Hacks used to make RQ and combat flow better.

[Malin]

I have seen this loosely talked about in many threads, where it might have been tangential to the subject at hand but thought a thread of its own might be useful for everyone. This way, we can have a collection of discussions, house rules, tips, and tricks in one place rather than spread out everywhere. I know I at least love reading how other people do things and seeing if any of them can be used at our table.

So, in essence, this is Maximum Game Fun, Your Glorantha May Vary house rules. Feel free to share yours!

This is not a thread for critiquing others' rules; I just thought it would be interesting to see in what ways people hack the RQ rules to suit their particular table and if there are any common decisions.

I am attaching the "combat at a glance" handout I use for my campaigns in RQ; it's not a full explainer of rules, just some bullet points for the players to help them remember what they can do. Yes, we do use Roll20 (which helps), and we like granular combat with options, often with maps.

CombatRQ.docx

[Geoff R Evil]

Good simplification.  Just one note, you say its possible to flee in the same round you do a knockback, but a knockback cannot happen until SR12, so here are no SR left for movement, so that suggested action is not possible.

My house rules so far, definitely work in progress.

Also, gonna do a major rework on spirit combat, its just too boring, we had a minor HQ session where the chars had to hold off a swarm of spirits and tbh it got very boring very quickly no matter how creatively I tried to describe the action.

Weapon parries vs natural weapons

This feels wrong to be able to do damage on any parry as you can parry an enemy down, effectively getting extra attacks per round, probably hitting in the head each time if it bites.

So the new rule is that a parry does not damage a natural weapon attack, unless it is a special or critical. A special natural attack negates a special parry and same for critical. Special parry does weapon damage only, no bonus for strength or weapon bladesharp/bludgeon. A critical does weapon damage plus str and magic enhancement. An exception is fireblade, which also does damage on a normal parry (imagine biting a burning spear....). A critical parry vs a special natural weapon attack does damage as a special parry.

Consideration: give natural weapons a base AP of say +3 on existing AP vs a damaging parry?

 

Selected Location Hits

It feels unrealistic to await SR12 and half chance on hit for a targeted shot.  

So the new rule is that for each SR an attacker delays, and/or each 5% reduction on their attack skill, they may adjust the rolled hit location by up to +/-1. This decision has to be made at the statement of intent phase but the +/- selection is left until the hit location is rolled and only part of the adjustment needs to be applied.

Attacks/actions per round

The restrictions on actions per round and their types seems complex and unrealistic, especially with a single weapon with multiple attacks.  The 100%+ skill benefits need to be separated from this issue. 

You get 2 actions (within sr limits) at no penalty. This includes spellcasting and 0SR actions like parry/dodge.
You can do any 2 at no penalty. Every extra action is at a cumulative -20.
So you can
Cast and attack,

Attack and dodge.
Parry and dodge.
Attack with 2 different weapons.
All the above are at no penalty.
A third action is at half chance if an attack (including readied missile weapons),  dodges or  parries are at a cumulative -20.

A statement of intent is needed, which can only be altered if a player is no longer in melee….e.g. You kill an opponent and want to use the remaining time to heal which was not in your statement of intent, add appropriate SR for changed action (weapon changes needed, or readying an item etc).

 

 

[soltakss]

Those all make sense, thanks for sharing.

[Malin]

4 hours ago, Geoff R Evil said:

Just one note, you say its possible to flee in the same round you do a knockback, but a knockback cannot happen until SR12, so here are no SR left for movement, so that suggested action is not possible.

Ah, we have divorced movement from the SR requirement/cost, so the movement happens in SR12 too, after the knockback is successful.

[Kloster]

51 minutes ago, Malin said:

Ah, we have divorced movement from the SR requirement/cost, so the movement happens in SR12 too, after the knockback is successful.

I went the other way, bringing back a per SR move.

[Akhôrahil]

10 hours ago, Geoff R Evil said:

Good simplification.  Just one note, you say its possible to flee in the same round you do a knockback, but a knockback cannot happen until SR12, so here are no SR left for movement, so that suggested action is not possible.

It's almost true, though - what happens is that the knockback causes a disengage, which means you're free to run away (turning it into a chase instead if the other guy follows you) next turn.

[g33k]

*** My own favorite house rule to speed combat isn't a "rule" but an at-the-table behavior.

As GM, I make sure to say (each SR where anyone's going) --
"Player X, you're up now, your SOI (Statement of Intent) was <whatever it was> ... Player Y, you're up next, your SOI was ..<whatever that was>; please get ALL your dice ready!"
(I've seen surprisingly-many gamers who don't prep their dice until it's "their turn," and then the rest of us all sit around while they pick them out of the 37 gazillion dice they own; now I just prompt everyone; having a player oriented and fully-ready when it's their turn can make a big difference!)

Plus, I teach the "all-in-one" roll...  rack up everything across the palm of the hand: d100-attack + d20-location + dWhatever-damage and roll it all attempting to preserve that order!  Read the resulting roll as a sentence (this is easier when the dice are pre-racked dice & the roll preserves that order):

Quote

"08!  That's  a special to the..." (pause here to check if the foe parries/dodges) "... 12 is the chest, for 11 points of damage, plus it's Impaled!"

Yes, I *do* verbally-emphasize "special" (or critical) & "hit-location" & "damage."

*** This 1-2 punch, above (GM-prepping-players & players-prepping-dice) actually speeds-up combat more than anything else I have seen or tried!

 

*** Pre-calc & record on-sheet crit/special/fumble; re-calc / re-record when Augmenting or spell-boosting.

Some people can do these on the fly in their heads; some cannot (particularly up at the Fumble end of the results).
This would absolutely be a top time-saver (on-par with the 1-2 punch, above) if it were relevant most rounds, but the relative rarity of these rolls mean you only realize that time-savings... well, relatively-rarely 🥸.

 

*** I'm still fiddling with my "choose hit-location" rule, but it's currently exactly as per @Geoff R Evil's rule, above.

*** Change your SOI:

I treat INT as if it were DEX for SR purposes, when you're changing your mind in combat.  Add your "INT Ranks" to do something different than you had intended.  This specifically allows you to pick a new target for your same-spell, same-missile, same in-hand melee weapon, etc -- not doing a different thing, just doing the same thing to a different target.  Quicker-witted characters are just quicker about this sort of thing!

But if you're doing a different physical thing (changing to a previously-undeclared weapon, mounting/dismounting, moving more than a step or two, etc) then you must also add your DEX ranks +1 (or more), to reflect the fact that our bodies just take time to do physical stuff (the "+1 (or more)" is because even the fastest people still need to physically do the thing; they cannot teleport/etc ! )

If you're doing a different magical thing (other spell than declared) than your SOI, then I treat your POW as a DEX-like source of added SR's.

Last but not least -- and actually first! -- before any of the above, make a Battle roll (the skill).  If successful, your sense of the ebb & flow of the fight, your situational awareness, etc... were so good that you adjusted everything on the fly, and are ready to go with your new action on your original, unmodified SR (except that a munchkin cannot use their ordinary longspear to "go on an earlier SR" than their "War Maul + Bludgeon 5 Matrix").

NOTE:  both the "Chose Hit Location" & "Change SOI" HR's are actually more-complex, and slow down combat, vs. the respective RAW's!
(I use them anyhow)

[DreadDomain]

On 1/6/2024 at 1:43 AM, Geoff R Evil said:

Selected Location Hits

It feels unrealistic to await SR12 and half chance on hit for a targeted shot.  

So the new rule is that for each SR an attacker delays, and/or each 5% reduction on their attack skill, they may adjust the rolled hit location by up to +/-1. This decision has to be made at the statement of intent phase but the +/- selection is left until the hit location is rolled and only part of the adjustment needs to be applied.

I do not like maneuvers that halves skills and delay the action to SR 12. My own personal house rule (dating from my RQ3 days). Aimed Blows are at half skill but are not delayed to SR 12. They happen when they happen. 

On 1/6/2024 at 1:43 AM, Geoff R Evil said:

Attacks/actions per round

The restrictions on actions per round and their types seems complex and unrealistic, especially with a single weapon with multiple attacks.  The 100%+ skill benefits need to be separated from this issue. 

You get 2 actions (within sr limits) at no penalty. This includes spellcasting and 0SR actions like parry/dodge.
You can do any 2 at no penalty. Every extra action is at a cumulative -20.
So you can
Cast and attack,

Attack and dodge.
Parry and dodge.
Attack with 2 different weapons.
All the above are at no penalty.
A third action is at half chance if an attack (including readied missile weapons),  dodges or  parries are at a cumulative -20.

A statement of intent is needed, which can only be altered if a player is no longer in melee….e.g. You kill an opponent and want to use the remaining time to heal which was not in your statement of intent, add appropriate SR for changed action (weapon changes needed, or readying an item etc).

That's interesting. Back in the days we used many approaches for RQ3 the one we ended up settling on was (fuzzy memory here) based on removing restrictions on number of actions and make the MR even more fluid. It implied:

• Multiply attacks were allowed, the first happening on normal SR (taking into account DEX SR, SIZ SR, Weapon SR, Movement, previous actions etc.). Subsequent attacks were 3 SR later (unless other things were done in between).
• Multiply dodges and parries were allowed. I think the cumulative penalty was -30% (based on Stormbringer perhaps) but nowadays I would use -20%
• No maneuvers were arbitrarily delayed to the last SR. They were at half skill, which was enough of a penalty.
• The rest of the SR management (drawing weapons, movement, limit of etc.) were as per normal rules.  

From a sequence perspective, it went like this.

• Statement of Intent for the whole round was high level (I am casting Bladesharp and then run to Cormac to attack him) but the first action of the round was stated clearly (I cast Bladesharp) so everyone knew when they acted first.
• Once the first action of a player was completed, they would state their next, again so all knew when the next action of that character was. 
• Change of intent worked the same by adding 3 SR - By the time the first character cast Bladesharp, Cormac has started running away so instead of chasing him, I will move to attack Signy (+3 SR).

Combat was very dynamic, and we loved it. Add to it stuff like closing, disarm, knockback, fumbles, etc. and there was a lot happening. The flow was actually very fluid with the player making and adjusting decisions based on what was happening, and only having to remember their next SR.

All of this can be done in RQG except that Movement would need to be weaved back into the SR sequence. If not for that, I would probably have used that approach by now.

On 1/6/2024 at 7:18 AM, Kloster said:

I went the other way, bringing back a per SR move.

This. Having movement happen within the SR made combat so much more fluid and less abstract. Probably the rule I like the least in RQG (because short of bringing back RQ3 movement rates, it is not easy to house rule back).

On 1/6/2024 at 1:12 PM, g33k said:

*** Change your SOI:

Last but not least -- and actually first! -- before any of the above, make a Battle roll (the skill).  If successful, your sense of the ebb & flow of the fight, your situational awareness, etc... were so good that you adjusted everything on the fly, and are ready to go with your new action on your original, unmodified SR 

I like this.

Edited January 11 by DreadDomain

[DreadDomain]

Other things I do to make things smoother:

1) When a rule states to oppose CHAR1+CHAR2 vs CHAR3+CHAR4 on the resistance table, I simply use the best of CHAR1 or 2 versus the best of CHAR3 or 4. So on a knockback, I pit the best of the attacker's STR or SIZ versus the best of the defender SIZ or DEX. It's quicker to figure out the % needed and gives better results for big creatures (like uzko).

2) I ignore the Attack vs Defense tables and use:

Attack

• A normal attack does normal damage. If parried, parrying weapon blocks its current HP. If exceeded, excess goes to hit location and parrying weapons takes 1 HP of damage.
• A special attack does special damage. If parried, parrying weapon blocks its current HP. If exceeded, excess goes to both hit location and parrying weapons HP.
• A critical attack does maximum special damage and bypasses armor. If parried, parrying weapon HP reduced by the damage rolled. If exceeded, excess goes to hit location.

Parry

• Normal parry blocks some damage - see attack results. Against an unsuccessful attack, roll parrying weapon damage. If it exceeds attacking weapon HP, reduce its HP by 1.   
• Special parry reduces a successful attack by 1 level - see attack results. Against an unsuccessful attack, roll parrying weapon damage. If it exceeds attacking weapon HP, reduce its HP by the excess.   
• Critical parry reduces a successful attack by 2 levels - see attack results. Against an unsuccessful attack, roll parrying weapon damage. If it exceeds attacking weapon HP, reduce its HP by the excess.   
• Against an unsuccessful attack, roll parrying damage on a normal parry or a special parrying damage on a special of critical

Dodge

• Each level of success reduces a successful the attack by 1 level - e.g. on equal success, the attack is dodged. A critical attack versus a normal dodge, results into a special attack (level of success of the attack reduced by 1 because of the normal dodge). 

3) Damage to weapon

• Another option is to ignore damage to weapons unless the intent is to damage the weapon (see Disarm)

Edited January 11 by DreadDomain

[Kloster]

7 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

(because short of bringing back RQ3 movement rates, it is not easy to house rule back).

This is what I did (for movement).

[Austin]

On 1/5/2024 at 9:12 PM, g33k said:

Plus, I teach the "all-in-one" roll...  rack up everything across the palm of the hand: d100-attack + d20-location + dWhatever-damage and roll it all attempting to preserve that order! 

This helps a ton. I've never tried to preserve dice order in this way (although it's a good idea), but rolling all the dice simultaneously can save 10 to 30 seconds per combat action, depending on play speed.

This is also a benefit in the Roll20 game I play in - the platform handles a lot of the combat math and dice rolls in a single click. I've mulled over trying to bring Roll20 to my physical tables just for character sheets. But, I think my friends would be more distracted by phone sheets than assisted. 😄

[g33k]

On 1/11/2024 at 10:18 AM, Crel said:

... I've never tried to preserve dice order in this way (although it's a good idea) ...

My experience is that the in-order dice really help some players; so I just ask/advise everyone to do it that way, and model doing it.

Some players don't do it to their own detriment (and the table's); and some don't but can read the dice at a glance in any random order they fall.  But enough of them do it -- and benefit the table -- that I find the practice worth preserving since I first met it in... 1980/1981 (can't quite be sure).

Sometimes it feels kind of controlling and anal-retentive (to be trying to prescribe "how to roll dice" to my players) but I try to get over that by reminding myself how fast-flowing RQ combat can really be ...
 

[Cloud64]

40 minutes ago, g33k said:

Some players don't do it to their own detriment (and the table's); 

This. It can be painful with some players. As a player I prefer to roll all my dice at the start of the round, once I know I'm attacking, then when it gets to me the sums are all done and I know where on the results table I'm looking. If anything changes before my action, it's simple enough to rejig/reroll/recalc as necessary. Tricky as GM of course, but rolling all dice together helps. All I need to do now is get my players to do the same and combat will whizz along – OK, not exactly whizz, but at least be considerably more efficient.

Only disadantage is it can confuse GMs – they aren't used to players doing this and, on occasion, they can be distrustful if they don't see you roll. Me, I assume my players are trustworthy.

[g33k]

3 hours ago, Cloud64 said:

... As a player I prefer to roll all my dice at the start of the round...

Only disadantage is it can confuse GMs – they aren't used to players doing this and, on occasion, they can be distrustful if they don't see you roll. Me, I assume my players are trustworthy.

I have found -- mostly as a player -- that too long a pre-roll is highly-vulnerable to jostles and other accidental disruptions of the dice.

I dislike -- both as player and GM -- to have the dice be showing anything other than as-rolled.

YMMobviouslyV!

[radmonger]

Throw away the strike rank tracker. Instead, create a pile of tokens, one for each foe faced. Put them in multiple groups if they are significantly differently positioned.

Each player takes turns grabbing one or more tokens. Go around the table from left to right,  starting with the biggest combat monster. Players are free to prearrange their seating order to help themselves out. They are considered to be engaged with each foe grabbed. This can be a melee or ranged engagement; for the latter, you will need to keep track of the distance, so arrange tokens appropriately

If there are no foes left, a player may give their own token to an ally.

if there are any enemy tokens left over, the gm then hands them out based on the logic of the situation and the tactics of the foes. if people have been too backwards in grabbing tokens, they may swarm the healer. Some foes may be unable to do that because of a strategic bottleneck. Noone can normally be engaged by more than 4 foes and basic tactics, like forming  a shield wall, reduce that limit.

You can optionally use a battlemat and miniatures to sanity check what makes sense here.

Go around the table from left to right, as before. Each pc in the engagement fights their opponents. Take the fastest strike rank of an engaged pc who has not acted, and that of their fastest opponent. There are 3 cases:

• they are beating their opponent by the SR required to do an action (such as cast a spell); they may do so if they wish, then act
• they are faster, but not that fast. They may they may act first, or delay to acting second, but take the action first.
• they are slower. They must act second. They may take an action after acting, if they have enough SR left over afterwards.

When a pc acts first, all foes roll and resolve after they do. The other way round if they are acting second. This is a simplification compared to completely tracking SR, but usually good enough.

Unengaged PCs may do anything that makes sense, subject to overall SR limits. This is the only way for archers to make more than one attack in a round.

Switching between engagements is an action with a situationally appropriate SR cost.
it may sound slightly complex, but only because i was being precise about many versus many engagements. Normally everything is 1:1, or at least with identical opponents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nevun]

One change we made to our RQ3 combat was to make combat rolls effectively opposed rolls.

A successful hit vs a successful parry resulted in no result - no need to roll location or damage, move on the the next person. Effectively results were: fumble=-1, fail=0, success=1, special=2, crit=3. Subtract defensive level of success from offensive level and work out the result. eg. Subtract successful parry (1) from a critical attack (3) results in 2 or a special attack result. OR (flip a coin) a successful attack + a fumbled parry.

We lost some combat realism in return for a substantial increase in game speed.

It ignored the possibility of really heavy blows blasting through defenses despite successful parries etc. I think we came up with other rules to cover the edge cases but it resulted in a major uptick in the speed of games. Prior to implementing that, a single fight could consume most of a game session.

[Jose-san]

On 1/6/2024 at 4:12 AM, g33k said:

I treat INT as if it were DEX for SR purposes, when you're changing your mind in combat.  Add your "INT Ranks" to do something different than you had intended.  This specifically allows you to pick a new target for your same-spell, same-missile, same in-hand melee weapon, etc -- not doing a different thing, just doing the same thing to a different target.  Quicker-witted characters are just quicker about this sort of thing!

I'm sure copying this into my ruleset 🙂