Reply To: Can RPGs learn from Wargaming?

[onlyonepinman 18062xp 3]

• Do people think that rolling to dodge weapons fire in RPGs doesn’t feel right?
• Could you make it a more static test of can the shooter hit the target?
• Would it make more sense the target to have to use their environment to impose against the shooter?
• Are you just playing a wargame at that point (Frostgrave? Rangers of Shadowdeep)?
• Do people like their, no it is a RPG  and my character is dodgy so I dodge nature of such typical systems.
• What else could RPGs learn from wargaming?
• What other principles would you like to see make the cross over?

There isn’t really any right answer to any of these. I have recently seen a discussion on an Infinity Facebook group about the Infinity RPG and people are complaining about “abstract combat” and an “abstract money system”. All dice rolls in all games an abstraction not a simulation so they won’t ever feel “right” as such, they will only meet a personal preference, or not. Questions like should a characters roll to dodge bullets? Well, why not? The first question you have to ask is should dodging bullets, regardless of how it is abstracted into a game mechanic, be possible at all? You have to decide what it is that you are trying to simulate. Is it the Matrix where some stands on the spot and apparently flails their arms around or is it someone being possessed of quick reflexes and a sharp eye noticing that they’re being lined up for a shot and diving out the way fractions of a second before the trigger is pulled. It may be both or neither depending on the setting of the game. Once you have made a decision whether a particular action should be allowed in the game you can ask the question is it an active action or a passive action

• Passive – occurs automatically without requiring any action by the player.
• Active – player elects to do the action

Then how does the effect manifest? Is it a stand alone roll, is it a versus roll or does it just confer a penalty/bonus?

• Stand alone – player rolls against a pre determined target and this target is not affected by their opponent
• Versus – both attacker and defender roll against the other to see who gets the best score based on whatever mechanics are in use
• Penalty/Bonus – the action requires no roll and either provides some numerical bonus to the player taking the action or provides a penalty to the attacker.

Whilst dodge is the example given the above applies to pretty much everything in both RPGs and Wargames. The dice mechanic is not a simulation of reality it is an abstraction of it, a means of determining whether a stated action is successful or not.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s some really, really bad abstractions out there and the most popular RPGs in the world (D&D and Pathfinder) are absolutely full of things that don’t really make any sense.  And in most games you will find at least one thing that makes you raise an eyebrow. But at the end of the day the rules still serve their purpose

I don’t really think RPGs can learn anything specific from wargames or vice versa. I think, however, there’s some very clever and fun mechanics in use in lots of game of both types that could be fun if ported into other games but that probably cuts both ways