Dungeon Tactics uses a fairly simple resolution system for noncombat and skill-related tasks that should look pretty familiar to anyone who plays RPGs.
Characters in DT have a set of five attributes: Strength, Agility, Wisdom, Perception, and Poise. Each attribute has a numerical score, usually between 0 and 10. Whenever a character needs to perform a difficult task, his or her player rolls a d20 and adds the appropriate attribute score to the result. The result is compared to Difficulty Score of the task to determine whether the character achieved a failure, a complication, or a success. On a failure, the character does not succeed in accomplishing whatever task they had set out to attempt, while on a success they do accomplish the task with no difficulties. A complication means that the character succeeded at the task, but not without a small problem.
For example, Uthgar the Bold is attempting to leap a wide chasm. His player would roll a d20 and add Uthgar's strength score. If a failure is scored, Uthgar doesn't make it across the chasm, and is left hanging to the ledge with one hand. If a success is scored, Uthgar easily clears the expanse and sticks the landing, battleaxe at the ready. If a complication is scored, Uthgar might make it all the way across, but fall prone on the other side.
Skills
In addition to their attribute scores, characters also have a short list of skills, or areas in which they have some specialized training. Whenever you make an attribute check for a trained skill, you roll an additional d20 and choose the highest result.
Adding an extra roll rather than a numerical bonus works well for several reasons. It does allow trained characters to be more competent than untrained characters by giving the trained character a greater chance at success. However, it doesn't change the potential range of results, so that training in a skill does not determine whether it is possible to succeed at all. Players shouldn't be put into situations where they feel like it's not even worth it to try. Incorporating a second roll also helps mitigate some of the 'luck factor' and means that trained characters will not only perform better but also perform more consistently.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Basics: Keeping it Simple
The goal of Dungeon Tactics is to deliver a system that is both simple and deep, intuitive and rewarding. To this end, a good deal has been pared down compared to other, similar games, but hopefully in such a way that does not detract from the tactical possibilities of the game.
Attack Rolls and Defenses
Many other games using complex, interlocking systems of bonuses from a variety of character resources, such as attributes, feats, magic items, specializations, and so forth, to determine how likely a character is to hit and how likely a character is to be hit. Unfortunately, this can create a lot of confusion among less experienced players, who will frequently make errors and spend a long time calculating attack rolls, without really adding a whole lot to game, as most of the bonuses, the +1 here and the +1 there, are static, which means they only offer choice at one point during play: character generation.
DT tries to solve this issue by assigning everyone very similar bonuses to attack rolls, damage rolls, and defenses: all players add their level to attack rolls and defenses, and half their level to damage rolls. The one exception is weapon wielders, who add the proficiency bonus of their weapon to their attack roll, which allows for a distinction between basic/advanced and fast/heavy weapons. There are no other static bonuses to attack rolls, so everyone at the table should generally be adding the same number to their die roll. Defenses and damage rolls are similarly level-based.
The decision to use character level as the basis for the scaling of the basic math of the game was fairly straightforward. Level is a prominent number for players, the most basic measure of character advancement. Since all characters should be at the same level, all players will be on the same page as to what number they need to add to whatever they roll.
The Action Economy
Another area where tactical games can get bogged down is the action economy: specifically, some players getting lots of extra actions, through immediate actions, pets and summons, or using minor actions to attack. One player can end up with a much longer turn than everyone else at the table, and having to constantly jump into the order of play to resolve immediate actions can also really slow things down.
To this end, DT tries to reduce and limit the number of ways to gain extra attacks and other extra actions. Pets and summons, for example, rely on their master's actions instead of having their own set. Also, attacks are strongly tied to major actions: abilities that allow attacks as minor actions or move actions do not appear.
Immediate actions are a bit trickier. Defenders rely on immediate action attacks in order to fulfill their role. Also, the opportunity attack makes positioning and tactical movement much more important. These two instances of immediate action attacks serve important purposes that can't really be replicated other ways. However, other instances of immediate action attacks will not be included.
Conditions and Modifiers
Another problem that many games run into, especially at higher levels of play, is the tracking of dozens of conditions and small modifiers. This create a lot of extra work for the game master, who has to remember it all, and can bog down player turns with lots of math.
DT will look to reduce the number of conditional modifiers that need to be tracked over the course of play, condensing things into a tighter list that will hopefully keep a player from needing a TI-83 to calculate his attack roll.
Attack Rolls and Defenses
Many other games using complex, interlocking systems of bonuses from a variety of character resources, such as attributes, feats, magic items, specializations, and so forth, to determine how likely a character is to hit and how likely a character is to be hit. Unfortunately, this can create a lot of confusion among less experienced players, who will frequently make errors and spend a long time calculating attack rolls, without really adding a whole lot to game, as most of the bonuses, the +1 here and the +1 there, are static, which means they only offer choice at one point during play: character generation.
DT tries to solve this issue by assigning everyone very similar bonuses to attack rolls, damage rolls, and defenses: all players add their level to attack rolls and defenses, and half their level to damage rolls. The one exception is weapon wielders, who add the proficiency bonus of their weapon to their attack roll, which allows for a distinction between basic/advanced and fast/heavy weapons. There are no other static bonuses to attack rolls, so everyone at the table should generally be adding the same number to their die roll. Defenses and damage rolls are similarly level-based.
The decision to use character level as the basis for the scaling of the basic math of the game was fairly straightforward. Level is a prominent number for players, the most basic measure of character advancement. Since all characters should be at the same level, all players will be on the same page as to what number they need to add to whatever they roll.
The Action Economy
Another area where tactical games can get bogged down is the action economy: specifically, some players getting lots of extra actions, through immediate actions, pets and summons, or using minor actions to attack. One player can end up with a much longer turn than everyone else at the table, and having to constantly jump into the order of play to resolve immediate actions can also really slow things down.
To this end, DT tries to reduce and limit the number of ways to gain extra attacks and other extra actions. Pets and summons, for example, rely on their master's actions instead of having their own set. Also, attacks are strongly tied to major actions: abilities that allow attacks as minor actions or move actions do not appear.
Immediate actions are a bit trickier. Defenders rely on immediate action attacks in order to fulfill their role. Also, the opportunity attack makes positioning and tactical movement much more important. These two instances of immediate action attacks serve important purposes that can't really be replicated other ways. However, other instances of immediate action attacks will not be included.
Conditions and Modifiers
Another problem that many games run into, especially at higher levels of play, is the tracking of dozens of conditions and small modifiers. This create a lot of extra work for the game master, who has to remember it all, and can bog down player turns with lots of math.
DT will look to reduce the number of conditional modifiers that need to be tracked over the course of play, condensing things into a tighter list that will hopefully keep a player from needing a TI-83 to calculate his attack roll.
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