Iron Grit: Heroes of the Confederacy Rules System

[JamesDixon]

Howdy folks,

I've been busy working on a cRPG system that I like. My question is about how to order a combat turn. Every character has a Nimbleness stat that determines who goes first. The stat also determines how many Action Points a character gets to perform actions in a given turn. Now there are two ways of handling this. The first is to let a character use all their Action Points at once and the second is to do a round robin where they spend 1-2 points then it goes to the next character. 2 Point actions will mean that the character is skipped on the next go around, but will be able to do their action on the following go around.

My question is which way do people prefer; all at once or round robin?

EDIT: Here's the Action Point table. Also all turns are 1 minute long.

AP Table

Action | AP

Movement up to half | 1

Drawing a weapon | 1

Firing a weapon | 1

Reloading (per bullet) | 1

Aiming (Max of 2 AP) | 1

Changing stance | 1

Rapid Attack | 2

Two-Weapon Fighting | 2

Skill Use | 2

I decided to go with the old one movement and one non-movement action per round. It's simpler to do. The link that was provided to an earlier set of the rules is broken and will be removed. However, I have an updated version of the rules. I've added in all the classes and their point costs. Everything up to the weapons is completely done and I've added more skills that better reflect the differences between Nurses, Doctors, and Medicine Men.

Angels of the Confederacy Rules Set

Any comments etc... are welcome.

 

[J1M]

Two problems I see:

1) You have created an overpowered stat by having nimbleness affect two very important things: initiative and how many things a character can do.
2) You haven't described what happens when one character has 5 action points left and the other characters have none.

Spending only a single action point each time you gain control of a character sounds like it would make combat a very long and tedious process.
"I spend my point to move closer"
"I move away"
"I move closer"
"I move away"
"..."

 

[JamesDixon]

Two problems I see:

1) You have created an overpowered stat by having nimbleness affect two very important things: initiative and how many things a character can do.
2) You haven't described what happens when one character has 5 action points left and the other characters have none.

Spending only a single action point each time you gain control of a character sounds like it would make combat a very long and tedious process.
"I spend my point to move closer"
"I move away"
"I move closer"
"I move away"
"..."

1. The system is points based, so the cost of Nimbleness is appropriate for what it does.
2. Characters will have between 1-6 Action Points depending upon their Nimbleness stat. The calculation is Nimbleness divided by 3 rounding down to get the number of AP a character can have. Every stat is on a scale of 1-20. If a character has less than another in AP then the character with remaining AP will continue to go.

 

[FuriousGamer87]

Might as well steal be inspired by Divinity OS action point system where you get to store unused action points to have more action points next round thereby have the turn faster next round.
Just let them use as many as AP as they have before they clicked end turn or you automated the turn change.

Have turns changing automatically after each small action may be pretty annoying, not only in terms of concentration by also camera dizziness.
Then again, all of this will depend on your execution of your game idea.

I need to see a demo first before I can give any solid advice.

 

[JamesDixon]

Without giving too much away, the game will be during a time when muskets were in use and the best a person could do is fire and reload a musket was 3 rounds a minute. The idea is that since the turn is 1 minute long that by breaking the AP up by individual actions allows for greater tactical flexibility.

 

[FuriousGamer87]

Without giving too much away, the game will be during a time when muskets were in use and the best a person could do is fire and reload a musket was 3 rounds a minute. The idea is that since the turn is 1 minute long that by breaking the AP up by individual actions allows for greater tactical flexibility.

So basically relooping the round after each action until everyone is out of action points before going to the next round.
Well, I think if you make all actions that cost action points be significant and not small shit like butt scratching, it may be doable.
But I think most of if your idea will panned out well will depend on your execution.
Good luck.

 

[JamesDixon]

Without giving too much away, the game will be during a time when muskets were in use and the best a person could do is fire and reload a musket was 3 rounds a minute. The idea is that since the turn is 1 minute long that by breaking the AP up by individual actions allows for greater tactical flexibility.

So basically relooping the round after each action until everyone is out of action points before going to the next round.
Well, I think if you make all actions that cost action points be significant and not small shit like butt scratching, it may be doable.
But I think most of if your idea will panned out well will depend on your execution.
Good luck.

Pretty much that's the idea. I did post up the action table, so it only concerns itself with significant things. Some actions like using a skill take more than 1 Action Point to do, so on the next loop that character will be skipped due to them still performing the prior action.

It's the execution that really counts. Right now the system is being written then going to play tested to see how well it works at the table before it's translated into the cRPG.

 

[dibens]

I always hated action order being tied to a stat and nothing else. To me initiative is something you gain with combat experience/training, it's basically a skill.

 

[JamesDixon]

I always hated action order being tied to a stat and nothing else. To me initiative is something you gain with combat experience/training, it's basically a skill.

Well part of the system does use the tactics skill. By how much each side makes their roll by is added to the Nimbleness stat, so it does reflect combat experience/training.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

GURPS has a not-bad system for AP. You get one action per turn (shoot, move, move & shoot, etc.) and one ''free action'' (small action). It's okay for what it does, and I use the same in my system.

 

[28.8bps Modem]

I have exactly the same sort of setting, with single shot muzzle loading weapons.

The way I came up with to represent that is to allow you to perform actions that would put you in to action point debt for the following few turns. So, depending on your firelocks skill, reloading may take 30AP, but you only have 10. You can start reloading this turn, and finish 2 turns later having consumed all your AP. Every turn you still get the option of cancelling the action and using your AP to do something else, like move or fight hand to hand. Crucially, certain actions that incur debt save your progress, like cancelling reloading 10APs in saves your progress, but you get a small percentage penalty for cancelling the action (say, 9 APs worth of progress for 10APs spent.) You can use the same system for other long running actions in turn based mode like lock picking.

 

[JamesDixon]

It was suggested by darkpatriot to let people view the rules of the game. You can get a copy of it from here.

Feedback is welcome so share yours in this thread.

 

[JamesDixon]

Updated the first post and changed the title of the thread to better reflect the changes in the rules.

 

[FuriousGamer87]

Pretty ok for a start.
I recommend playing Wasteland 2: DC to see where they succeed and where they failed so you will know how to implement your design well and what traps to avoid.
Just remember to make a game you yourself will enjoy and within your capability to do.

 

[JamesDixon]

Pretty ok for a start.
I recommend playing Wasteland 2: DC to see where they succeed and where they failed so you will know how to implement your design well and what traps to avoid.
Just remember to make a game you yourself will enjoy and within your capability to do.

I'm glad that you like the start of it.

When I get my new computer, soon, I will take a look at Wasteland 2: DC. In your opinion, what did they do wrong and did right?

I will and I appreciate the advice. If you'd like to discuss how the system is compared to level based systems feel free to touch upon it.

 

[FuriousGamer87]

In your opinion, what did they do wrong and did right?

There is too much to say but it is better that you play it yourself.
It's your game and you are the one who need to get the feel of the gameplay right.
I suggested the game because it's fundamental mechanics are a bit similar to yours so see what you can learn from it.

 

[JamesDixon]

After some talking with a friend of mine, he was put off by the title of the game and suggested a change to it. The new name is Iron Grit: Heroes of the Confederacy.

 

[JamesDixon]

Due to the weapon ranges for the weapons, I talked with JarlFrank about doing the mission parts of the game as a tactical isometric field with a first person camera view in one of the corners similar to Blackguards and Space Hulk Ascension. In towns, it would be first person exploration. What do you guys think?