Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

 

-EDIT-

200 posts! Whoo-hoo! Look on my works ye mighty and despair!

 

Go look at Lemming's post count.

 

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

[JMcL63]

Re: Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

 

Go look at Lemming's post count.

 

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

So much for my attempt at irony then...

[Agent X]

Re: Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

 

Hey, I like that!

 

And maybe some additional rules; for example, you can't attack on two consecutive turns within eight segm- um, impulses? You know, to prevent the unrealistic tactic of unloading a 'full broadsword' at the end of one turn and then again at the start of the next turn?

When I saw the first set of HERO vehicle rules long ago, I knew someone was ripping someone else off.

[zebediah]

Re: Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

 

Here's a related, but different idea...the whole "phaze/turn" structure is pretty well embedded in Hero, and works well.

 

But it seems that, for most things, the basic unit of time is not the "phaze" but the "half phaze"--most actions take a half phaze. Looking down the "Combat Maneuvers Table" the only things I see that don't take a half phaze or are zero phaze actions are Set (1 phaze) and escaping form a grab, which takes a variable amount of time. And taking a recovery, though that's not listed as a "combat maneuver."

 

 

What I'm wondering is, why not make "speed" be 2 + Dex/5 and be the number of "actions" you get in a turn, where an action is all those thigns that are normally now a half-phaze action? Spread them out evenly across the time chart, and if you have more than 12 actions, you get an action in every segment, plus an extra action in every segment that would have an actions for (your speed - 12).

 

"full phaze" actions (like taking a recovery) just take 2 actions.

 

"Attack actions," which were half-phaze actions that ended your turn, would have the additional restriction: you cannot take an attack action if your last action was an attack action. You many not take a 0-phaze action after an attack action (or possibly, you cannot take a 0-phaze action before an attack action), to prevent switching your multipower between your Big Attack and Big Defense too quickly.

 

 

Do people thing this results in too many zero-phaze actions? That it's wonky in other ways? Under that change, someone with 6 actions (old SPD 6) could, in fact, have 3 recoveries and attack twice in a turn, including the post-12, but I don't think that's a huge (or unbalancing) difference...

[Old Man]

Re: Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

 

It should be noted that the 1 second turn is what Car Wars uses -or at least used to use as I have not seen the new rules. One attack per turn but movement was spread over 10 segments.

[zornwil]

Re: Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

 

I think this is a really interesting idea' date=' Phil! I like it for a lot of reasons, including the finer granularity, and the placing of SPD on the same 10-base as the Primary Characteristics. In fact, it might be worth taking it even a step further. Remove DEX from it entirely, give it a base value of 10 like the others, and make it a Primary CHA.[/quote']

At the airport, in a hurry, but ditto, don't know if I'd embrace it but it is highly interesting.

[zornwil]

Re: Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

 

I will add I'm also a proponent of the SPD chart. I will say that I am NOT a fan of DEX-ordered movement within the SPD chart; I consider all actions in a seg simultaneous. So if you shoot at the bad guy, he still gets a shot at you. Now, I allow for "heroic actions" by letting a simple DEX roll dictate if you can jump in front of the innocent as he's about to get hit, for example, but basically other than that this is the singular "innovation" (by no means did I invent the idea) that I'm very happy with in managing HERO actions.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: Using 1-second turns instead of SPD chart

 

While I like the speed chart, I don't think getting rid of it is blasphemy or even a big deal. All it means is that all characters - PCs, NPCs, Heroes, Villains, Innocent Bystanders - all have the same SPD. Then all you have to do is decide what that SPD is. 3 or 4 is probably best for a fairly low-power heroic game, while 6 or higher might be good for a superheroic game. The only difference is in how often they get an auto-recovery, relative to the number of actions they get. If everyone has a 12 SPD for free, it's perfectly fair. They'll be burning lots of END, but everyone is getting the same thing. Sure Bricks will be powerful, but speedsters will have lots of extra points to spend.

 

If you really want to drop the speed chart, you can just say, "All characters must have X SPD," and procede from there without changing the system at all.

 

I happen to like having different characters have different numbers of actions in a turn, but if you don't, that's fine.