With the Harkovian foothold established in Goza, Gozan forces scrambled to push them out.
As mentioned in my previous post I’m taking the opportunity of these early stages in the war to figure out the rules and my campaign system.
I wanted faster and deadlier melee combat as all combat so far is fairly slow. Not in terms of the mechanics, they’re very fast, but that casualty rates are low as it’s more about suppression which is what I love. But low and slow is not how melee works in modern style combat.
For a recap in my universal skirmish rules combat is all about comparing might values. Might is the only stat figures have. Then you would roll 3D6 and check a table to determine the outcome of your attack. In the Deathzap version you compare might values but that leads you to roll a number of dice, so:
If the attacker’s might is half or less than half of the targets you roll 1 die.
If the attacker’s might is less you roll 2 dice.
If values are equal you roll 3.
If the attacker’s might is more but less than double you roll 4.
If the attacker’s might is double or more than double you roll 5 dice.
Each 5 or 6 rolled counts as a success, and if the target is in cover only 6s count.
If a single success is rolled the target is pinned, if two are rolled the target is wounded and if three are rolled the target is killed. If a target already pinned is pinned again they are wounded, and if a target already wounded is wounded again then they are killed.
As you can imagine even when rolling 5 dice you’re very unlikely to kill someone outright. The single adjustment I’ve made to that basic system since trying it is that if a target is within 6″ and in the open then you roll 1 additional die and score successes on a 4+.
Melee using that same system is far too slow, so instead for now at least once you move into melee with a target you compare might values as above, but now the number of dice you would roll for shooting is a modifier to a single die roll. So for equal might values you’d roll 3 dice for a ranged attack, but for melee you’d roll D6+3. If a 7 or higher is achieved the attacker kills the target, if a 6 or lower is rolled then the attack fails.
On the campaign front I’ll be falling back on my flowchart method, it seems the easiest way to plan things out, and allows for me to put in significant outcomes:
I’ve colour coordinated the map so blue represents the Jendari Collective and red represents House Baronor. The campaign as a whole covers the first stage of the Conflict – the invasion of Goza, and if House Baronor do well the invasion of Khef, Su Khan, the Rin Empire and Dabra. If the Jendari Collective do well the invasion of Goza will fail, and the Collective will push into Haerkalia, Caerdonia and Combroth, culminating with the attempted assassination of Queen Ora.
Here’s the global map for some context if you’re interested:
While Deathzap is set in the pretty distant future and space travel is possible, the invasions are forced to take place in a more modern rather than future way. This is due to the Heaven’s Peace Accord signed by all factions within the Xolar System. Ship to ship combat between nuclear powered vessels in high orbit can have devastating effects on the ground. The ALL will police the conflict and supply arms and support to the other side should one break the Accord.
I’m looking forward to getting the ball or dice rolling!
Deathzap 