished by having a direct compare of a single combat stat, with the higher number winning. You can complicate this by having bonuses (like weapons) and negatives (like surprise) change the combat stat, but when an attack is compared, you just compare numbers and thats that. A nice mod to this is to give various kinds of attacks with different effects (knockout, wound, disarm, etc.) This kind of combat is known round the MIT assasin's guild as the "Darkwater" system.
Another easy mod is to go with a direct compare of a stat+randomization, be it a coin flip, a d6 roll, or whatever. this removes predestination at only a minor cost to time.
A favorite combat system of mine is known as the MA/MD/Mdelta/HP system. Everyone has an attack stat (MA) a defence stat (MD) and hitpoints. some or all people might also have a Mdelta stat, a pool of points which may be dynamically split between MA and MD at the start of combat. Each participant states his MA, then mentally subtracts his MD from the number his opponets said. That determined how many hit points he loses in that round.
There are lots of variations and fine tuning on these kind of systems. I think the necessary conditions for a fast LARP combat system are: it must operate free of GM interference, even in mobs; there should be a minimum of retests (preferable none); there should be only a handful of stats to remember.
Sarducci
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