Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Minotaure]

Similar to the thread about Area Effects without a Tactical Map I'd like to find a FFF solution for Movement and Ranges.

A solution that sprang to my mind is to use a concept of abstract Zones much like Spirit of the Century.

Each Zone would be roughly 5'' in diameter.

Pace
A normal person (Pace 5 to 7 '') could move 1 zone. Quick beings (like horses or predators Pace 8'' and above) 2 zones. Slow beings (like snakes and crocodiles) can't leave a zone without a Running action.

Running
Instead of rolling a running die you could use an agility check. The character would get an additional zone for each success and raise. Failure means no gain, so the action would be wasted (much like a 1 on the running die).

Fleet Footed
Fleet Footed characters would get an additional Zone just for the sake of the Running action.

Ranges
Ranges would simply be measured by one Zone per complete 5''.

So a Derringer Gun would have ranges of 1/2/4 in Zones instead of 5/10/20 in inches.
A thrown axe would have -/1/2 in Zones instead of 3/6/12 which means Short Range is the Zone the character is in. Medium Range would be an adjacent Zone.

Vehicles
Vehicle Movement would again be measured by one Zone per complete 5'' of speed. The same for Acceleration. So a Dirt Bike would have 3/6 for Acceleration/Top Speed instead of 15/32.
Speed Penalties, Collision Damage, Range Increments all use numbers that are easily divided by 5 so it's a simple math.
Out of Control effects would always be 1 Zone instead of D4 or D6''.

Ganging Up
The bonus for Ganging Up would be +1 per ally in the same Zone.

Zones on the table
If you have multiple Zones in your scene or want to use minis you could simply lay out an index card for every Zone in Play and positon your minis accordingly.

What do you think? Did I miss something? Is this practical?

[Araknir]

Sounds quite nice to me and relatively easy to test out (I'll try it on my next game on sunday).
The ganging up bonus seems quite severe to me, and I'd like to test some "exotic" situation like interaction with Sweep

I'll also adapt the Area Effect Attacks Without a Tactical Map house-ruling by linking an AE to a zone : the maximum number of ennemies hitable by the template are those in the targeted zone, and the allies that need to make the Agility roll are those in this zone as well

[Minotaure]

[Araknir]

[Clint]

[Tavis]

[Araknir]

I will try the following (even if it's a little heavier on the conversion)

* Change the Agility roll to a Vigor roll (nice idea Clint)
* Convert Pace/Running Die to a modifier to the running roll (relative to normal stat of 6" pace/d6 run die)
* Cap the running bonus to 1(2) additional zones on a success(raise)
* Convert Fleet Footed to a flat one bonus zone while moving (either walking or running).

The running die modifier would be (Pace-6)+(Running die-6)/2. For exemple a fast character with 8" pace and d10 running die would get a +4 on his roll while a slow character (5" pace, d4 running die) would get a -2.

On the topic of Fights and adjacents foes, I'm still wondering how to manage weapon with Reach I have a few ideas but they feel overpowered

[Minotaure]

Clint's proposals are all absolutely reasonable and seem to be a perfect solution to me.

So Fleet Footed characters would get a normal Pace of 2 Zones and would get a +2 for their Vigor roll while Running.

"Greater" running dies of other races would be equally transformed to a +2 for the Vigor check.

Tavis' idea of using a different wild die would perfectly resemble the "greater" running die but I must admit it simply doesn't feel right to me. The wild die should always and ever be a D6.

As for weapons Reach - I would simply drop it. The whole purpose of these considerations is imho to get rid of tactical maps. Reach is a characteristic that is (or should be) relevant only with tactical positioning on such a map.

[Clint]

[Minotaure]

There's a reason, why you are the rules arbitrator here.

That's freaking great.

[Minotaure]

Since there are no further replies here, I'd like to sum up, what has been coming:

---------------------------------------------------------------
A given scene is divided in abstract Zones. Each Zone represents an area roughly 5'' in diameter. Groups of characters in a Zone participating in a single melee build a Fight. Multiple Fights within a Zone are possible.

If you have multiple Zones and Fights in your scene or want to use minis you can simply lay out index or similar cards for every Zone or Fight in play and positon your minis accordingly.

Pace
A normal person (Pace 5 to 7 '') can move 1 zone. Quick beings (like horses or predators Pace 8'' and above) 2 zones. Slow beings (Pace 4 and under; like snakes and crocodiles) can't leave a zone without a Running action.

Running
Instead of rolling a Running die make a Vigor check. The character gets an additional Zone for a success and a Raise. Further Raises are lost. Failure means no gain, so the action would be wasted (much like a 1 on the running die).
Beings that have a running die greater than D6 get a +1 to the Vigor check for every die type above D6. So a being with D10 gets a +2.

Fleet Footed
Fleet Footed characters get an additional Zone for Pace like quick beings. Additionally they get a +2 to the Vigor check when Running for the D10 Running Die.

Ranges
Ranges are measured by one Zone per complete 5''.

So a Derringer Gun has ranges of 1/2/4 in Zones instead of 5/10/20 in inches.
A thrown axe has -/1/2 in Zones instead of 3/6/12 which means Short Range is the Zone the character is in. Medium Range would be an adjacent Zone.

Area Effect Attacks
Area Effect Attacks are linked to one zone. The maximum number of ennemies hitable by the attack are those in the targeted zone, and the allies that need to make the Agility roll are those in this zone as well.

Vehicles
Vehicle Movement again is measured by one Zone per complete 5'' of speed. The same for Acceleration. So a Dirt Bike would have 3/6 for Acceleration/Top Speed instead of 15/32.
Speed Penalties, Collision Damage, Range Increments all use numbers that are easily divided by 5 so it's a simple math.
Out of Control effects move the vehicle always by 1 Zone instead of D4 or D6''.

Melee
The bonus for Ganging Up is +1 per ally in the Fight.

Every melee rule that addresses adjacent squares addresses a Fight instead.
So leaving a Fight would generate the free Attack, even when not leaving the Zone, First Strike comes to bear when entering a Fight, likewise Sweep would address opponents in a Fight e.g.

Weapons with Reach negate a Gang Up bonus equal to their ratings.
-----------------------------------------------------

I think this is well rounded and funcional. All that we need now is a decent play test.

[JavaScrybe]

Hi!

I had the very same idea, and being a "loose" GM, I already implemented this, albeit in a more general manner. It's better explained in person, but here are the pointers, if someone can feel inspired by this somehow:

ABSTRACT MOVEMENT
- Combat is divided into abstract zones called "Centers of Actions" (CoA).
- A Combat can have more than 1 CoA, the GM only has to define the Range between CoA's.
- Characters in a CoA are not automatically "in contact", but can move in and out of close combat with everyone in their zone (incurring attacks and gang up if needed)
- You can be at Short, Long or Extreme range from a CoA. At Short, you can Throw stuff, at Long you can shoot stuff, and at Extreme you can shoot stuff with a penalty.
- Running adds a d6 to your roll (or a d10 for those with Fleet Footed)

- Changing zone is an Agility roll, modified by:
* Melee : N/A
* Short : +2
* Long : 0
* Extrême : -2
* Attempted to move last turn: +2
* Wounds and/or Pace modifies apply to this roll.

There you go. As a GM I try to make CoAs "interesting", positioning melee combat on the bar of a saloon (with the mezzanine at "short" range, for instance), or even having a "moving" CoA in a running train with vehicles moving along its sides, etc.

There you go. Cheers.
_________________
Lex

[Minotaure]

Seems like a very practical solution to me but for my taste it ignores too much of the constituted rules set in SW.

My intention was to find a solution for using most of the existing rules with only slight and easy modifications. Your method is very FAST, though.

I very much like the term "Center of Action" for a Zone. Very FURIOUS and FUN.