In the last post, I outlined the fundamental problems with the common structure of RPG combat but didn’t provide any constructive advice for how to fix it. The rest of the posts in this series will focus on the considerations of the players, presenting ideas that game masters can use to build a new combat system. Whether you’re building a new system from scratch, or just want to gut the combat mechanics of your favorite system, this should give you ideas that will help you create a more engaging experience for your players. It will be helpful to read Part 1: “Reexamining the Fundamentals” to get an idea of the scope of this endeavor.
The most important part of determining how to build your new combat system is examining the choices that a player will have to make in combat for their character. If it’s as simple as choosing to attack the guy in front of him with a normal attack or one of his more-powerful but limited-use attacks, then the actual combat will be boring and the focus of the player will be on resource management. To keep the player focused on combat, he must be given choices that are rooted in the combat he’s in.
The first thing that has to be determined is the character’s goal – there are a number of things that a character can be attempting to effect, and putting damage into the other guy is just one possibility. He could also want to knock an enemy down, immobilize him, knock him out, escape his grip, escape the fight, move an enemy to another place, disarm him, study his fighting style, dive for cover, or a variety of different things. If players are emotionally invested in the fight, they will already have a goal in mind, and deciding what they want to do won’t occupy their thoughts much. However, if the players are used to the standard RPG combat where opponents trade attacks, the Game Master may have to remind them that there are other possibilities available, and should be ready for these possibilities.
The next decision, and the most important one, is the one that will keep players engaged in the fight. Players may have a goal in mind, but there are many ways to accomplish it. Do you want to knock an enemy down by tripping him or tackling him? Do you want to immobilize him by pinning him to the floor, shoving him against a wall, or spraying a clip of ammo at him to pin him behind some cover? Even within the fairly narrow area of wanting to kill your enemy with a sword, there are many ways to go about it – do you stay back and probe to set up for a finishing shot, charge like a madman and overwhelm him with slashes, or fake high and go low? How do you deal with his shield, and what precautions do you take to make sure that he doesn’t stab you while you’re slashing him? These possibilities will be examined later, but these are the type of decisions that players should be making during combat (because these are the decisions that the characters are making), so it’s important to design the system such that these choices are important.
The answers to these questions will lead to what can be described as a fighting style, which any character that fights regularly will naturally develop. This is important for a Game Master to be aware of, because it is the ‘personality’ of the character during combat. If all of the characters’ enemies fight the same way, it’s just as boring as each non-player character having the same personality. The methods that they use to accomplish their goals are going to be what distinguishes them in combat, and the interplay between the player characters’ methods and their enemies’ methods are what will keep the fight interesting, in the same way that the interaction of personalities is what makes social scenes interesting. For those who are so inclined, figuring out how to counter an enemy’s tactics, either on the fly, or developing a fight plan before the conflict, can be a satisfying way to work in some puzzle-solving.
Large Polyhedron Collider 