Fitz: Action Cards and Calling Forward an Action

[Primal]

I'm intriqued by your speed chart house rules mentioned here: http://mojobob.com/roleplay/hero/fantasy/house_phases.html

 

...but I am a little confused about the "Calling Forward An Action" part.

Calling Forward An Action

This works slightly differently than the official rules. To successfully Call Forward an action, the player must use Action Cards to equal or better the number of the Phase in which the attack occurs. Once Dodging (or whatever), the character is deemed to be Dodging until his or her next Phase, as usual, but because they have to use up their Action Cards to act faster than they otherwise could, they will get fewer actions that Turn.

Ok.. so it's segment 11, and a speed 3 character (Bob) has drawn 2, 3, and 8 for his cards, but he wants to dodge right now. As I read it, that means Bob has to turn in his 8 and his 3 in order to dodge, correct? Because 8 + 3 = 11 which satisfies the "equal or better" rule..

If Bob had been unlucky enough to draw 2, 3, and 7, he would have to turn in all three cards in order to dodge in 11. (2+3+7=12, which satisfies the "equal or better" rule)

If Bob had been even more unlucky, and he drew a 2, 3, and 5, there would be no way he could dodge in phase 11 at all, since 2+3+5=10, and 10<11, which doesn't satisfy the "equal or better" rule...

 

Do I have that right? The fact that Bob absolutely can't dodge in 11 isn't necessarily known because nobody but Bob necessarily knows what cards he has, right?

 

If Bob tends to draw cards in an unlucky fashion, though, he may decide to always dodge on his last card of the turn, no? Perhaps a rule of: "Equal or Better" or "Your Two Highest Cards"-- your choice. That may help keep Bob's frustration levels down if he has to dive for cover from the mega-death bomb in segment 11 when he drew the 2+3+7 or similar hand..

 

In practice, do you find the final phases of a turn to be jam-packed with delayed actions, or does it usually work smoothly?

 

Thanks! (if this has already been discussed before, please point me to thread!)

[Curufea]

Re: Fitz: Action Cards and Calling Forward an Action

 

I've never read these house rules before - interesting concept.

 

I think it depends on how often you want players to be able to act in a turn. Similar to the poker rule of "betting all your remaining chips, no matter how few, will call the current bid".

 

You could go either way, depending on how long and how deadly combat tends to be in your setting.

If it only takes one or two hits to kill a character, then you'll want them to have more actions per turn in order to dodge. Or you could come up with other rules for defence - such as "if played for an abort action, a card's number is doubled" or something similar.

[Fitz]

Re: Fitz: Action Cards and Calling Forward an Action

 

Primal: assuming Bob wants to use an action to Dodge on 11, then yes, he'd have to burn his 8 and 3 cards -- why he'd want to do that I can't imagine, but there you go. However, if he wanted to Call Forward a dodge he'd just have to burn his next highest card (the 8), so he wouldn't be able to use the 8 to act on, and his next possible action phase would be 5 (if he combined his 3 and 2 cards).

 

So actually, apart from the way the Phases are determined it's not really any different to the standard rule, and that means that I forgot to update that page and delete all that palaver. Doh!

 

Curufea: the idea of multiplying the value of cards used for Abort actions isn't bad actually -- though I'd probably go with a DEX-based Adder (DEX/5 maybe) rather than a straight multiplication, since that would allow for the tragic possibility of someone who's really slow off the mark actually being unable to get in a Dodge in time, rather than the present system whereby someone who's monumentally slow is just treated as Dodging for the entire Turn.

 

Edit:

I've updated the page to read as follows:

Calling Forward actions (i.e. aborting to Dodge, Block, Dive For Cover etc.) uses up the players highest card, and he or she makes a DEX roll -- the card's face value is increased by +1 for every point the roll succeeds by (a failed roll does not subtract from the card's value).

 

If the character is Dodging, he or she is assumed to be Dodging until their next available Action Phase.

 

If the card's value plus the DEX bonus is insufficient to match the Segment number in which the attack occurs then the character does not abort successfully, though the card is still discarded.

Is that any clearer? I think that creates the sort of situation I want for combat in which nimble characters get an advantage in spontaneous actions but which doesn't make an Abort completely predictable.

[Primal]

Re: Fitz: Action Cards and Calling Forward an Action

 

Ok.. now I'm confused 9 ways from Sunday..

assuming Bob wants to use an action to Dodge on 11' date=' then yes, he'd have to burn his 8 and 3 cards -- why he'd want to do that I can't imagine, but there you go.[/quote']

However' date=' if he wanted to Call Forward a dodge he'd just have to burn his next highest card (the 8), so he wouldn't be able to use the 8 to act on, and his next possible action phase would be 5 (if he combined his 3 and 2 cards).[/quote']

So please differentiate the following terms:

(Term -- my understanding)

"abort to dodge" -- normal hero system terminology, you give up your next action in order to make a defensive reaction to what someone is trying to do to you

"use an action to dodge" -- from your first quote... seems to require the total value of the cards used up for the action to add up to the current segment's value. Can this "use an action" be any action, or just [dodge| block| dive for cover]? This method involves you getting fewer total actions in a turn.

"Call Forward a dodge" -- from your second quote.. closer to the original "abort to dodge". You still get the same number of actions in the turn... possibly requires a dex roll

 

Perhaps an explanation that went something like this would explain the idea more clearly:

Turning in Cards for Actions: To perform a normal action, you must turn a card whose face value is equal or greater to the current phase.

 

Adding Cards for Earlier Actions: More than one card can be turned in at a time, if their face values add up to equal or greater than the current phase. All cards turned in are consumed to achieve this, though, so you lose an action(s) that turn in order to jump the order a bit. This method represents a sort of desparation action, and leaves you unable to formulate a new action for a while. This action is not restricted to [dodge | block | dive for cover]. You may not turn in cards you haven't been dealt yet, so if you have just one card left for the current Turn, this option is not available to you.

 

"Adding Cards for Earlier Actions" Examples:

1) It's Phase 11, and a Speed 3 character (Bob) has drawn 2, 3, and 8 for his cards, but he really wants to take an action _right now_. That means Bob has to turn in his 8 and his 3 in order to take an action.. Because 8 + 3 = 11 which satisfies the "equal or greater" rule.. Bob still would have the 2, and could perform one more action this Turn, for a total of 2 actions.

2) If Bob had been unlucky enough to draw 2, 3, and 7, he would have to turn in all three cards in order to take his action in 11. (2+3+7=12, which satisfies the "equal or greater" rule). Bob would have no cards left, so he only have gotten a total of 1 action this Turn.

3) If Bob had been even more unlucky, and he drew a 2, 3, and 5, there would be no way he could act in phase 11 (unless Aborting, see below), since 2+3+5=10, and 10<11, which doesn't satisfy the "equal or better" rule. Bob still has all three cards, so he still can get 3 actions this Turn.

 

Aborting for Certain Defensive Actions: As with the original rules, you may abort your next action in order to [dodge | block | dive for cover]. This involves turning in the highest card you currently hold. If you are out of cards for this turn, then on the next turn, you draw your normal number of cards and then sacrifice the highest card from that draw.

 

Actions per Phase and per Turn: No matter how many cards you turn in in a phase, you still can only get one action for that phase. Any actions/cards left in your hand at the end of the turn are forfeit-- you can not carry over cards from one turn to the next.

 

Optional rule for Aborting for Actions: At GM's discretion, aborting for actions may not be automatic. With this optional rule, a dex role is required to see if you were able to [dodge | block | dive for cover] in time. For every point you make your dex roll by, add one point to the card you are turning in. If the total of Card Value + Number of Points Dex Roll Is Made By is equal to or greater than the current phase, you succeeded to block or dodge in time. If not, then you begin your [dodge | block | dive for cover] just after the attack/action occurs (if you are still able to) and are considered to be dodging/blocking/etc. until the next phase in which you act.

Please correct what I've got wrong.. I'm just extrapolating from what I understand of your system.

 

How much have you used the card system? Any insights? Faster? More Tactical? People get the hang of it quickly?

 

I also really like your magic system as well, by the way...

 

Thanks..

edit: hmm.. had to switch from "code" tags to "quote" tags for readability on my hypothetical rules explanation...

[Fitz]

Re: Fitz: Action Cards and Calling Forward an Action

 

It looks to me like you've understood it perfectly well.

 

As far as using the system goes, I've found it to be easier for the players to handle than using the Speed Chart, since they don't have to remember which Phases they act on or worry about holding actions, and the idea of matching cards to the Segment number seems to come quite intuitively to them. They also really like the fact that they can have some effect on when/how soon they can act, and that with luck they can overcome a crappy SPD.

 

By the way, I've found an excellent substitute for cards that I think I'll adopt -- dominoes. They're cheap (I can get a set for a buck), and they take up less space than cards. Plus, they're just inately cool I'll give each player a set of dominoes marked 1-12 in little bags (like dice bags) and they can draw them like Scrabble tiles.

[Curufea]

Re: Fitz: Action Cards and Calling Forward an Action

 

If you ever do an Asian theme game, you could use Mahjong tiles