Age Of Dragons: Conflict

Age Of Dragons: Main Page -> Combat and Conflict-->Other Conflicts

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Reapplying the System

Skirmish Combat relates to directly seeking to injure someone else, but with a little re-application and modification, the system can also be used to represent other sorts of conflict. Essentially, the system can be used in any situation where characters are in opposition, but a single Competed Roll seems too simple.

This page explores three permutations that GMs might care to use:

• Social Conflict represents a "social combat" where personalities battle to argue out a point. It could be a performance where two seek to outdo each other, and win over a crowd.

• Mental Conflict could be as simple as an academic debate, where the goal is not to be persuasive, but to demonstrate superior knowledge. It could also be commanding opposing armies in pitched battle, or simply playing a wargame that simulates this. Any circumstance where two minds are pitched into opposition could become a Mental Conflict.

• Arcane Conflict represents a battle of spell-casting might, where opposed sorcerers try to have their arcane effects overpower another sorcerer's effects. For example, two witches might be casting opposed blessings and curses on a newborn babe.

The Passage of Time: Phases and Rounds

Rounds can still be used, but may now represent different time scales.

In a face-off, a round may represent a few moments of confrontation and intimidation. In the Halls of Counsel a round could be a few minutes in a debate. In a contest of influencing city, it could represent a single day's activity, or perhaps a single round of messengers and messages.

• 1) Just as in skirmish combat, the Tactical Movement Phase involves the characters manoeuvring to gain advantage, to close with certain enemies, or to get away from others.

• 2) The Battle Phase is when combatants make their ranged and melee attacks, and also when they take other miscellaneous actions.

In more specialised conflicts, an "attack" can mean something altogether different.

Initiative: Action Order

Determining Initiative Order works similarly to Skirmish Combat.

Default Option: Narrative based Initiative

With this option, initiative order is determined by story. As with combat, conflicts start when one or more characters makes an attack.

The attacking or active characters go first, then the other characters involved act.

Detailed Option: Numbers based Initiative

Numbers based Initiative could come about when it is unclear which combatant will be the first to recognise that a conflict is inevitable, and make the first move.

For example, in a planned pitched battle between infantry troops, the first move could go to the one that manoeuvres into a better position on the eve of battle - a simple Sophis vs Sophis roll.

As always, if its unclear what test is needed, you can default to a Pneuma versu Pneuma roll, and if narrative demands are uncerain, then either randomise or err in favour of the player characters.

Phase One: The Tactical Movement Phase

Tactical Positioning: Physical and Abstract

First, you need to know where the combatants are.

With physical locations this is pretty easy. The characters are where they are, and can only engage against those at their location.

More difficult are abstract locations - points of reference within the conflict that might not correspond to physical locations, but rather to different conceptual or strategic positions one can take.

Stationary "Landmarks"

How this works depends on whether the conflict is divided into locations. For example, a battle for the hearts and minds of a kingdom could be set across several cities. On the other hand, defining locations might involve more creativity. For example, if working a crowd, you could divide the locations into "1) the mass of noisy and raucous peasants, 2) the influential nobility and 3) the pious clergy". As a character could conceivably only be in one "area" at a time, these would count as different locations.

Distance

Distance describes how far apart any combatant is, either from landmark or another combatant. Its also important to know where landmarks are relative to each other

• Close quarters indicates that the dividing distance is short enough that you can make direct attacks against an enemy, or against that landmark.
• Middle distance indicates that you are close enough to make indirect attacks, and that you can reach them in one round.
• Long distance indicates that are aware of what is happening in that location, but not close enough to reach in one round.
• Disengaged indicates that you have no awareness of that location, and no influence.

Manoeuvres

During the Tactical Movement phase, a flying dragon can move one distance step. This is termed "standard movement".

Bear in mind that its important to tie in round length and distance definitions. If your "middle distance" is a hundred miles, then a character ought to be able to traverse a hundred miles in the space of one tactical movement phase. Thus a round should be long enough for a dragon to fly a hundred miles and still have time to act when he gets there (in this case, about a day).

A flying dragon can also opt to make a "full move". This allows him to move one additional distance step, but he may take no other action this turn.

Again, bear in mind that with abstract locations you can still use abstract distances. For example, in the aforementioned case of the crowd with peasants, nobles and clergy, you could say that the peasants and nobles are a long distance from each other (as arguments to convince one would be a far way from arguments to convince the other) while the clergy sit in the middle, with middle distance to both pesants and nobles.

Phase Two: The Battle Phase

Defence is Optional

For all the following battle phase actions, keep in mind that defending is always optional. A combatant can choose to reduce his DV to 0.

Direct Attacks

Direct attacks can be made against enemies at close quarters.

Making a direct attack is a Sphere check, with the Sphere varying according to the action type. For example, in most social or arcane contests you would use Pneuma, whereas in contests of mental acuity you would use Sophis.

The TN of this check is determined by the appropriate defence rating. For example, if you are trying to intimidate someone, you would target mental defence, but if you are trying to wear down their arcane wards, you would target arcane defence.

If the attacker scores a test result greater than the defender's defence, then damage is dealt to the target, applied against one of their Resilience ratings as appropriate (e.g. mental resilience if you are trying to out-think or intimidate the, arcane resilience if you are destroying their enchantments).

Indirect Attacks

An Indirect attack can be made from middle distance.

An indirect attack is made exactly as a direct attack is, except that different techniques will be applicable. Also, making an indirect attack requires the Dragon to have means of doing so.

For example, in a conflict that relates to commanding armies in massed battle, you would need long range weaponry or fast moving flanking troops to make an indirect attack.

Passive Participants

Often, with non-combat conflicts, characters will be part of the conflict who are not active in it.

For example, in an attempt to sway a crowd, you could choose to target a gang of nobles in the audience rather than attacking the other debater's arguments. Often, each location in the combat will count as one passive participant.

For simplicity of gameplay, you treat these as attacks against your active opponent, using your opponent's defence, and damaging your opponent's resilience. Passive participants represent the battleground and environment, rather than your actual opposition.

This is intentionally fairly abstract - in mass warfare, for example, you aren't targeting and destroying the enemy army, but rather the enemy general's ability to fight.

Damage and Conflict states

A character who hits his target with a damaging attack then makes a damage check.

Damage checks are Sphere checks, but gain a bonus number of dice equal to the number of successes the attacker scored over and above the defender's successes.

The TN of the damage roll is usually 4+. Some circumstances can change the TN of this roll.

The target can then make a Sphere check to compete directly against this roll. The TN of the "toughness" roll is usually 4+. Some circumstances can change the TN of this roll.

More successes on the damage check results in more injury. One success = Level 1 Effect, Two successes = Level 2 Effect, Three successes = Level 3 Effect, etc.

If there are zero successes on the damage check, then no damage is dealt.

Conflict Effect

Conflict Effects are the equivalent of Injuries, and run on the same scale, with the same rules.

Light Injury = Minor Effect.

Heavy Injury = Major Effect.

Critical Injury = Critical Effect.

Mortal Injury = Defeat Effect.

Defining Effects

At the start of the conflict, the GM should define what the different effect levels relate to.

Example of Pneuma Conflict: Swaying the Debating House

• Minor Effect = On the back foot.
• Major Effect = Clearly weakening in argument.
• Critical Effect = Effectively discredited.
• Defeat = Forced to concede fault.

Example of Sophis Conflict: Mass Warfare

• Minor Effect = Worse strategic position.
• Major Effect = Disadvantage of army strength.
• Critical Effect = Army routing.
• Defeat = Captured and forced to surrender.

Example of Soma Conflict: Wrestling Match

• Minor Effect = Being worn down.
• Major Effect = In a disadvantageous grapple.
• Critical Effect = Pinned to the ground.
• Defeat = Passing out with exertion, or tapping out.

Recovery

In some conflicts it may be appropriate for characters to be able to heal damage. The rules for this should be according to circumstance.

Example of Pneuma Conflict: Swaying the Debating House

• Dismissal of argument: When you make a successful attack, instead of dealing damage you can heal yourself of injury by one level.
• Popularity: If you have 2/3 of the passive combatants "won over" you heal yourself of injury by one level at the end of each round.

Example of Sophis Conflict: Mass Warfare

• Reserves / Superior numbers: Four times during the battle you can heal yourself of injury by one level at cost of one Tactical Movement Phase.
• Charismatic Command: You can sacrifice an action to make a Pneuma check at TN4+, healing a Minor Effect if successful.

Example of Soma Conflict: Wrestling match

• Reversal: When you make a successful attack, instead of dealing damage you can heal yourself of injury by one level.

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