[freeroleplay] [Fringe] Conflict System

[Samuel Penn]

On Tuesday 28 November 2006 11:51, Ricardo Gladwell wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Please find attached a rough draft of general rules for conflict in
> Fringe. I designed the rules so that they can be used for any kind of
> conflict including combat, psychic combat and social conflict.

First of all, taking your specific points.

> 1. Is there any point to a generic conflict system for combat, social
> conflict, etc, given that it each sub-system be customised which negates
> the benefits of have a generic system in the first place?

The generic system should be in the task resolution. You then customise
the task resolution for combat, mountain climbing or arguments. The
extra abstraction layer causes problems in understanding (see my comments
later).

> 2. I'm not at all certain about the names I've used for the
> damage/precision types ('glancing', 'direct,' etc). Suggestions for
> alternatives are welcome.

They seem fine, at least as a starting point. At least, I can't
immediately think of any reason not to use them.

> 3. I'm not sure the arbitrary division between attack/hit rolls and
> damage rolls makes a lot of sense.

I like this split. You may want to simplify things by having a single
roll for attack and damage (and it's something that might fit Fringe
quite well). However, in doing so you loose the difference between
a fast light warrior and a slow heavy warrior. You can't have a huge
giant who's club is easy to dodge, but when he does hit he squashes
you. You can't have a small sprite who darts in with a needle sword
with fantastic accuracy, but who does only minor damage.

Of course, this only really applies to physical combat (not social
arguments).

Now for some other points.

Initiative: How do you cope with tied results? Is there a point
at which no further actions can be taken? What if two people with
an action on hold keep on wanting to wait? This can happen if
two or more players want to 'go' after everyone else has finished
their actions.

For extra actions, I would suggest that they have to be declared
at the start, and that the maximum penalty applies to all actions.
Otherwise, there is nothing lost by always taking as many actions
as you possibly can.

Hit roll: No problems here. At least not since I've read the
right version of your rules. Would armour reduce the quality of
the hit? Change a critical into a glancing blow for example?

Damage: Okay. My only issue is that it's very abstract at this
point and difficult to apply to any given situation. It almost
seems to sit there, tempting but not providing any answers. I
know why - it's the base for both combat and social conflict.
However, it may be better to keep the consistency at the task
resolution layer, and treat combat and social as two different
things rather than trying to add in another abstraction layer.

Nothing has been said about armour. For social conflicts, something
like reputation may act like physical armour does in a sword fight,
armour is something that

Basic Combat

How does type of weapon affect things?
How does armour affect things?

Under damage, I'd like to see a table, listing hit quality against
the damage roll. As it stands, the list of terms is difficult to
visualise. 


Social Conflict

I've seen this idea before: I've got a copy of 'Duel of Wits', which
is a quite detailed social conflict system. Can't remember where I
downloaded it from however. I can send it to you if you wish.

This area needs more fleshing out. It's a nice idea, but given the
rarity of such systems it needs a lot of examples. For example, does
winning a 'concede' mean that you win or lose?

Personally, I have no problem with mechanics for social conflict,
however the devil is always in the details.



Overall, it's quite elegant, though needs some more detail (obviously
it's just a work in progress at this point). It's not how I'd do a
combat system (anyone who's read the Yags combat system will know
this), but it seems to fit into the Fringe way of doing things.



-- 
Be seeing you,                         http://www.glendale.org.uk
Sam.                        Mail/IM (Jabber): sam at glendale.org.uk