Two weeks of business travel followed by picking up a cold have me beaten down currently but still tinkering away. I'd say the downside of the action spending system is the analysis paralysis it can lead to. Combat slows down to the point where it can take almost 2x as long to fight. While I enjoy a more tactical combat, I did not like the fact that it began to drag out a fight from an event to the main meal of the nght's adventure.
More tinkering and testing to do
Hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm not a fan of dragging out the fights.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the same thing happen as well. What about an Action point Reward? Say for every round the fight lasts the player gets an AP that can be spent on a Special Action. Example: the fight has lasted 3 rounds and I have 3AP. I see that if I spend 2AP I can double my attacks this round. AP are rewarded at the end of each round...
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to see this turn into a list of 100 special actions because that could be just as time consuming, but maybe 6-10 simple buffs for fights.
I have to agree with your opinion on Action Point combat, Mr. Brandon. That's always been EXACTLY my experience with it too -- it's not so much the Action Points themselves that slow things down, as it is the players taking time to calculate exact AP expenditures for every conceivable move prior to making the move. It becomes more a math exercise and a "rules-lawyerly" approach to gaming as opposed to a good, old-fashioned, rousing axe (or whatever) fight. Perhaps that's one reason why it works better in modern combat situations (especially at the battalion level and higher); there are a lot fewer choices (move, maybe three different kinds of attack (hasty, deliberate, overrun), perhaps three different kinds of defense (hasty, deliberate, screening), and one or two logistical choices) to make, all of which are pretty clearly dictated at the beginning of the phase, whereas with man-to-man combat situations practically everything needs to be figured out for each piece on the board, every single turn.
ReplyDeleteThanks all for the well wishes and thoughts. After some more testing ACtion Points are out. Frankly it just wound up being a grind and sucked the fun out of the game. With a computer handling it in something like XCOM or Jagged Alliance it works. In an RPG on the table it become tedious. FASA Star Trek used AP and that’s part of why we were never fans of the mechanics. I think there are games where AP works, and clearly some folks love that extra detail, but I cannot say it appeals to me and it detracts from the suspension of illusion when gaming. It draws you out to sit and figure optimal point spends which is cool if you like that? But for me not so much.
ReplyDeleteSecondly I have decided to include Blades and Black Magic both in one book. While the spells won’t be expansive and the world setting will be lightly touched on (one area included) I think it works better as a whole when reading. The work continues and thanks very much for your patience and support!
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ReplyDeleteAnother option is to just make MV = DX/4. A character can move twice and do nothing. Move once and perform a major action or the reverse. Move once and perform 2 minor actions or the reverse. Perform two major actions but the second action is penalized by adding d6 to the final result of the test (if there is one).
ReplyDeleteThat could work as well, but I think at this point I am committed to keeping it "old school"
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