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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5692572" data-attributes="member: 58197">In D&amp;D, rolling initiative is one example of this. A better one is the crusader class from the &quot;Book of Nine Swords.&quot; Crusaders start combat with a couple of randomly selected powers ready for use, and each round they &quot;draw&quot; another one, like cards from a deck (in fact I believe the suggested method was to make physical cards for the powers and draw one per round). I didn't much like the end result, but I think that had more to do with the quasi-Vancian, &quot;use it and lose it&quot; aspect of the system.A really good example of this mechanic is card games. Take &quot;Magic: The Gathering.&quot; Once you draw your card, the rest of the game is deterministic*. You don't roll any dice in combat or use any other random element--pit one monster against another and you know ahead of time what the result will be. But what monsters you have to throw into combat are luck of the draw.I've thought about trying to work something like this into an RPG. Just as an example, you could have fighter maneuvers where you roll each round to see which maneuvers you're in a position to use. So if you roll a 6, maybe you spot an opening to deliver a killing blow, but if you roll a 1, none of your enemies is giving you a clear shot and you have to make do with a regular attack, or something.[size=-2]*Well, mostly. A few cards have coin flips, &quot;clash&quot; mechanics, etc. And the distinction gets hazy when you use a card to draw more cards--is that random before or random after?[/size]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 5692572, member: 58197"] In D&D, rolling initiative is one example of this. A better one is the crusader class from the "Book of Nine Swords." Crusaders start combat with a couple of randomly selected powers ready for use, and each round they "draw" another one, like cards from a deck (in fact I believe the suggested method was to make physical cards for the powers and draw one per round). I didn't much like the end result, but I think that had more to do with the quasi-Vancian, "use it and lose it" aspect of the system. A really good example of this mechanic is card games. Take "Magic: The Gathering." Once you draw your card, the rest of the game is deterministic*. You don't roll any dice in combat or use any other random element--pit one monster against another and you know ahead of time what the result will be. But what monsters you have to throw into combat are luck of the draw. I've thought about trying to work something like this into an RPG. Just as an example, you could have fighter maneuvers where you roll each round to see which maneuvers you're in a position to use. So if you roll a 6, maybe you spot an opening to deliver a killing blow, but if you roll a 1, none of your enemies is giving you a clear shot and you have to make do with a regular attack, or something. [size=-2]*Well, mostly. A few cards have coin flips, "clash" mechanics, etc. And the distinction gets hazy when you use a card to draw more cards--is that random before or random after?[/size] [/QUOTE]

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