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Monday, March 29, 2010

[RPG] Abstract Combat Example: Lammasu v. Hill Giant-

Lammasu v. Hill Giant-

I'm going to run this without the Condition Penalties, merely tracking the cumulative DP loss.
--In a future post I'll throw in the bells and whistles.

Lammasu 7+7 = 9
Hill Giant 8 + 1-2 = 8

The Lammasu has already depleted its combat-capable spells for the day, and the Hill Giant's five Dire Wolves have been slain prior to this fight.

FIRST SEQUENCE-

The Lammasu rolls his 9 Fight Dice: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 | 2 | 4, 4 | 6
The Hill Giant rolls his 8 Fight Dice: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4, 4 | 5, 5 | 6

Their highest Result Totals are:
* Lammasu: (4 + 4) 8
* Hill Giant: (5 + 5) 10
--The Lamassu loses by 2 points and this still places it in Condition 6: Fit

Their next highest Result Totals:
* Lammasu: 6
* Hill Giant: (4 + 4) 8
--The Lamassu again loses by 2 points, and this is still C6: Fit

Next Highest RTs:
* Lammasu: (1, 1, 1, 1, 1) 5
* Hill Giant: 6
--The Lammasu loses by 1. We'll say, just for variety, that this is enough to from him to C5: Able

Next RTs:
* Lammasu: 2
* Hill Giant: 3
--Lammasu loses by 1 point, still C5: Able

Next RTs:
* Lammasu: 0
* Hill Giant: 2
--Lammasu loses by 2 points again, knocking him down to C4: Pained

SECOND SEQUENCE-

Both opponents are still up in the fight, and so both refresh their FD pools.

The Lammasu decides to pull 1FD from his pool to keep in Contingency to block an unchallenged Effect.
--The Hill Giant taunts the lawful creature and sees no need to hedge his bets, going all-in.

The Lammasu rolls his 8 Fight Dice: 2, 2, 2 | 5 | 6, 6, 6, 6
The Hill Giant rolls his 8 Fight Dice: 1 | 2 | 3, 3 | 4, 4 | 5, 5

This Sequence's Highest RTs:
* Lammasu: (6, 6, 6, 6) 24
* Hill Giant: (5, 5) 10
--The Hill Giant is surprised by the ferocious paw attacks his bloodied foe has delivered, losing by 14 points, dropping him directly to Condition 2: Heavy Bleeding

Next Highest RTs:
* Lammasu: (2, 2, 2) 6
* Hill Giant: (4, 4) 8
--This would normally be a loss by the Lammasu of 2 DPs, but he expends his one Contingency Die to entirely negate the 2 points, suffering no damage this exchange.

Next Highest RTs:
* Lammasu: 5
* Hill Giant: (3, 3) 6
--The already injured, but still very capable Lammasu takes another DP difference, still Pained.

Next Highest RTs:
* Lammasu: 0
* Hill Giant: 2
--The Lammasu drops to Bleeding

Next Highest:
* Lammasu: 0
* Hill Giant: 1
--Lammasu still Bleeding

SEQUENCE THREE-

Keenly aware of how things could go wrong again, as well as how close to death his foe is, the Lammasu makes the daring decision to put 2FD in Contingency.
--The Hill Giant amazingly rolls well enough to realise how close he is to losing, and saves 1FD in Contingency.

The Lammasu rolls his 7 Fight Dice: 1, 1 | 2, 2 | 4 | 5 | 6
The Hill Giant rolls his 7 Fight Dice: 2 | 3 | 4, 4, 4 | 5 | 6

This Sequence's Highest RTs:
* Lammasu: 6
* Hill Giant: 12
--The Lammasu cashes-in one Contingency Die to negate the 6 DP difference he would have suffered.

Next Highest:
* Lammasu: 5
* Hill Giant: 6
--The Lammasu decides to risk the 1 DP difference, and drops to Heavy Bleeding.

Next Highest RTs:
* Lammasu: 4
* Hill Giant: 5
--The Lammasu sucks up the 1 DP difference, still Heavy Bleeding

Next RTs:
* Lammasu: (2, 2) 4
* Hill Giant: 3
--The Hill Giant rolls to see if he is smart enough to use his Contingency Die and fails to use it, suffering 1 DP and on the cusp of Unconsciousness.

Next RTs:
* Lammasu: (1, 1) 2
* Hill Giant: 2
= 0 Draw

SEQUENCE FOUR-

The Lammasu holds 1FD in Contingency.
--The Hill Giant goes all-in.

The Lammasu rolls his 8 Fight Dice: 1 | 2 | 4, 4 | 5, 5 | 6, 6
The Hill Giant rolls his 8 Fight Dice: 2, 2 | 3 | 4, 4 | 6, 6, 6

Sequence Highest RTs:
* Lammasu: 12
* Hill Giant: 18
--The Lammasu uses his 1 Contingency Die to negate the 6 DP difference.

Next:
* Lammasu: (5, 5) 10
* Hill Giant: (4, 4) 8
--The Hill Giant loses by 2 DP, going Unconscious. With No Contingency Dice, he cannot effect wakefullness and is helpless.

Next:
* The extremely Lawful Lammasu does not dispatch his foe, but does use his remaining heal spells to heal himself, and moves off just far enough and waits the rest of the day and night for the hyenas, jackals, and vultures to finish-off his opponent before flying away to nurse his remaining injuries, thanking the forces of Law for his victory.

12 comments:

  1. I really like the base mechanics involved in this and I see a lot of potential with it.

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  2. Zzarchov: Thank you.
    --I appreciate you saying so. :)

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  3. Good stuff, easy to use and I like the contingency dice idea (would be great for arguments too, keeping that witty riposte or crucial taunt to unleash at the right moment)

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  4. Sean: Thanks. :D
    --Yes, the Authority Combat (given Urutsk at this point isn't big on anything but speeches rallying Humanity to defend their bastion against monstrous forces) is going to be one of the examples I illustrate in the upcoming days.

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  5. Did you see that example of using Risus/abstract combat to negotiate a dungeon on some blog that's name escapes me?

    I can great potential for such mechanics as Risus and fight dice for negotiating a conflict that would be very fussy/fiddly/complex to handle in the standard D&D fashion such as mass battles, bank robberies, election campaigns and the like.

    I'm going to have to try something like this in my game the next time a "non-standard conflict emerges"

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  6. Blair: It is possible that I have seen it, but I didn't knowingly bite this from that.
    --In my mind, I've been looking for a Tunnels & Trolls-like mechanism, but it took me a while to come up with this. I'm pretty happy with this as it stands, but I've got further plans, incorporating weapon/attack-types and armour and such.

    The possibilities for this are vast, and I look forward to other takes on it, if indeed, mine is not simply an unwitting riff on that Risus thing you mentioned.

    Thank you for commenting.
    --I appreciate it. :)

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  7. Ahh, this is the post:
    http://greywulf.net/2010/03/risus-new-cliches-for-old/

    It's actually quite different than yours, I guess the similarities are in my head...but the combination of that post and your fight dice got my imagination going!

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  8. Cool.
    --I'm eager to see what you come up with.

    Thanks for the Post-pointing. :)

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  9. No, thank you! :)

    BTW and unrelated, I believe you said somewhere that you work in the field "high risk armed response security?"

    I'm working on NPC generation procedures and I was wondering if I could pick your brains regarding gender?

    The questions I have are:

    1) In your field of work, what percentage of the gunslinging workforce is female? How about in even riskier "mercenary" fields?

    2) In your estimation, in a near-future utopian egalitarian society, among those who would gravitate towards "high-risk armed adventuring" what percentage would be female?

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  10. Blair: :)

    Ballpark mathematics:

    1). _Un_armed Security: 20%
    1). Police patrol: 10-20%
    1). Armed Security: 6-8% Worldwide (higher in more dangerous areas, such as the Russian Federation, or Israel)
    1). Security Contractors: 0.33-1.0% (US/UK)

    2). The nearness determines more than anything, but let's say 10-15%, although I would put Police and Military at roughly 1.5x those figures.

    Hope that guestimation and quick Googling helps. :0

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  11. @TS: I had blogger issues earlier...actually, on and off, for a few days.

    I really like these mechanics. A lot. Well done.

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  12. Mr. Battle Axe: I thank you for saying so.
    --I appreciate the feedback. :)

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