Help Me Remember RPG Combat System

[Simon Collins]

Hi

I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. Several years ago, I think I remember playing out a trial combat using an unfamiliar but interesting system. It suddenly half came back into my head this evening when I was looking at the Swordplay: Arena combat card game and I can't for the life of me recall the name of the system (to be honest, I'm not 100% sure if I did play it, or read about it, or if it was just an idea I had in my head!!).

Anyway, the idea behind it was that both/all combatants secretly declared the combat move they were going to make (can't remember if you wrote it down, used a weird die or put a card face down in fron of you). The two moves were then declared openly to the other and compared to see if one outweighed or defended against the other. Maybe the losing opponent then had a lesser chance to make a counter-move to the winning move to reduce or possibly even negate damage.

Does this remind anybody of anything they play/played?

 

[Glyfair]

Does this remind anybody of anything they play/played?

Sounds like Lost Worlds to me. I believe there was even an attempt at an RPG of it at one time.

The variations of it have appeared at various times, including an early article in The Dragon for monk combat.

 

[Simon Collins]

Sounds like Lost Worlds to me. I believe there was even an attempt at an RPG of it at one time.

The variations of it have appeared at various times, including an early article in ]I]The Dragon[/I] for monk combat.

Well, Lost Worlds combat system is extremely interesting and I've downloaded the rulebook, but it wasn't it. There were no pictures involved. I'll have to check that old edition of Dragon magazine but I'm pretty sure it didn't come from a TSR source either. Thanks though for the link to other interesting ideas around the theme.

 

[bento]

Does this remind anybody of anything they play/played?

I bet if you posted this question over on The Forge board you'd get a quick answer. I recall someone once describing this system to me, and he was very much into small press game playing.

The description had a "rock-paper-scissor" quality to it.

 

[EvilDwarf]

Is it the system in which players put down combat die, white for defense and red for attack, and then the die were revealed and combat was resolved that way?

I don't have access to my books here at work, but I can look when I get home, or maybe someone will recognize the system before I can find it.

 

[Simon Collins]

Is it the system in which players put down combat die, white for defense and red for attack, and then the die were revealed and combat was resolved that way?

I don't have access to my books here at work, but I can look when I get home, or maybe someone will recognize the system before I can find it.

Yeah, that rings a bell. Not sure if that's what I was thinking of, but it definitely rings a bell.

 

[Simon Collins]

I bet if you posted this question over on The Forge board you'd get a quick answer. I recall someone once describing this system to me, and he was very much into small press game playing.

The description had a "rock-paper-scissor" quality to it.

I did spend some time a while ago immersing myself in small press RPGs so it could have been. That 'rock-paper-scissors' feel was definitely the theme I remember, though a tad more complex obviously.

 

[Piratecat]

This sounds like the Spycraft chase system, actually.

 

[Simon Collins]

Yeah, that rings a bell. Not sure if that's what I was thinking of, but it definitely rings a bell.

Ah, just did a search on this and it's the Riddle of Steel Initiative system, which I have definitely read but not played. I don't think this is what I was thinking of but I knew I knew it and again it's similarly themed to what I'm looking for, except it just determines initiative (though it can affect the combat significantly of course). I was looking for something where a declaration of attack/defense moves was made each round I think.

 

[Simon Collins]

Ah, just did a search on this and it's the Riddle of Steel Initiative system, which I have definitely read but not played. I don't think this is what I was thinking of but I knew I knew it and again it's similarly themed to what I'm looking for, except it just determines initiative (though it can affect the combat significantly of course). I was looking for something where a declaration of attack/defense moves was made each round I think.

OK, just read through the whole of the Riddle of Steel combat system and the choosing of maneuvers each round and allocating dice from a pool to attack and defense maneuvers is now ringing a huge bell. I'm now pretty sure it was the RoS combat system I was thinking of but if anyone knows of anything similar, particularly with cards or d20 related, I'd be interested to hear about it.