One- Round Combat Playtest report!

The first playtest has been completed. And here are the notes for how it works. Please see the previous post, but a quick recap is as follows:

The game is #OTC, or One-Turn-Combat, or OTCrpg, and honestly, bolting in the combat resolution mechanics from WHFB into another game ended up being a pretty good idea.

Scenario-wise the game we ran was actually "The Trial" from Heroquest, complete with a double-sized hallway map and a very small, hireling-free party. The roleplaying was decent(they had this whole lore thing with the two characters that rolled up background that don't start with shit weapons were prisoners who were fighting to gain freedom) and they generally acclimated to the concept well. They still played as tactical, looked through keyholes, etc. I picked the heroquest map(it was altered to double the size of the outer and inner hallways, so they could "rank up" without having to worry too much re: flanks. It also has stuff like weapons racks and an altar with a magic book which gave me a cheap excuse to attempt some of the other mechanics - players learned really quick that having better weapons/armor is good.

They liked the mechanic of the turnover - and I do think that the Turnover mechanic helps break up the meta that dominates the B/X-ish/adjacent dungeon game - said meta is hiring as many hirelings as humanly possible and winning in sheer numbers - but hirelings in Aketon and more importantly, OTCrpg don't really guarantee amazing results with the turnover. It's less about having lots of attacks and being able to throw as much combat dice as possible and more focusing on having quality combat dice, because enemies having a free-counter attack means you want to be careful.

It also had some niggling bits here and there - from this point on I won't be adding wounds that get removed every round but kills remain, instead we have a thing called Doom, which just sounds nicer than "points" and it was much easier. All Doom is removed after combat resolution(and I made some notes to experiment with having certain things cause Doom is be carried over, like poison or magical curses or amputations and such). 

All of them liked the concept of the banner, and there was a lot of questions about cheesing the system, like if there's one guy in the "front" and the rest are in the "back" and we concluded that while that means your ability to deal hits is quite limited(unless you're absolutely stacked to the gills in plate, at which point enemy turnovers are common), it's very badass to hold back the line yourself, and should count as a banner bonus. 
There wasn't much chance to test bard mechanics, even though I honestly believe their Tale Worth Telling ability is extremely useful - the ability to grant levels outside of kills and break ties is really good. 

Otherwise, the general conclusion is that the system needs work, it's got the ghost of a good idea in there, and with further testing has a good chance to speed up games in a way that's tactically interesting and fun.

Next game will be Sailors on the Starless Sea, a combat and trap-heavy affair which from my reading will provide made opportunities to fix this up nicely. This may or may not be after the game on April, but one way or another, the system must be tested with larger enemies and the terrible opportunity for attacks on the side and rear! May Byzan never fall! 

- Klang