Hello,

I've started working on an ambitious game design project with the working title of Da Vinci.  I have a resolution system that I'm reasonably happy with and the basics of chargen worked out; however, I'm having problems working out some of the ideas I want to work into the combat system. 

One of the principles I'm working with in the game is that I want the game to have an element of tactical combat but I don't want the game to be tied down to having to have a mapboard.  Ideally the game should be playable anywhere you have space to roll your dice. 

To that end, I'm working on what I call the Formation system.  This system is a simple set of rules that guides how groups of enemies behave and gives players options to counter their tactics. 

The system is based on a 'melee group'.  Players and NPCs will organize themselves into one or more melee groups.  Each group organizes itself into formations based on the Lowest Common Level (LCL) of the individual members of that group.  Characters can buy advantages that make them more effective when using specific formations.  When two melee groups encounter each other, the formations determine which members can be attacked (engaged) and how many attackers can affect a given target.  In addition, there are formations for dealing with ranged and AE attacks and for controlling movement on the battlefield.  There are also rules for moving in and out of groups and breaking formations by attacking their key points.

I have more specific ideas, but at this point I'm trying to sound out the principles before burying anyone in a wall of text.  How interesting does this sound as a system?  Are there things I should be aware of while working on it?

I always say this, but I'll say it again since I was mulling it over today:

You can use some sort of abstracted "tactical advantage" value, that things like manuever/movement checks, or tactics checks or whatever is an appropriate counter to the given reason for the advantage (starting at range, having fortifications, attacking from an unexpected quarter vs high movement rate, outflank/sige towers, rallying or counter offensive) that gives a bonus or one side gets to spend, but the other side can likewise attack as a counter measure. Sort of like this: I get +5 pts defense (whatever that means in a given game) until you kill all ten points of my fortified barricades defenses.

Heya Rikiji,

Welcome to the Forge!  To answer your first question, this does sound interesting.  I'm a person who tends to like tactical decisions in RPGs.  I have some experience playing large groups of charactes at one time, but not a lot.  But let me ask you something.  When you invision a night of guys playing your game, how big of a role do you see the Formation System playing during the session?  To really comment on it further, I would like to know how important it is as a facet of play and how central it is to the idea of your game.

Peace,

-Troy

chance.thirteen wrote:
I always say this, but I'll say it again since I was mulling it over today:

You can use some sort of abstracted "tactical advantage" value, that things like manuever/movement checks, or tactics checks or whatever is an appropriate counter to the given reason for the advantage (starting at range, having fortifications, attacking from an unexpected quarter vs high movement rate, outflank/sige towers, rallying or counter offensive) that gives a bonus or one side gets to spend, but the other side can likewise attack as a counter measure. Sort of like this: I get +5 pts defense (whatever that means in a given game) until you kill all ten points of my fortified barricades defenses.

Troy_Costisick wrote:
Heya Rikiji,

Welcome to the Forge!  To answer your first question, this does sound interesting.  I'm a person who tends to like tactical decisions in RPGs.  I have some experience playing large groups of charactes at one time, but not a lot.  But let me ask you something.  When you invision a night of guys playing your game, how big of a role do you see the Formation System playing during the session?  To really comment on it further, I would like to know how important it is as a facet of play and how central it is to the idea of your game.

Peace,

-Troy

Heya,

Okay that's cool.  What is the maximum number of player controlled characters you can reasonably imagine a group using in this game?  You mentioned being outnumbered two to one.  That seems about right for a really challenging tactical game.  I'd just like to know the high end of the number of player characters for most (not all) circumstances of play.  Note, "unlimited" is probably not a good answer in this case.

Peace,

-Troy

Under normal circumstances a group of 5-6 PCs would probably be normal.  I want to include considerations for the PCs acting as guards so there might be an additional group of essentially non-combatants that they would have to protect.  So let's say a maximum group of 12, up to half of which might not be effective combatants.  Some upward scaling is desirable, but it's mainly a skirmish system so it does not need to represent full out battle units. 

Guarding is actually one of the key concepts that started my thoughts in these lines.  How does the melee specialist keep the squishy priest from being swarmed by goblins?  On a tactical map, he just stands in the way.  How is that simulated without the map?  If you look at movies like The Forbidden Kingdom and the live action Blood the Last Vampire, there are scenes where one character literally protects one character from dozens of foes.  These scenes are actually very hard to represent on a map board, so I want some kind of dynamic way to represent the same kind of interactions (those are extreme examples, Da Vinci is cinematic, but not necessarily on that level).

Rikiji wrote:
Guarding is actually one of the key concepts that started my thoughts in these lines.  How does the melee specialist keep the squishy priest from being swarmed by goblins? 

Rikiji wrote:
Under normal circumstances a group of 5-6 PCs would probably be normal.  I want to include considerations for the PCs acting as guards so there might be an additional group of essentially non-combatants that they would have to protect.  So let's say a maximum group of 12, up to half of which might not be effective combatants.  Some upward scaling is desirable, but it's mainly a skirmish system so it does not need to represent full out battle units. 

Guarding is actually one of the key concepts that started my thoughts in these lines.  How does the melee specialist keep the squishy priest from being swarmed by goblins?  On a tactical map, he just stands in the way.  How is that simulated without the map?  If you look at movies like The Forbidden Kingdom and the live action Blood the Last Vampire, there are scenes where one character literally protects one character from dozens of foes.  These scenes are actually very hard to represent on a map board, so I want some kind of dynamic way to represent the same kind of interactions (those are extreme examples, Da Vinci is cinematic, but not necessarily on that level).

That sounds more or less along the lines that the system seems to be developing in, so I think I'm on the right track.  :)

I appreciate the help.  I spend a lot of time creating in more or less a vacuum, so sometimes my ideas get a bit odd.