Why is movement in D&D (and many other RPGs) a fixed variable? It seems to me a lot of tension could be added to combat by requiring a die roll after declaring a move. Will I be able to close to melee range with the wizard, or not? Can I go around the square with the caltrops and still beat on the orc this round?
Here's the basic idea: 20 feet of movement gets you a d4 squares of movement, while 30 feet gets you a d6. A little chart of some sort can be extrapolated further from these two data points. A double move would be 2dX but charging would be dX times two.
While I'm re-writing movement systems for games, how about Savage Worlds? Why is walking certain but running risking? (I.e. a normal move is 6" but a run is d6+6".) I say flip those around. Make a walk d6 inches and running adds 6 to that.
I don't have either the SRD or my copy of Savage Worlds in front of me as I write this, I'm just brainstorming here. If you foresee a conflict between the rules as written and my idea, please let me know.
A Return to the Stars
-
After a veeeeerrrryyyy long, and mostly unplanned, hiatus, Stuart and I got
together to play more Stargrave in recent days. It was good! It was also a
bit ...
%202.png)
.JPG)
.png)
.gif)
Posts
Just a few random thoughts on random movement:
ReplyDeleteMovement being fixed is one of the few things PCs have "control" of, that is they don't have to go to the dice to determine "success." If you go to this you might want to allow for "better than average" success. Have Move 20 be d4+1 squares. Otherwise a PC only gets his full base movement on the highest roll.
My other concerns would be: 1)slowdown of gameplay as the DM has to roll for movement for every badguy and 2) Probably increases the effectiveness of spellcasters and missle combatants to the detrement of melee types.
Both excellent points, bobaloo. Maybe the solution is allowing rolling the dice as an option, with the results leaning towards getting a boost. 20' = d6? Or maybe d4+2?
ReplyDeleteDice as an option seems a good idea, my impression is that (for d20, at least) it would even fit in with feats better. The option could be gained via a feat and/or improvements on the option could be derived.
ReplyDeleteAlso, d4+2 initally seemed like too much of a boost. (Move 20 folks would move more 50% of the time.) But, if that's what you're going for it works.
Another thought I had after I posted was that "how often do PCs use all of a single move anyways" whinh could cut down on the extra dice rolling concern. (i.e. no rolling would be necessary if they were only taking 5' steps, or the movement is under the "minimum possble.")