Can RPGs learn from Wargaming?

[Wolfie65 1281xp 0]

Regardless of whether it’s a wargame or an RPG, I would say that unless you are a magical being, you cannot dodge arrows, bullets, lightning bolts, fire balls or other fast-moving projectiles.

[kiranamida 5791xp 0]

I did once play a system where Dodge was perception based for ranged attacks as it wasn’t about someone shooting and then you somehow getting out of the way but noticing that someone was about to take the shot and moving before they loosed or adjusted.

Still doesn’t make sense in all situations but I appreciated the attempt to recognise that projectiles would probably come at you too fast to react.

[tankkommander 6457xp 1]

If I hit, all I am interested in is how much damage I do. Every system that deviated from this I have found to be disappointing. The anti-climax of hitting and then doing no damage kills the enjoyment of the game.

[onlyonepinman 18119xp 0]

All rules are just abstractions to try and make some kind determination of whether an action successfully occurs or not.  Why are we asking whether a single roll to cause damage vs a roll to hit and a saving throw feels right when ultimately rolling a dice is never going to be an accurate representation of what you’re actually doing.  Neither of them feels right.  It doesn’t really matter whether you have a single roll that is made more difficult by the opponent’s armour, whether the opponent gets a saving throw, whether armour just soaks an amount of damage.  None of them are actually realistic, they’re just probability models.

[limburger 22468xp 0]

The one thing that can matter is the interactive bit of you and your opponent rolling a die, because it *feels* like you’re both doing something.

However I’d say such things are ‘needed’ in wargames, because you get to do something when captain alpha strike unleashes his forces on the first turn …

In rpg’s there is only a ‘need’ to have something to do when the GM has his npc’s respond, but that can be mitigated by him describing the actions in glorious detail instead of just rolling dice and telling you that you’re dead …

[odinsgrandson 4288xp 0]

Have you played Savage Worlds at all?

It does a very good job with making ranged attacks work differently in the ways you seem to be seeking (with characters able to dodge/parry in melee but not at range).

If you want to see a wargame system translated brilliantly into an RPG system, check out the last edition of the Iron Kingdoms RPG stuff (either Full Metal Fantasy or Unleashed- they’re the same system). The combat is based on Warmachine rules, but modified to work as an RPG really well.

[Author]

Posts