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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6263216" data-attributes="member: 27160">Close but not quite: I would be very happy to see a combat (or any other) sim that handles actions in chronological order, but I think any such model that approaches believability would be extremely complex, rather cumbersome and painfully slow. In lieu of that I am happy to accept a high degree of abstraction in the actions attempted. In other words, instead of saying "I attempt to swing my sword and hit the orc's left shoulder", I use action descriptions that say things like "I make an attack move on the orc in an attempt to disable him somehow". The resolution system is then tasked with coming up with a plausible (given the fantasy setting) array of outcomes that come up with a reasonable (preferably "balanced") distribution of probabilities.It's quite important that, within that resolution system, there are not "pseudo-steps" that are taken to mean something specific in the fiction that breaks my ability to imagine the actual action flow in a believable manner. If it's shouted out to me that "a hit must mean that I swung my honking big sword in an arc and chopped into the sucker like I was felling an oak!" as a result of how the rules work, that's a problem.Yep - all with you, here.And here - dunno why I put a quote break in; put it down to force of habit! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Agreed - "roll a die for succeed or fall short" is a fine core for a simple resolution system, and one that can work for me no worries. Where that roll is only part of the resolution system, though, there is a danger, for me. The danger is that if the first part of the resolution system (the roll, say) is taken to represent a specific step or break-point in the process in the fiction, it risks imposing a process on the fiction that is irreconcilable with my understanding of what is being modelled.I might phrase this differently, but basically I agree. Generally, a decision should be made before a resolution is triggered, and the outcomes possible from the resolution system should always be compatible with that decision. I.e., if the decision is (as my example above) "I make an attack move on the orc in an attempt to disable him somehow", then a result of "you get him to surrender" would not fit. "You have an open opportunity to maim him, but he begs for mercy - what do you do?", on the other hand, might fit - but it would depend upon the tone and world genre that we were trying to get from the game, for that, more than any absolute aesthetic.Meh - that's a semantic issue, to me. You might not be able to literally put an ooze "prone", but I can see that a seasoned fighter would think of something to do that would have much the same effect. Just call it "disrupted" or something - if you misshape or spin around its nucleus I can believe it would mess it up until it was able to "pull itself together" (possibly literally!). But, then again, if oozes were "un-pronable" it wouldn't be a big deal (as long as balance and monster power effects were considered on the design side - all quite do-able). Can't get excited either way.Well, 4E managed it pretty well, so I'm sure it's perfectly possible. 3.x only had a few "proud nails" in this respect - the main issues were with balance (past level 8-10) and fiddle factor (particularly for the DM). So it seems likely that 5e can manage it, too - my only real fear is that 5e is made a boring, fiddly or unbalanced game as a result. I'm confident that it won't be, but it's too early to know for sure. The question then is, will it have a USP to positively recommend it? Of that I am far less confident, but again it's too early to say for certain so I'll just keep a watching brief.Not just those, but games that have included actual "experience points" (or close analogues) that contribute to improving specific skills or abilities include DragonQuest and Powers & Perils.</blockquote>

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