combat actions all at once

[daxos232]

My group and I started playing RQ with mongooses fist edition, and my players are used to D&D, so we had everyone have 3 actions, taken all at ounce, with only 1 attack or spell allowed per round. They did not like going around the table multiple times for actions.

When I got MRQ2 we used all the new stuff except for combat, which we kept to our D&D-like system.

It just occured to me now that I might be able to use MRQ2's combat system, with each player taking their actions all at once, like how they prefer, without going around the table multiple times. I would have your DEX characteristic determine how many actions you get per round as normal, and players could make multiple attacks and spells again in a round.
Do you think this would be work in terms of game mechanics?

 

[Da Boss]

That is fairly similar to the Cinematic Unisystem (Buffy/Angel) which works pretty well. 8)

 

[Rurik]

I think it would be tough now that actions/reactions in the same 'poo'l. If you go first and use all three actions you cannot defend yourself later in the round (and in MRQ2 not being able to defend yourself is really, really bad as any hit on you gains a CM).

A player could choose NOT to use all their actions on their turn I suppose, but such a system would reward whomever went last.

You would probably be better served going back to seperate actions/reactions or even going to a one action and one reaction system.

 

[daxos232]

That is fairly similar to the Cinematic Unisystem (Buffy/Angel) which works pretty well. Cool

I would like to learn more about this system.

I think it would be tough now that actions/reactions in the same 'poo'l. If you go first and use all three actions you cannot defend yourself later in the round (and in MRQ2 not being able to defend yourself is really, really bad as any hit on you gains a CM).

A player could choose NOT to use all their actions on their turn I suppose, but such a system would reward whomever went last.

You would probably be better served going back to seperate actions/reactions or even going to a one action and one reaction system.

If I go back to a one action/one reaction system, I'm back at square one again with going around the table multiple times, for one action. I wish my PC's would just use the combat RAW.

If I rolled for Initiative order at the beginning of every round it would help with that "player who goes last has the advantage problem."

How would "separate actions/reactions" work? Is that just another name for MRQ1's combat system?

 

[ThatGuy]

I have got to say that I have not found going later in the strike rank order to be a disadvantage necessarily. You are actually able to see what has transpired and act accordingly. At times the guy with the last attack of the round strikes the killing blow because all of the defenders CA have been used up and they have a free attack.

 

[daxos232]

Of course I need to think about Movement, and whether that will cost an action. Maybe for a full Move, you would need an action, but for half a Move it would be free and you would get one of those per round.

 

[Da Boss]

I would like to learn more about this system.

It was created by Eden Studios - more info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisystem

Its fast and flexible and as you might expect cinematic in nature....

my WIP 40K Conversion can be found here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?fa6d5af1z4dc0ic

 

[Deleriad]

One way to do it is this:
Each player only gets one turn per round. On your turn you can use as many of your CAs as you wish with the following restrictions:
You can only make one close combat attack on your turn.

Your remaining unspent CAs can be used to defend yourself (e.g. parry, evade and counter-casting spells) during the rest of the combat round.

Dual-wielding gets you a bonus CA that you can use to defend yourself with.

This system makes the riposte Combat Manoeuvre a lot better than RAW as it means that you can get additional attacks.

This is essentially the same as the current CA system except it's been locked down a bit: each player only gets 1 turn per round and only one close combat attack.

You might want to lock it down even further:
At the start of their turn, the player makes a declaration of what they're going to do. If they want to use more than 1 CA at once then all the skill rolls they make are at -10% for each action to be used after the first.
E.g. if you want to cast Bladesharp 2, Protection 2 and attack that's 3 CAs worth of actions so each action is at -20%. (Note actions that cost multiple CAs such as spells, reloading weapons only count as single actions for this purpose)

You can also loosen it and allow the character to make multiple attacks as long as each attack is against a different target. The same multiple action penalty will apply.

Finally, if you're worried about initiative you can always steal the card system from Savage Worlds. This turns the armour penalty into an irrelevance. That may or may not be an issue for you.

 

[daxos232]

Thank you for those links Da Boss, I am going to look into that UniSystem.

I like your idea Deleriad. I really do want to give my players the choice of multiple attacks in a round however. Its one of the cool things I liked about RQ's combat RAW, and I was dissapointed when my PCs didn't like the system.

With MRQ2 and CAs taken in one turn, it would give my PCs the chance for multiple attacks, but at a cost as they would have fewer CAs to parry or dodge later attacks in the round.

I may have to change how if you have no CAs left it counts as an automatic failure. Maybe a -30% penalty to your skill like in BRP. Its going to be difficult for PCs with 2 CAs and the need to spend a CA to move.

If my PCs don't like my idea I definitely will use what you posted Deleriad. It would be better than the system we altered from MRQ1.