Extra Actions

Two articles in one day? That's right. I'm catching up with what I wanted to write these days. The Shadowfell article was supposed to come out yesterday. Anyway!

In Opposed Rolls Combat System, I wrote of a different way to run combat. The core premise of it is a focus on actions either happening on your turn or as a reaction to others' actions. It felt bland and dry to me, but it got the point across. The other day, Izzy brought up a video he called a perfect example of what he'd want the combat in his ideal game to feel like (paraphrased). After a couple watches of the video and analyzing it by writing out what would the actions of it look like, I realized what's the missing element. The system needs more actions.

This happens a lot in cinematic fights. Why didn't I think of it sooner?
League of Legends: Clashing Winds, by ae-rie

Clashes

Let's first make an example using the Opposed Rolls Combat System. Let me first clarify, that's not its "official name", I'm just using the article title for now. ... though looking at the abbreviation, ORCS is kind of genius as a coincidence.

A clash occurs when one creature attacks, the other creature reacts by attacking also, and the two rolls are within 5 points of each other. It's that moment when the two blades meet and there's tension between the two combatants. At this point, the higher roll (if any) doesn't deal damage, it can instead take a "mini-action". I'm not sure if all of these would be general or some would be granted as class features, but examples could include:

• knocking the opponent prone,
• shoving the opponent away from you,
• breaking the opponent's weapon,
• casting a spell,
• attacking him without using the weapon that's involved in the clash,
• tossing some grainy/powdery substance in the air, possibly at the opponent.

The key concept here is that this wouldn't cost you a maneuver. It'd be an extra action on top of your action economy but with fewer options. It's you taking the opportunity to do something to the enemy.

There are two other things, unrelated to the clashes, that I want to add to the system since I'm already writing a minor 'update' to it here. The video inspired me with two more possible things one could do. A reaction to catch an ally that's about to fall within your reach, and an action to toss an ally some distance. But that's beside the point of this article.

My Theory

Things clicked together when I realized... I wanted to do something very similar in my freerunning system for the Runehack RPG. For months, I've known how I want to do the Momentum in that game. Momentum is gained by traversing routes without being slowed down (so either a clear route or a mastery of the obstacle). Momentum also lets you take "mini-actions" immediately after you move.

This is what has led me to my theory.

• In a mobility-focused tactical game, it would suck to just move and have no option to do something else on every turn. But movement is essential, so you are assumed to move on each turn.
• In a combat-focused tactical game, it would suck to just attack and have no option to do something else on every turn. But attacks are essential, so you are assumed to attack on each turn.

The only difference here is the focus of the game, otherwise, the statements are identical. This is why I propose my theory:

A game should provide the player with an option to do something extra when the focal action of the game fulfills some conditions.

Think about it. It'd suck if your attack dealt just 3 points of damage, so let's make it worth more. And traversing the routes that you've mastered or clear routes to gain more Momentum just makes sense in a parkour-themed game.

That being said, I would advise against combining it, since that would get too cumbersome to keep track of. Especially if clashes let you move, which would let you build up momentum that you could use to try to make more attacks possibly and keep the clashes up. The risk of an infinite action economy increases the more of these Extra Actions you introduce into the same system, so... I'd urge you to keep it down to a single type of Extra Actions. I don't know if I'll follow this advice myself, I might give it a go in my playtests, but I'll have to be extra careful to avoid any case of infinite actions.

I wonder what would be the reasons behind these mini-actions in other minigames I have on my mind. You'll have to wait to see that when I get to those games.

Until then, thank you for reading, and have a nice day!