s/LaSH
First Post
For those still interested, I ran a duel between two starting characters. The following encounter should shed some light on what Twilight can do. (And bump the thread for anyone still following it.)
Here, for your viewing pleasure, is an example of Twilight in action. The characters are basic starting characters.
Twilight uses a time-management system instead of rounds, and has a sort of dice pool mechanic whereby you roll a fixed number of dice with a different target number depending on how much time you devote to your action. You can multitask (you have to, to survive), and you can only do so much at once. It makes the enviroment very, very tactical. When combined with the fact that you can defend against any given attack twice (blocking and dodging at the same time), this system creates a paradigm where hitting an opponent actually means something. As does over-extending. You'll see why.
TWILIGHT in Action
Consider two students of an ancient school of martial arts. Set is quick, but not as strong as Isis. One day, the two step forth to test their mettle in unarmed combat.
RULES NOTES: I've assumed two things that aren't in the core rules for some reason. First, that the character with the highest Agility gets to choose whether to act first or last, and that whoever started off the last batch of actions gets to delay next time. Basically initiative, but with weirder implications. Second, that you can only parry with Strength, not Agility, making Strength slightly useful for unarmed combatants.
WHAT DOESN'T GET USED: There is no mental combat (think morale, but in more depth), no armour to slow down characters or absorb damage, no movement, no use of Focus to prepare action, no weapons and ensuing encumbrance, and no use of Fate to modify character luck. Especially, there's no magic (I might try a mage duel in a while, just to show off the unreleased magic rules).
NOTE: I used this to get to sleep last night. I made a couple of errors (namely rounding up instead of down when Isis was suffering a penalty). However, they're not too bad and don't really alter the outcome of the fight. All dodges are assumed to be on-the-spot, not move-based, thus only affecting one attack. (I didn't have the patience to set up minis - I wrote it all down whilst lying in bed.)
SET
Body 3
Strength 1
Agility 3
Appearance 2
Mind 2
Dedication 1
Intellect 1
Presence 1
Spirit 1
Power 0
Channeling 0
Fate 0
Important Skills
Unarmed Combat 3 (4 dice parrying, 6 dice otherwise)
Acrobatics 3 (6 dice)
Heal 1
Heal (Aid) 2 (4 dice total)
ISIS
Body 3
Strength 2
Agility 2
Appearance 2
Mind 2
Dedication 1
Intellect 1
Presence 1
Spirit 1
Power 0
Channeling 0
Fate 0
Important Skills
Unarmed Combat 3 (5 dice)
Acrobatics 3 (5 dice)
Heal 1
Heal (Aid) 2 (4 dice total)
Observant people who've read the rules will note that neither combatant has enough skill points. That's true - I gave them ranks in Athletics, Bravery, Command etc, but they never saw play. Assume they're filled in with 'flavour' skills.
THA FIGHT
=========
This is how it appears from the outside:
A frenzied display of kicks, counter-strikes, blocks and dodges. Isis gets kicked around a little in the beginning, and is staggered from one particularly lucky punch that Set gets in. The fighters start taking bigger risks, as neither is doing much to faze the other. Isis tries to pull herself together, and despite taking a one-two punch from Set, manages to block a strong kick and come out swinging. The two are still stale-mated. Eventually, Isis commits to a fairly powerful punch, which weakens Set slightly and makes him mad enough to try his ultimate, strongest possible punch. But Isis takes advantage of the wind-up and manages to knock him almost to the brink of unconsciousness - completely spoiling his attack. She taps him on the jaw, sending him unconscious to the floor. Although he's bleeding from that last blow, he'll be fine when he wakes up in half an hour or so.
The fight was characterised by a very defensive early stage, with quick, restrained attacks allowing lots of defence. And because both blocking and dodging come out with the same rough result as an equal attack, this meant that most attacks didn't stand a chance of getting through - most damage came from combatants running out of limbs to use in an exchange and being unable to block. When the fighters opened up and started risking themselves with bigger attacks, they started taking damage and eventually made a mistake. Every time I play this system, it's the character who tries a 5 increment action that takes a fall.
If there had been weapons and armour involved, these two characters wouldn't have had it so easy. Their motions would have to have been slower (weapons apply a penalty to attacks, thus you have to take more increments for an effective attack), and their weaker attacks wouldn't have done any damage (armour reduces damage).
Here's a writeup of the first 'round' of the combat:
Set's fastest, so he chooses to wait for Isis. She chooses to test with a 1i punch. He dodges and punches back. She parries and kicks back. He blocks and kicks her, which she dodges. Neither chooses to engage in subsequent action.
(Resolving last-in, first-out
Isis dodges for 1. Set kicks for 2. Isis takes a point of non-lethal damage. (She suffers no penalties until she's taken 3.) Set's block is worth 0. Her kick? 0. Her block? 0. His punch? 4 (an unlikely result; the dice pool 'exploded'). She takes 4 non-lethal damage, bringing her total to 5 and giving her one penalty on physical actions. His dodge? 0. She's at one penalty, so she has to roll half dice (using an optional rule under which penalties that reduce the target below 1 instead halve the available dice). She scores 0 successes on her punch.
As you can see, Twilight is extremely tactical and extremely focused on active defense. A combat rarely sees measurable damage from blows beyond that one blow that screws one combatant over completely, and that rarely falls unless somebody makes a mistake. The actual fight consists of 25 blows (plus commensurate numbers of dodges and blocks), and would have consisted of many more if Set hadn't screwed up and gone for a big finish. (The big finishes never work unless you've got backup to keep enemies off you.)
Here, for your viewing pleasure, is an example of Twilight in action. The characters are basic starting characters.
Twilight uses a time-management system instead of rounds, and has a sort of dice pool mechanic whereby you roll a fixed number of dice with a different target number depending on how much time you devote to your action. You can multitask (you have to, to survive), and you can only do so much at once. It makes the enviroment very, very tactical. When combined with the fact that you can defend against any given attack twice (blocking and dodging at the same time), this system creates a paradigm where hitting an opponent actually means something. As does over-extending. You'll see why.
TWILIGHT in Action
Consider two students of an ancient school of martial arts. Set is quick, but not as strong as Isis. One day, the two step forth to test their mettle in unarmed combat.
RULES NOTES: I've assumed two things that aren't in the core rules for some reason. First, that the character with the highest Agility gets to choose whether to act first or last, and that whoever started off the last batch of actions gets to delay next time. Basically initiative, but with weirder implications. Second, that you can only parry with Strength, not Agility, making Strength slightly useful for unarmed combatants.
WHAT DOESN'T GET USED: There is no mental combat (think morale, but in more depth), no armour to slow down characters or absorb damage, no movement, no use of Focus to prepare action, no weapons and ensuing encumbrance, and no use of Fate to modify character luck. Especially, there's no magic (I might try a mage duel in a while, just to show off the unreleased magic rules).
NOTE: I used this to get to sleep last night. I made a couple of errors (namely rounding up instead of down when Isis was suffering a penalty). However, they're not too bad and don't really alter the outcome of the fight. All dodges are assumed to be on-the-spot, not move-based, thus only affecting one attack. (I didn't have the patience to set up minis - I wrote it all down whilst lying in bed.)
SET
Body 3
Strength 1
Agility 3
Appearance 2
Mind 2
Dedication 1
Intellect 1
Presence 1
Spirit 1
Power 0
Channeling 0
Fate 0
Important Skills
Unarmed Combat 3 (4 dice parrying, 6 dice otherwise)
Acrobatics 3 (6 dice)
Heal 1
Heal (Aid) 2 (4 dice total)
ISIS
Body 3
Strength 2
Agility 2
Appearance 2
Mind 2
Dedication 1
Intellect 1
Presence 1
Spirit 1
Power 0
Channeling 0
Fate 0
Important Skills
Unarmed Combat 3 (5 dice)
Acrobatics 3 (5 dice)
Heal 1
Heal (Aid) 2 (4 dice total)
Observant people who've read the rules will note that neither combatant has enough skill points. That's true - I gave them ranks in Athletics, Bravery, Command etc, but they never saw play. Assume they're filled in with 'flavour' skills.
THA FIGHT
=========
This is how it appears from the outside:
A frenzied display of kicks, counter-strikes, blocks and dodges. Isis gets kicked around a little in the beginning, and is staggered from one particularly lucky punch that Set gets in. The fighters start taking bigger risks, as neither is doing much to faze the other. Isis tries to pull herself together, and despite taking a one-two punch from Set, manages to block a strong kick and come out swinging. The two are still stale-mated. Eventually, Isis commits to a fairly powerful punch, which weakens Set slightly and makes him mad enough to try his ultimate, strongest possible punch. But Isis takes advantage of the wind-up and manages to knock him almost to the brink of unconsciousness - completely spoiling his attack. She taps him on the jaw, sending him unconscious to the floor. Although he's bleeding from that last blow, he'll be fine when he wakes up in half an hour or so.
The fight was characterised by a very defensive early stage, with quick, restrained attacks allowing lots of defence. And because both blocking and dodging come out with the same rough result as an equal attack, this meant that most attacks didn't stand a chance of getting through - most damage came from combatants running out of limbs to use in an exchange and being unable to block. When the fighters opened up and started risking themselves with bigger attacks, they started taking damage and eventually made a mistake. Every time I play this system, it's the character who tries a 5 increment action that takes a fall.
If there had been weapons and armour involved, these two characters wouldn't have had it so easy. Their motions would have to have been slower (weapons apply a penalty to attacks, thus you have to take more increments for an effective attack), and their weaker attacks wouldn't have done any damage (armour reduces damage).
Here's a writeup of the first 'round' of the combat:
Set's fastest, so he chooses to wait for Isis. She chooses to test with a 1i punch. He dodges and punches back. She parries and kicks back. He blocks and kicks her, which she dodges. Neither chooses to engage in subsequent action.
(Resolving last-in, first-out
Isis dodges for 1. Set kicks for 2. Isis takes a point of non-lethal damage. (She suffers no penalties until she's taken 3.) Set's block is worth 0. Her kick? 0. Her block? 0. His punch? 4 (an unlikely result; the dice pool 'exploded'). She takes 4 non-lethal damage, bringing her total to 5 and giving her one penalty on physical actions. His dodge? 0. She's at one penalty, so she has to roll half dice (using an optional rule under which penalties that reduce the target below 1 instead halve the available dice). She scores 0 successes on her punch. As you can see, Twilight is extremely tactical and extremely focused on active defense. A combat rarely sees measurable damage from blows beyond that one blow that screws one combatant over completely, and that rarely falls unless somebody makes a mistake. The actual fight consists of 25 blows (plus commensurate numbers of dodges and blocks), and would have consisted of many more if Set hadn't screwed up and gone for a big finish. (The big finishes never work unless you've got backup to keep enemies off you.)
