Combat with Action points.

[Vaegwrym]

Hello friends,

I have a remote memory of a call of cthulhu game a friend run where he used a house rule he said he had stolen from a different brp d100 game (I don't remember which one) that gave you action points equal to your dexterity and then you could do stuff based on them. For example attacking with a pistol needed 4 of them and so on. I do not remember it very well but it was fun. Could anyone provide further insight on what it was?

[Nozbat]

Its possibly been the TDM Mythras rules which uses APs based on INT and DEX?

Most characters have 1-3 APs per round 

 

[Atgxtg]

Tough to say.

 

I think your GM might have been using Other Suns, a Sci Fi RPG  from FGU, that was based on BRP , and that did use an action point system. I haven't seen Other Suns in awhile so someone more familiar with it would have to confirm that.

 

Other contenders could be:

Mythras has "Action Points" but the determine the number of actions you get, not how many points you get to spend.

Ringworld was a BRPd100 game that based actions of DEX, with a character being able to act every so many impulse based on DEX with higher DEX characters acting more often.

First Edition DragonQuest  also had an action point mechanic, but it was dropped in later editions, and DragonQuest isn't a a BRP D100 game.

FASA's old Star Trek RPG does have action points based off of DEX that are spent like you described, but it really ins't a BRP game, although it is closer to BRP than DragonQuest is, and shares enough similarities to be almost related. 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by Atgxtg

[Vaegwrym]

@Atgxtg @Nozbat Thank you for your ideas. I will have to track these games to have a look. Maybe he lifted the idea from one of these. It was certainly not Mythras though, as we played long before its release (and I am very familiar with it too).

[Atgxtg]

I wish I could have locked it down for you. Do you have any other information to go on? I'm familiar (and have) most of the games I've mentioned, plus a few others, so if you could remember a bit more I might be able to  figure it out.

• Did the game have a rule for interrupting other players? For instance did it cost 1 action point to fire a weapon, but for 3 you could quck draw and fire?
• Did you use action potions for movement, and did it cost more to move diagonally?

Come to think of it, even the RuneQuest Strike Ranks system has some similarities with the 3SR delay for drawing a weapon. 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by Atgxtg

[Mugen]

Revolution D100 has such an initiative system in its most complex combat system.

It's similar to a system that I designed for @GianniVaccaGianniVacca's online amateur version of his Celestial Empire game, but he didn't use it for its professional publication. In this system, Initiative is both an amount of action points and your next action's rank. Say you have Init 15 and perform an action that costs 5 points, you'll act again at Init 10. Defenses also cost points, and can delay your next action.

It's also very similar to Feng Shui's system.

 

[Ian Absentia]

On 10/1/2021 at 10:09 AM, Vaegwrym said:

I have a remote memory of a call of cthulhu game a friend run where he used a house rule he said he had stolen from a different brp d100 game (I don't remember which one) that gave you action points equal to your dexterity and then you could do stuff based on them. For example attacking with a pistol needed 4 of them and so on. I do not remember it very well but it was fun. Could anyone provide further insight on what it was?

How long ago was this?  Was this a recent game?

Looking into the Wayback Machine, this sounds a lot like GDW's Snapshot, as well as the other games mentioned above.  Definitely not BRP/d100-based, but it's an idea that could be adapted pretty easily.

!i!

Edited October 3, 2021 by Ian Absentia

[smiorgan]

As mentioned above, Revolution d100 has exactly that system. 

If my memory does not fail me, Ringworld rpg also had such a system, with actions costing "impulses".

 

[Mugen]

Another similar system exists in White Wolf's second edition of Exalted and first edition of Scion, but without "rounds".

Initiative is used to determine the action rank for each character's first action. The one with the best roll acts at time t=0, and others start after a number of "ticks" equal to the difference between his roll and theirs. That is, if Arthur rolls 6 successes, Beltram roll 4 and Cecil rolls 2, they will act first at ticks 0, 2 and 4. If Arthur has an action that only costs 3 ticks, he'll be able to act twice before Cecil.

But this system looks more like an evolution of RQ Strike Ranks than DEX reverse order.

[Nozbat]

If you want to use a version of APs there are plenty of systems around ... mind you IMHO the DEX strike rank works well in CoC and doesn't necessarily need complicating as really fighting should be the last thing on any players minds

[David Scott]

On 10/1/2021 at 7:13 PM, Atgxtg said:

I think your GM might have been using Other Suns, a Sci Fi RPG  from FGU, that was based on BRP , and that did use an action point system. I haven't seen Other Suns in awhile so someone more familiar with it would have to confirm that.

Other Suns advanced combat just renamed Strike Ranks to Action Points, 12 to a melee round. Base action points (base SR) was determined by modifier tables based on DEX, WILL, END, LEN and Weapon Length modifier. 

[David Scott]

As Ian mentioned, this sounds very much like GDW's Snapshot.

AP = Dex, movement is on a 1.5m grid, lowest AP goes first

• Move 1 square (inc diagonal) 1AP
• Turn facing 1 AP per face
• Run, 2 APs per three squares
• Any gun or blade weapon may be drawn at a cost of 1 AP; a gun may be reholstered at at a cost of 2 APs; a blade weapon may be replaced in its scabbard at a cost of 6 APs.
• Any weapon may be simply dropped to the floor at no cost in APs.
• Aimed Attack 12 APs
• Snapshot 6APs

There were loads of other options including Expletive (1AP the venting of frustration and anger when a character is not capable of using his action points efficiently), mainly for space shipboard actions, but easily adaptable to CoC.

You can still buy it here. I spent many many hours playing this, and highly recommend it.

[Atgxtg]

On 10/3/2021 at 2:11 AM, smiorgan said:

If my memory does not fail me, Ringworld rpg also had such a system, with actions costing "impulses".

 

Memeory fails you. In Ringworld you would you get an Action Ranking based upon your DEX. You could take a major action (such as drawing your weapon) in a number of impulses equal to your action ranking, and a minor action (such as firing a weapon) in one impulse. Thus in Ringworld a character with an action ranking of 7 could do a major action every 7 impulses., acting on impulses 7,14,21,28,35, etc. That is assuming he didn't do any minor actions. In practice it would work out to something like, draw pistol on impulse 7, shoot on impulse 8, move behind cover on impulses 9 and 10, shoot again on impulses 11, 12, 13, and so on.

[Ian Absentia]

On 10/3/2021 at 9:09 AM, David Scott said:

As Ian mentioned, this sounds very much like GDW's Snapshot.

AP = Dex...

It's worth noting that the stat for DEX is based on a 2d6 roll, not 3d6, and generally ranges from 1 to 15 for humans.  If you're familiar with Traveller or the Cepheus Engine, then you know the scale.  Retooling the AP economy for a 1 to 21 range would take a little jiggering for consistency.

Expletive was one of my favorite (non-)actions in Snapshot.  The example from the rules described having arrived at a lift door with APs left over, but waiting for it to arrive.

!i!

[Atgxtg]

4 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

It's worth noting that the stat for DEX is based on a 2d6 roll, not 3d6, and generally ranges from 1 to 15 for humans.  If you're familiar with Traveller or the Cepheus Engine, then you know the scale.  Retooling the AP economy for a 1 to 21 range would take a little jiggering for consistency.

Not to mention jiggering a bit to handle the shift from 6 second to 12 second combat rounds. Unless you want to say they cancel out.

 

4 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

Expletive was one of my favorite (non-)actions in Snapshot.  The example from the rules described having arrived at a lift door with APs left over, but waiting for it to arrive.

!i!

I could see how this could be expanded upon to reflect roleplaying. Perhaps a devout character could say a little prayer, Spock could work on some design improvements to speed up the turbo lifts so as to avoid the inefficiency of this exact situation, etc.

[David Scott]

On 10/1/2021 at 6:09 PM, Vaegwrym said:

Hello friends,

I have a remote memory of a call of cthulhu game a friend run where he used a house rule he said he had stolen from a different brp d100 game (I don't remember which one) that gave you action points equal to your dexterity and then you could do stuff based on them. For example attacking with a pistol needed 4 of them and so on. I do not remember it very well but it was fun. Could anyone provide further insight on what it was?

Are you intending to do this in your games?

[Vaegwrym]

Dear friends. After extensive search my investigation has proven fruitless. Snapshot and ringworld are the only ones that I could not track down (YET). 

The game happened in 2010 or so. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Vaegwrym