One thing that I'm actually feeling a bit conflicted on is reactivity. But first, an example and definition of reactivity, since it is a word I am making up. Reactivity is how the system allows for players to react to the actions or events of a game. A system is considered to be highly reactive or to have high reactivity if players can react to every action and reaction of other players or situations in the game. Most of what I'm going to cover in this post is reactivity in the combat, we'll get to how I want other systems to work later. After all, Part 2 is all about Combat.
Reactivity can be both a good thing and a bad thing. A system with a healthy amount of reactivity allows players to take charge of an event that doesn't start in their favor or keep control of an event that started in their favor, while the opposition provides a challenge to that control without directly wresting it away from them. A system with an unhealthy lack of reactivity basically forces players to acquiesce to the actions of their allies and opponents without allowing them to do anything about it. And a system with an unhealthy amount of reactivity takes the control of the situation out of the player's hands and puts it in the hands of whomever ends up with the last say.
I'd rather try and set up the framework for a system that has a healthy amount of reactivity. Now a lot of that means building a system that works in most circumstances and then helping smooth out the outlying ones when we get to testing them.
Now, to dive into how I want reactivity to affect this system and how it is in systems I'm familiar with.
In D&D of the various kinds, the reactivity tends to be very low, however characters are usually able to still take charge of most situations. Now, part of the problem in most editions of D&D is that many characters who weren't spellcasters couldn't take control of any situation at higher levels. The other part is that a lot of combat turned into rolling dice against numbers that were already static without any interaction or interplay with those actions, really. There are abilities to hold actions until specific actions taken by opponents, and the ability to react to specific things, but most powers and feats negate that at higher levels and it gets boring as crap.
Now, in a different game (that's actually in a different genera, but it's similar enough to take some pointers from), called Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack (Or Mobile Frame Zero: Alpha Bandit, but that's the expansion on space combat), there is a high amount of reactivity which makes the game enjoyable to be played. The basic premise is that you control a small squad of mecha and so do your opponents -- this being a wargame, your friends are your opponents. The priority favors those who bring just few assets to the fight to go first, but not be at a severe disadvantage. But the reactive part comes when an opponent attacks one of your frames. If you're attacked, immediately you get to react with the frame that is attacked. I enjoy that aspect because it keeps people involved in the game.
My main problem with combat is that it becomes too un-involved in most current systems. So, it needs to become faster-paced so that people's attention stays focused. Unfortunately being more reactive breaks combat flow a bit. However, it keeps people tied to the game, even when it's not their turn. Due to that fact, I'm going to try and find a balance to keeping people involved with by making the system more reactive, and smooth flow to combat.
I'm thinking that defenses will stop being static. While that is really convenient in combat, I think that by making defenses active, I can promote some reactivity. So, now we come to the basic way for you to react to the actions that happen around you. The reaction.
The reaction is a set of actions that you can use off of your turn, mainly when you are attacked, as a defense. For example, deflecting a sword blow with your shield is a reaction. However, so is stalling your air-bike so that you drop below a missile. Most reactions either require a roll that may or may not fail, or they cost vitality, though not as much as actually taking the hit would. And most of these probably don't work with every single circumstance, so they're situational.
This is how I feel that I can take armor and turn it into damage reduction without losing much. Big meathunk guys can wade through hits without really needing to parry and such, and can, instead, take options for their reactions that make them extra powerful at dealing tons of damage, controlling the battlefield, or keeping their allies safe. Lightly armored fighters can have amazing defensive maneuvers that keep them from taking a single scratch. Magicky people can do magicky things and poof stuff.
More will be detailed as I start figuring out the characters' abilities and stuff, but I really think that using this is a step in the right direction.
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