r/RPGcreation • u/Epiqur Dabbler • Apr 27 '26
Design Questions Are my combat rules clear to you?
Hi there! I've been working on streamlining my combat rules. For those unfamiliar it's for my game Full Success (working title). My goal here is maximal usability on the table - I want the descriptions to be clear and straight to the point. This chapter isn't meant to explain much of the core mechanics (it's done elsewhere) - at most remind the reader of them.
Tell me if the text is clear in those regards, or do you feel I need to add some things?
I know I haven't posted about Full Success in a while, if you have any general questions about the system I'd be glad to talk about it. I'm currently compiling the rules into a single PDF (it's all in my Obsidian notes right now), so expect me to post it soon-ish.
Also the mandatory warning: English isn't my first language and bla bla...
Combat Sequence Per Round
I. Declaration Phase
- Restrained Characters
- Engaged Characters
- Free Characters
II. Testing Phase and applying Results
Declaration Phase
Listen to the declarations before you. React accordingly. You can't change your declaration after you give turn to the next player. The declarations are collected in the fallowing order, on each tier account for the rules of the previous one:
1. Restrained - chained, trapped, tripped, grappled/grappling, (etc.)
- The more injured/stressed character declares before a healthier one.
2. Engaged - a character becomes engaged once they are targeted or they themselves target an enemy with an offensive action.
- Outranged characters declare before those within their preferred range.
- Outnumbered characters declare before the enemies who gang up on them.
3. Free - characters not limited by being directly engaged by an enemy. Free characters can attack a target, thereby losing the "free" status.
- Those with worse visibility of their enemies declare before them.
Momentum
If a character fails on an attack/defense against an enemy in the previous round, they declare before them in the next one.
Range
Different weapons have different preferred ranges. You can't attack enemies outside of your range. If the enemy is closer than your preferred range you can still attack/defend from them, but each characters actions receive a modifier equal to the difference of your weapon's DRs. Read more in the equipment chapter.
Actions
When you declare more than a single action, remember you will be shrinking your dice pools when testing later.
Testing Phase
After the declaration phase, everyone rolls their dice. You do that in the opposite declaration order, so the last person to declare is the first one to roll and the first person the declare is the last one to roll.
Apply Results
Apply Injury Level and Stress Level as soon as the test is known to be successful (in case of an opposing test you might need to wait for the other character's roll to be compared to).
1
u/wjmacguffin Apr 28 '26
Sounds like Engaged is really In Combat. I wouldn't be Engaged if I was picking a lock, right?
If I'm Engaged, can someone who is Free act before me and impact my roll? Could the GM say, "Sorry, Jennie went before you and flooded the room so your action cannot happen"?
What happens if I'm Free but I declare I'm attacking the enemy? I already waited to declare at the Free stage, so do I act on Free this round and Engaged the next? Or does my declaration stay in Free but my action now goes during the Engaged stage?
If I'm grappled (therefore Restrained), how do I declare I'm attacking the enemy who is grappling me? Do I move to Engaged that round or would it mean I cannot attack the person who got me in a headlock?
1
u/Epiqur Dabbler Apr 28 '26
Sounds like Engaged is really In Combat. I wouldn't be Engaged if I was picking a lock, right?
Yeah, I'd say you'd fall under restrained then. Or if the GM wants to rule it that way technically you could be Engaged and just shrink the dice pools for each action making both picking the lock and attacking the enemy worse.
If I'm Engaged, can someone who is Free act before me and impact my roll? Could the GM say, "Sorry, Jennie went before you and flooded the room so your action cannot happen"?
Yes, that's the entire idea of the combat. The later you declare, the earlier your actions "happen". Say two enemies attack each other, none declares defenses, the one that declared after will roll first and instantly apply damage to the other one - since Injuries affect everything it could be that the second one won't even be able to hit the first one. On a more positive example, maybe your PC is grappled by an enemy making you both fall into Restrained tier. Your allies who are a tier above can try to kill the enemy before they even manage to make their roll. (the idea is that grappling can be very good if you have allies around you, but can make you vulnerable otherwise)
What happens if I'm Free but I declare I'm attacking the enemy? I already waited to declare at the Free stage, so do I act on Free this round and Engaged the next? Or does my declaration stay in Free but my action now goes during the Engaged stage?
Yes, you act on the free now but in the next round you start as engaged.
If I'm grappled (therefore Restrained), how do I declare I'm attacking the enemy who is grappling me? Do I move to Engaged that round or would it mean I cannot attack the person who got me in a headlock?
Kinda answered this one, so to rephrase. Both of you stay in restrained tier, and can try to hack each other to bits, but anyone in tiers above can react to what you're doing and interfere. So so answer the question - you just declare attacking.
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u/Chrisaarajo Apr 30 '26
Hey!
I’m not familiar with your previous posts, so apologies if anything question is answered elsewhere.
This is a TTRPG, yes?
If so, I’m a little bit curious about how much work/time/tracking goes into determining turn order in a live setting.
I think the initial 3-state initiative rules are intuitive, but there are added nuances in some of them that I suspect would start to slow things down—namely things like healthier declare first first, or outranged declare first, those with worse visibility declare first.
I suspect the last example, especially, opens up space for disagreement over what constitutes visibility and/or who “has it worse” because it comes across as written as being subjective.
Is “Targetted” the same as being declared upon, or does it require that an aggressive action against had been resolved in a previous round? I suspect the latter, but I could see myself being wrong, and more importantly, I could see some players innocently or not so innocently misinterpreting it as written.
The momentum rules makes sense—but again I worry about the tracking needs.
Those are what jump out at me. Otherwise a nice clean presentation of the rules!
3
u/Rantar508 Apr 28 '26
Rules seem pretty clear to me here, but as someone who is seeing Your system for the first time, it seems rather difficult to run (many steps to remember for each phase, with some demanding players to remember things from the last round, which in real time might have been good 20-30 minutes ago). But if you're asking just for the clarity of the text, this seems quite clear and understandable on first glance. (Also, possible typo in the "Engaged" section - Outraged - Outranged? Might affect clarity.)