Reforging the Mage Blade: Resolution and Combat Mechanics

[Lance D. Allen]

More rules for the system-monkeys to take a look at.. Basically what I have here is the basic resolution mechanics, and the specific mechanics for Physical Conflict (ie, combat). While reading it, you'll come across several references to a Social Conflict system; Don't be confused when you don't come across that. Most of it is written, and it very closely parallels the Physical Combat system, but it's not entirely complete, and I'm not done tweaking certain things with it yet.

What I'd like is overall impressions.. What sort of play style do you see it encouraging, Which rules don't make sense, which rules seem extraneous, and even any ideas that might make it work better.

So.. here it is.
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Task: A task is anything that a character does that has a reasonable chance of failure, and significant consequences for failure. What this means is, if the consequence for failure would not have any real impact on the events of the game, then it is not a task. Likewise, if the chances of failure are extremely marginal (less than a 1% chance of failure, say) then it is also not a task. For instance, even if failing to walk across a steady, fairly broad suspension bridge would have a momentous effect (falling to your doom, for instance) but the chances of failure are extremely tiny (because it is a fairly broad bridge that is not moving nor is it falling apart, and because you've been walking since early childhood, and as such are pretty good at it) this is also not a task.

Now that we've defined what does and does not count as a task, we need to define how success or failure is determined. The base system for Mage Blade is fairly simple: you roll a single d20, attempting to roll under or equal to a number which we'll call the Target Number, or TN. This number is determined by selecting an attribute that is appropriate to the task, and a skill that is appropriate to the task. If the character has no skill which can be applied to the task, then you simply take the attribute. The ratings of these two traits are then added up to determine the TN. If you roll equal to or under the number, you've succeeded. If you roll over the number, you've failed.

Now, in some cases, simple success or failure is sufficient, and you can leave it at that. In many cases, however, a degree of success or failure is important. The amount by which you differ from the TN is the Margin of Success or the Margin of Failure.

Within the category of tasks, there are three sub-groups: simple tasks, extended tasks and complex tasks. While there is a certain amount of correlation to the amount of time spent on the task and which of the two three it is, it's not perfectly divided.

A simple task is any task that only requires one roll, succeed or fail. It may or may not require you to determine the degree of success or failure, depending on the task, and circumstances.

An extended task is any task where a single success or failure isn't sufficient, and multiple successes or failures can take place. The intent is to accumulate a certain number by adding up the Margin of Success, and subtracting the Margin of Failure. When you've accumulated the particular number, then you've succeeded the extended task. If your total ever drops below 0 (yes, even on the first roll..) then you've failed.

Complex tasks are a bit different. Complex tasks require multiple rolls, and accumulate Margins of Success and Failure much the same way that extended tasks do. However, the point is not to accumulate a certain amount to succeed. Complex tasks typically have a set number of rolls, or a number of rolls is set for a specific task, making it complex. Typically, complex actions also require different skills or attributes on successive rolls, making it a good idea for the character to be overall good at the task. The reason why you'd want to use a complex task is when you need to determine the degree of success on an action which is more than simple.

Conflict: I'm going to be breaking what literature and other gaming theory sorts have said before me, and define this my way, for my system. A conflict is any contest, physical or social/intellectual, which occurs directly between two beings capable of combat or discourse. A man climbing a mountain is not a conflict, because the mountain is not capable of combat or discourse. Two men racing is not a conflict, because they are not in direct interaction with each other. They are contesting with themselves, their endurance, and their willpower. Races would be best handled by extended conflicts, with the first person reaching the number winning.

There are two types of conflicts to be discussed here; physical and social/intellectual. Both types work essentially the same way, but they use and affect different attributes and traits. There can be magical/spiritual conflict as well, but the specifics of magical/spiritual conflict will be defined later. It should be understood that most conflicts involving magic can and should still be classified as physical or social/intellectual.

Physical conflict can also be called combat, because really, that's what it is. It involves two people in direct, physical contest, attempting to do damage to one another. The system for this uses the basic ideas of simple task resolution, in that each action is accomplished by a d20 roll –vs- a TN determined by an appropriate attribute and skill. Where it differs is with two ideas; Initiative, and pre-defined tasks called Maneuvers.

Initiative is a measure mostly of how many actions you can do within an abstract period of time called a pass. On a lesser scale, it's also a measure of who declares first, and who goes first. To determine initiative, you add up all the values of your Fire attributes (Dexterity, Agility, Wits), and roll a d20. This is the only time in the game where you want to roll high, because you add the result to your totaled Fire attributes. That amount is your initiative. Take your initiative and minus 10 from it. Keep doing this until the number is 0 or less, counting each time the number is greater than zero, including your initial initiative score. This number is how many Active and Reactive Actions you get.

Example: You total a 25 from your fire attributes and your d20 roll. Subtract 10 to get 15, again to get 5, and one more time to get -5. Count them up, 25, 15, 5. You get three Active and Reactive Actions.

Now, you and all other combatants compare your initiative scores. Whoever has the highest declares first, and so on down the line. In case of ties, compare wits, agility, and then dexterity. In the unlikely incident of all of these being the same, then their actions will take place at the same instant, and it doesn't really matter who declares first.

Once you have determined who's first in the line up, have that person declare an Active Action (described further below) then the next person, and on down the line. If at any time during this first turn of declarations, an attack is declared on your character, you may immediately declare a Reactive Action. Once everyone has declared an Active Action, then you go down the line and resolve in the order of declaration. Any time there is an attack and a Reactive Action, roll both rolls simultaneously, and compare Margins of Success or Failure to determine the total Margin of Success. Once all declared Active Actions and any related Reactive Actions have been resolved, the round is over, and a new round begins. Rounds continue until the person with the greatest number of Active Actions has declared all of his Active Actions, which is the end of the pass. If you run out of Active or Reactive Actions before the end of a pass, then you cannot declare until a new pass starts.

Maneuvers: So now that you know when to declare, and when to resolve, it's time to get an idea of what you can do during combat. As you may have gathered from above, there are two categories of Maneuvers; Active and Reactive.


Active Maneuvers:

Strike: the most basic, and probably most common Active combat action, this is precisely what you think it is; You attempt to strike someone with something, a weapon or your fist, whatever. The roll for this is -vs- Dexterity plus the applicable combat skill.

Fire/Throw Missile Weapon: Throwing a knife, rock, etc. or firing a bow or crossbow. If you attempt to do this in the same round as you finished preparing the weapon, you receive a -4 penalty to your roll. If you waited until the round after completing preparation, or have taken aim, then roll as normal, or with applicable bonuses. The roll for this is -vs- Dexterity plus the applicable missile weapon skill.

Double-strike: This is another one of those actions that sounds pretty much exactly like it is. You are attempting to strike with two weapons (fists, or whatever..) at the same time. The roll for this, against a single opponent is -vs-Dexterity plus half of the applicable combat skill (round down). The roll for this -vs- two opponents is -vs- half of the total of Dexterity and the applicable combat skill, rounded down. Additionally, you cannot declare any Reactive Maneuvers in the same round that you've declared a double-strike.

Use non-combat skill, simple: Wow.. I'm just all sorts of fond of these self explanatory names, aren't I? This is basically where you use a skill not directly related to combat. This includes skills which may relate to Social/Intellectual combat. If you have not declared any Reactive actions this round, (which generally, but not always, means you're not being attacked) make the roll as normal. However, if you've declared a Reactive Action, make the roll as normal, with a penalty equal to 10 – Wits. The roll for this is -vs- the appropriate attribute, and the skill in question.

Begin/continue extended task: Normally, this is just a bad idea. Combat is not the best time to be doing things that require your concentration for longer than a second or so. However, sometimes circumstances force it on you, or you may be attempting to cast a spell (normally an extended task; details will be covered later). Use the rule from non-combat skills, above, but applied to each roll of the extended task. See damage, below, for more rules on extended tasks in combat.

Movement: Like many other systems, Mage Blade assumes a certain amount of footwork in the normal course of attack and defense. This isn't that. Movement assumes you are concentrating entirely on moving yourself through the battle area. This covers a couple options; running to a place, or from a place. This can mean you're trying to get to someplace further than you can move as part of the normal pace of combat, or that you're fleeing a foe. If you're disengaging from foe, you'll need to roll -vs- Agility + Vigor or some other appropriate battle skill. If there have been attacks declared against you, these must still be resolved before you can disengage. If you are not disengaging, then you may simply spend this action moving to whatever location you wish.

Prepare Missile Weapon: Missile weapons have a preparation time listed among their stats. That time is the number of rounds it takes to prep the weapon to be fired or thrown. Note that you may attempt to fire the weapon on the last round as mentioned in the Throw/Fire Missile Weapon action above, but this applies the -4 penalty mentioned. Some weapons will have longer prep times than others, requiring multiple rounds, possibly even multiple passes to fire. This action requires no roll. During this time you may not parry unless you're willing to interrupt your action, but you may dodge as normal.

Take Aim: This specifically means for missile weapons. For each round that you take aim, a bonus of +2 is applied to your TN. This requires no roll. During this time you may not take any reactive actions, or you will negate your bonuses. Also, if you are hit and take damage, your bonus is negated. Do I need to explain that doing this when people are trying to hit you is a bad idea? If so, I recommend you try it, and get some experience on your own.

Hold Action: You can choose not to declare an active action this round. Understand that you cannot save your Active actions to extend the length of the pass. Once the person with the greatest number of Active actions has run out, the pass is over. However, if you find that you'll have Active actions left over, you can always use them for either Concentrated Offense or Concentrated Defense.

Reactive Maneuvers:

Parry: The bread and butter of Reactive Actions. Typically, you want to react to an attack on your person, and this is one of the most effective ways to do so. The biggest advantage in the parry is that you are able to do it without significantly changing your position in relation to the opponent. Likewise, it allows you to use the same skill for both attacks and defenses. However, you cannot generally parry a projectile weapon, nor is it a good idea to parry a weapon if you are barehanded, or using a weapon not designed for it. The roll for parrying is -vs- Agility + the appropriate combat skill.

Dodge: Dodging is another entirely valid way to deal with hostile intentions. The advantage is that you don't have to have a weapon, nor do you have be proficient with the weapon you're using, because it uses your Vigor skill instead of a weapon skill. The problem with dodging is that you have to take a -2 penalty on your Dodge roll, or on your next attack roll, unless it follows a Hold Action, Take Aim, Prepare Weapon, or Movement. This reflects the fact that it's difficult to dodge and retain an advantageous position to attack. Either the dodge effort suffers, or the attack suffers. The roll for this is -vs- your Agility plus Vigor skill.

Counter: A counter is a special type of parry which allows you to take advantage of your opponent's attack, and use that advantage to press your own attack. As this is a bit more difficult to pull off than a standard parry, you have a -2 penalty to the roll. If you successfully parry the attack, you get to add your opponent's Margin of Success or Margin of Failure as a bonus to your next attack roll against this opponent. If you do not make this attack within one round after your counter, you lose this bonus. The roll for a Counter is the same as for a Parry.

Evade and Close: This is like a Counter, but it works with Dodge. However, it works a little bit different. Use the basic rules for a Dodge when you declare an Evade and Close, but with an additional -2 penalty to the Dodge roll. However, if you succeed, your opponent cannot declare a Reactive Action to your next attack. Additionally, if you fail, you cannot declare a Reactive Action to the opponent's next attack. As with counters, this attack must be within one turn of the Evade and Close Maneuver, or the effect is lost.

Concentrated Offense/Defense:

Concentrated Offense: If you're really intent on an attack, you may put additional effort into strengthening it. This extra effort has to come from somewhere, however, and you have to give up either another Active Action or a Reactive Action to do it. If you give up a Reactive Action, you may not declare a Reactive Action that round; If you've already declared one, it must either go unused, or you cannot use a Concentrated Offense this round. The effect of Concentrated Offense is a +2 bonus to the roll, and a +2 damage to the attack.

Concentrated Defense: Concentrated Defense can mean one of two things; either additional Reactive actions, or a stronger defense. Like Concentrated Offense, the additional effort has to come from somewhere. In the case of an additional Reactive Action, you have to give up an Active Action to get it. In the case of a stronger defense, you may give up either an Active Action, or a Reactive Action. If you choose to strengthen your defense, you will receive a +2 to a Parry roll, or +4 to a Dodge roll. Additionally, if you fail to Parry, you may choose to roll a Dodge instead, at no bonus.

Damage System: So now you've learned how to hit one another (in direct defiance of your parent's strictures about hitting, I'm sure) and how to argue. Now we need to figure out what happens when you score a hit, either physically or socially/intellectually. The damage system is fairly simple, but as before, we'll discuss it first in terms of Physical, then in terms of Social/Intellectual.

Physical Damage: There are two primary concerns in determining damage; how much is done, and where it is done.

The amount of Physical Damage done is based on your strength and the weapon you're using. The damage rating of the weapon is listed with it's description, and typically goes from 1-5. This amount is added directly to your strength attribute to determine the amount of damage done. However, the opponent's body attribute and any armor is also taken into account, as they are subtracted from the damage total before damage is assigned.

The amount of damage left over after body and armor are taken into account is applied directly to the earth and/or fire attributes. The default option for assigning this damage is for the defender to choose. For example, if the defender takes 5 points of damage, he may choose to spread that over 5 different attributes, or concentrate it on just a few. If any of the Fire or Earth attributes is reduced to zero, the defender becomes incapacitated (discussed a bit further down in Effects of Damage), and is likely out of the fight for good.

Notice how I said the default option? Good. There's a reason for that. The margin of success for the attacker allows them to take a little bit more control of how damage is assigned. They are able to buy damage options with their margin of success.

Damage Options:

Raise Damage Level: All weapons, including fists, have a base damage level. There are a total of four damage levels, which are: Negligible, Subduing, Lethal and Critical. These levels will be discussed further down, in Effects of Damage. Raising the Damage Level costs 5 points of MoS.

Greater Damage: Sometimes it's important to just do more damage. That's where this comes in handy. For every point of additional damage you want to do, it will cost you 2 points of MoS.

Stunning Blow, Head: This obviously means a shot to the head. In addition to whatever damage is done, the defender will have a penalty of 10 - Wits (minimum 1) on every action for the rest of the pass. To do a Stunning Blow to the Head costs 10 points of MoS.

Stunning Blow, Body: In addition to whatever damage is done, the defender will have a penalty of 10 - Wits (minimum 1) for their next action. This costs 5 points of MoS.

Trip: This maneuver usually means a blow to the legs, but it can also describe a particularly strong blow to another part of the body. In addition to the damage done, the defender must make an immediate Agility + Vigor check, with a penalty of 10 - Wits, or else be knocked to the ground. If they're on the ground, they're considered to be fighting prone until they take a Movement action to get up. If this attack is declared to the legs, it costs 5 points of MoS. If it's declared to any other part of the body, it costs 7 MoS.

Disarm: This requires a blow to the arms or hands. In addition to the damage done, the defender must make an immediate Agility + Vigor check, with a penalty of 10 - Wits, or else their weapon is knocked from their hands. Recovering the weapon requires a Movement action. Disarming the opponent costs 5 points of MoS.

Finishing Strike: The Finishing Strike allows the attacker to declare how the damage is distributed, whether it be all to one attribute, or however they choose. Note that this explicitly takes this ability from the defender, and as such is an incredibly powerful maneuver. To do a Finishing Strike costs 15 points of MoS.

Effects of Damage: As mentioned above, there are four types of damage. Before I go into those, it might be a good idea to be clear on exactly what damage effects. As stated before, damage is applied directly to one or more of your attributes. This means that until the damage is recovered that attribute works at a decreased rate. The types of damage determine how quickly it heals. Also as mentioned above, if any attribute is reduced to zero, you are incapacitated. Finally, if 3 separate attributes are reduced to zero, your character dies.
Negligible Damage: Negligible might also be called "stunning" damage. It's effects are fairly minimal in the long term. The reason for this is that Negligible damage recovers one round after it is dealt. Understand that this means if an attribute is zeroed by Negligible damage, you will be incapacitated for that one round.

Subduing Damage: Subduing Damage is short term damage as well. Once combat is over, Subduing damage recovers automatically at a rate of one point per in-game hour. This is one point total, not one point per afflicted attribute, so your character could be out for longer than an hour if they were incapacitated, if you choose to not heal the zeroed attribute first.

Lethal Damage: This is long-term damage. It heals at an automatic rate of 1 point per week. You may roll -vs- Body to increase this rate, or -vs- Body+ the First Aid skill of someone else tending you. For every two points of MoS, you will gain one additional point of recovery per week. Failure has no negative effects.

Critical Damage: Critical damage is special, in that it is never all of the damage dealt. If an attack is staged up to Critical damage, then it is dealt as normal Lethal damage. Additionally, for every 5 points of Lethal damage dealt, one point of permanent attribute reduction is assigned. These points cannot be recovered except by raising the attribute through XP. Finally, if more than three points of Critical damage are dealt, then whatever part of the body was struck is severed or permanently destroyed; if this is an arm or leg, then it's severed. If it's the body or head, then the defender dies.

Incapacitation: When you are incapacitated, you are unable to continue fighting. You automatically fall prone, and will likely fall unconscious. Roll -vs- Wits + Vigor to see if you can retain consciousness. If you can retain consciousness, you may use the Parry or Dodge Reactive Actions, but you will be considered fighting prone. You may only use Movement Active Actions, also with prone penalties.

Footnote: This has also been posted on my own personal boards, which can be found through the link in my signature.

[Lxndr]

Lance,

Your task rules seem easy enough to grasp, though I'm sure in your final text you'd include more examples of extended and complex tasks.  The pitfall of extended and complex tasks in a lot of literature is that the rules often fall by the wayside for various reasons - players considering GM unfairness, GMs wishing to make things simpler, etc.

Extended and complex tasks both, at the moment, seem to be groupings of simple tasks (thus multiple rolls), thus taking on additional risks without, at least at base mechanically, additional rewards.  This could be simply due to lack of examples showing when they'd be used, but it's something to keep in mind.  My first thought upon seeing a system like that, as a player, is frankly "okay, keep to the simple one-roll conflicts."  At least until I investigated the benefits of skills and/or circumstances that required multiple rolls.

As for conflicts...

Although you don't discuss S/I combat in your text, can I assume that S/I conflicts deal S/I damage, in the same way physical conflicts do physical damage?  IF so, can "use non-combat skill" be used to use a social combat skill in a way to inflict social damage, in a physical conflict?  And vice-versa, I'd also assume.

I can very easily see cases like this, such as when a physical combatant taunts his opponent to rile him, or unnerve him.  Conversely, I can see a mostly social/intellectual combat include one or more strikes, especially in more violent societies.  Either way, how would one determine damage in such a case?  And what defenses/reactive maneuvers are available?

My overall impression of conflicts is that there are a lot of fiddly bits, especially maneuvers.  Granted, they're nice and simple maneuvers (strike, use non-combat skill, parry, dodge) and you seem to be heading for something in a high-detailed Simulationist pose.  I can see their existence encouraging conflicts (of both physical and S/I, assuming that the S/I is as interesting, something I've seen but which hasn't been posted here).

Conflicts, like extended and complex tasks, require multiple rolls, usually, to complete.  Unlike extended and complex tasks as you've described them, conflicts include the potential for some sort of benefit along every step of the way (damage) as well as some sort of setback (also damage), such that even if it's not completely won or lost, there's still a result.

[Lance D. Allen]

Thanks so much for the comments, Lx, and sorry to take so long getting back to you. I misplaced my flash drive, and was unable to recheck some things before I posted my reply.

Extended Tasks: The system basically requires these in certain situations. I should probably put a few more lines in to define that, as well as the mandatory examples. Obviously, as stated, Extended Tasks are for situations where a single effort isn't enough to complete the task. However, it's also important to note that one should use these rules when the speed of working through the task is important. If the players are all expert mountain climbers, and have no time constraints to climb a mountain, then I'd call for a Simple Task at most, but probably would simply leave it up to narration. On the other hand, if the players were attempting to reach the top before some other person or group, or if getting ahead of the other group would allow them some advantage (like cutting their ropes.. Cliffs of Insanity, anyone?) then an Extended Task would be called for.

Complex Tasks: Complex Tasks are the remnant of the crafting system I had in an earlier version of Mage Blade. I realized that crafting is hardly important enough to warrant it's own system, and was going to remove it, before I realized that the basic system could be used for more tasks than simply crafting. I think an example would do best to illustrate.

Deros the Keen believes he's on to a scheme to murder his patron, and decides to investigate. The GM calls it a Complex task, and says he'll have 3 rolls to build his case to lay before the magistrate. Deros decides to start among his patron's guards, schmoozing and asking innocuous questions, so he rolls -vs- Intuition+Investigation (total 15) and gets a 7, for an MoS of 8. Between them, he and the GM decide that his investigation leads to a particular tavern in town, where he goes and attempts to intimidate the innkeeper into talking, rolling -vs- Charisma+Intimidation, (total 12) and gets a 10, for an MoS of 2. This leads him to one of his patron's rivals, and so he sneaks into his offices to try to find the crucial piece of evidence. This means that he's rolling Agility+Stealth, (total 13) and he gets a 16! This means he fails. It's decided that this doesn't get him caught, but it does damage his case, by a MoF of 3. Add the three of the rolls up (8+2-3) for a final result of 7.

Which brings me to a hole in the rules which I probably wouldn't have noticed before playtesting; Determining what this final number means. I'll have to think over that. But I think this illustrates the idea.. That 7 is a stronger case to lay before the magistrate than a 3, and a 15 would be an even stronger case.

Although you don't discuss S/I combat in your text, can I assume that S/I conflicts deal S/I damage, in the same way physical conflicts do physical damage? IF so, can "use non-combat skill" be used to use a social combat skill in a way to inflict social damage, in a physical conflict? And vice-versa, I'd also assume.

When we discussed this before, my instinct was to keep physical and Social/Intellectual different, but couched in these terms, I'm less inclined to keep them separate. What I'm leery of, however, is someone initiating a conflict where they'll have a higher initiative total, then using this ruling to attack in the other arena of conflict where the opponent is weak. If I implement some ruling to prevent such abuse, then I can see it working. In such a case, damage would be dealt according to the type of attack.

I like the maneuvers, but I'm not hugely attached to them. I just like it when one's options are clearly spelled out, especially in conflict situations. The damage effects was a last-minute idea that I've become somewhat enamored of, and I'd like to see how to adapt it to other task rolls.

[Mike Holmes]

First, Physical Conflict would include things like, for instance, Wrestling, Arm Wrestling, basketball (and many other sports) and such, except that in these cases you run up to a predefined total needed to win, instead of causing damage, right? I would chuck all of these differences, and instead focus just on what gets "damaged." If you consider your score to be like HP in basketball (going up instead of down), then it's merely a matter of who scores more on the other team. Right? Which is always the case here.

So "combat" is just a conflict where you use appropriate abilities to damage physical stats or somesuch. A whispering campaign is just an attempt to damage respectability or something. Basketball is an attempt to "damage" your opponent in terms of score. Etc.

In fact, the really elegant thing to do is not to have damage be subtracted from anything, but rather just always accumulate as it's own ability. Which can then be tested against other things. So you get some bad damage in combat? Well, roll against that to see if the character can remain amongst the living.

That sort of thing. What do you think?

Extended Tasks are for situations where a single effort isn't enough to complete the task.

From one perspective, climbing Everest is a single effort, while from another getting up from a chair is not. This is just very subjective. Which is fine. Just indicate this. Instead of implying that there's some "obvious" point at which you'd want to use one system or another, just tell people to choose whichever makes sense to them at the time. This also, then, allows people's sense of drama come into the equation. So that they can, if they want, just roll once to climb Everest, or roll many times just to get out of their seat. If they want.

Mike

[Valamir]

So "combat" is just a conflict where you use appropriate abilities to damage physical stats or somesuch. A whispering campaign is just an attempt to damage respectability or something. Basketball is an attempt to "damage" your opponent in terms of score. Etc.

In fact, the really elegant thing to do is not to have damage be subtracted from anything, but rather just always accumulate as it's own ability. Which can then be tested against other things. So you get some bad damage in combat? Well, roll against that to see if the character can remain amongst the living.

That sort of thing. What do you think?

FWIW this is exactly the principal that Robots & Rapiers operates on with the added tweak that the "damage" (whether from sword or a whispering campaign) comes in either standard or persistant varieties.

[Lance D. Allen]

If you notice, damage in Mage Blade is much the same. I just have a slightly broader range of damage types. I'm trying to simulate the range of wounds one can receive in combat, from a stunning punch or bruising to serious damage without getting too heavy in detailed rules. I think I've succeeded over all, but it remains to be seen once I can get some playtesting done.