NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N01H3r3" data-source="post: 6689473" data-attributes="member: 6799909">Yes, it's somewhat abstract.Broadly speaking, it's best described as a kind of asymmetric grid - each environment is divided into rough zones around terrain features and points of interest, and a character will inhabit one of these zones at any one time. When defining these zones, the GM is encouraged to approach the environment organically and simply, and to define terrain effects for those zones, such as obstacles that might hinder movement or provide cover - this is primarily because I have a fervent belief that battles in environments with obstacles and terrain is more interesting than ones without, but a lot of systems make it easy to ignore or overlook the inclusion of terrain, so that action scenes take place in featureless empty spaces (even I've been guilty of this at times - it's a bad habit that's easy to form).Moving around within the zone (Close range) you're already in is essentially free, a narrative movement that allows characters to shift around, take cover, and so forth, without it taking up any particular actions. Moving from one zone to an adjacent one (Medium range) is a minor action. Moving two zones (Long range) in one round takes up more effort (a standard action, same as an attack). Anything 3+ zones is further than you can move in one turn, on foot at least (Extreme range). Entering melee is as simple as declaring that you are entering Reach of a character within the zone you're moving within or to (so you can spend a minor action to move into an adjacent zone, and say you're moving into Reach of an enemy there, and that's all that's needed to enter melee). Ranged attacks will have an optimal range (close, medium, or long) - an enemy in the optimal range can be attacked without penalty, but each range category closer or further will impose an increasing penalty (some weapons are too cumbersome to be used easily at close quarters, others are better at short ranges). This system of weapon ranges was established for Mutant Chronicles, so that assault rifles, sub-machine guns, and sniper rifles were all effective in different environments.Within a building or other enclosed space, individual rooms are likely to be single zones - it's an easy way to define zones. Open areas should be defined by the presence or absence of features, so that a characters' location can be easily referred to in natural language (Conan is by the mine-cart, Valeria is hiding in the mouth of the cave, etc). Specific distances don't matter, but approximate locations based on proximity to terrain features is a good way to give movement relevance without tracking yards. Because zones are of no fixed size, the GM can - if he wishes - scale zones according to terrain density too: a large, open zone is mechanically the same as a smaller one, but this can easily represent how movement and shooting is easier in a big open space than in a small space or one with a lot of obstacles (imagine a forest - the clearing might be one big zone, surrounded by smaller zones filled with trees).The system suits medium-to-large battlefields, and with a little care and consideration, can be used to give interesting tactical choices to players. It can also be adapted relatively easily to chases (create a long, thin environment, no more than three zones wide and a dozen or so long, use difficult terrain and obstacles liberally to slow down pursued and pursuers alike, with different routes having different difficulties and different length zones to give players choices (a long zone that needs a particularly difficult Athletics or Acrobatics test to enter or cross might slow down an unskilled character, but it works as a shortcut for a skilled and daring one). It lets you do running battles easily, because there's no separate chase subsystem.Importantly, it can be used without maps and miniatures (full 'theatre of the mind', and a little easier than systems that use defined distances), but it doesn't exclude the use of those things either.</blockquote>

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