Action-movie combats are about much more than shoot-outs and explosions. Characters trade barbed insults, knock each other about, and try to stare down or frighten their opponents. In Destiny, these kinds of moments are enabled by the use of Combat Interaction skills.

[B]Attribute Skill[/B]
[I]Dexterity maneuver
Strength overbear
Endurance -
Intellect trick
Influence taunt
Spirit intimidate[/I]

Though Combat Interaction skills can be used outside of combat (see the skill's description in Chapter 3), they have special utility during combat, utility no other skills can match. In combat, players can choose to use CI skills in one of four basic ways.

1.) Distraction. Each Success Rating achieved when using a CI skill causes a -1 penalty to the target's actions for the next round. (This is the assumed default for CI Skill Challenges.)

In connection with the Initiative rules, successful distractions can count for Seizing the Initiative, Pressing the Advantage, or Countering a Press.

2.) Temporary Traits. A character who achieves a Spectacular Success (4 SR) can instead choose to apply a temporary Trait to the target, such as "Unnerved" or "Distracted". (See "Character Traits" for a description.)

3.) Provoking reactions. If a character achieves 4 SR, they can choose to provoke a specific reaction defined by the player (instead of Distracting the target or attaching a temporary Trait). "He runs away, towards the edge of the ship's deck."

Gamemasters have the final say on whether the described action is reasonable or possible.

4.) Activate a Destiny Deck card. Some Cold Destiny Deck effects require CI use to activate. (See "Destiny Deck", above.)

Intelligent use of CI skills can change the course of a combat and, though not capable of killing an opponent outright, they can nonetheless be critically important.

Combat Skill Distractions

Combat skills can also be used to distract the enemy, using the same mechanics as Combat Interaction skills. The player rolls a Skill Challenge for the combat skill, and each Success Rating applies a -1 penalty to all actions taken by the target next round.

This can represent suppressive fire (firearms), a feint (melee weapons), or other attempt to hamper the target.

However, combat skills cannot attach a temporary Trait to a target, provoke a reaction, or activate a Destiny Deck card. Only Combat Interaction skills can accomplish those.

Characters are capable of working together to achieve a task. This is called Coordinating on a Challenge. Whatever the circumstances, the core rules for Coordinating on a Challenge are the same.

All characters generate Skill Totals. The highest Skill Total is the base Total. Every other Skill Total that beats a DR 0 (Routine) adds +1 to this base Total to get the final Skill Total.

Example: Three characters are scrutinizing a crime scene. They all generate search totals: a 14, a 10, and a -1. The final search total for the group is 15 (highest 14 + 1 coordinating). Had the third character gotten a 1 or better instead of a -1, the group's search total would have been a 16.

There are a few caveats.

In order to adjudicate the characters' action, the GM needs to know what they are attempting. A Declaration is highly encouraged (and worth a +1 to the base Total).

"We want to talk the judge into letting us go." "We want to make the mob think a giant is coming." "We need to fix this car."

This Declaration lets the GM know which skill is appropriate. This is the primary skill, and is used to adjudicate any Success Ratings or Result Ratings.
 
By default, all characters generate totals with the identified primary skill. If they lack plusses in the skill, they roll Untrained.

Sometimes, characters will lack plusses in the skill being used. With the GM's permission, they can use a different, but related skill in the Coordination attempt.

Example: If the characters are attempting to fix a car, that's a mechanic Challenge. A character without the mechanic skill can attempt to coordinate, if they have a skill the GM agrees can aid the attempt. Knowledge (electrical engineering) could be appropriate, for example.

In such cases, the original skill is the primary skill. This represents what the group is attempting to achieve. The highest primary Skill Total is the base Total. Even if a related Skill Total is higher, it only adds a +1.

Example: While fixing the car, the mechanic rolls a Skill Total of 12, and the electrical engineer a Total of 16. The base Total is 12, because that's the primary skill. This is increased by +1, because the knowledge (electrical engineering) total beat a DR 0. The final total is 13 (12 + 1).

The GM has final say on what skills are related to a specific Coordination Challenge. Take the car example. In one case, knowledge (electrical engineering) and persuasion could both be considered related skills (the persuading character talking a garage owner into aiding them some way.) In other circumstances, even knowledge (electrical engineering) might not be related (if the car had a broken axle, for example).

In general, the more distantly related a related skill is, the higher the Coordination DR would be. In the case of the persuasion skill check aiding a mechanic total, the GM could require the player to actually roll (and perhaps role-play) a persuasion attempt (at a much higher DR). The GM should decide based on what makes sense to him and whatever makes the game more interesting.

These same rules can be used during combat, and even include combat skills. This functions exactly the same as “Coordinating with Multiple Skills”.

Note: Coordinating is a Skill Challenge, not a Combat Challenge, so only the Skill Rating is involved, not the Damage Rating.

Example: Four player characters are trying to trick a squad of soldiers into retreating out of their fortified position, by convincing them they are about to be overrun. Of the four, only one has the trick skill. He decides to roll his trick. The second player decides to lob a grenade — thrown weapons — behind the sandbags, because a grenade will certainly get them moving. The third decides to roll his art (acting) skill, which the GM agrees could help. The fourth can't think of anything, so he decides to roll trick untrained.

The first character yells out "Flank 'em boys!" His player rolls a trick of 13. This is the base trick Total.

The second character lobs his grenade behind the sandbags, with a total of 14. This is good for a +1 to the base trick Total (as it isn't the primary skill).

(Plus, the GM decides that if the grenade beats their dodge, they will choose to move anyway, as they're sitting on a live grenade.)

The third character says "Moving on the left, sir!" He rolls an art (acting) total of 3, so gives a +1 to the trick Total.

The fourth character yells "Yes, sir, we'll all flank them right now, sir, moving to the flank of where they are. Sir." The player rolls really low, getting a trick of -5. (Reflected in his roleplaying.) He doesn't add to the group’s trick total.

The group's trick total is 15 (13 + 1 + 1), easily enough to get the soldiers out of their machinegun nest. The GM narrates accordingly:

"As the soldiers dive over the sandbags, the grenade goes off behind them. They stand up, and find themselves looking down the barrels of your guns. They slowly raise their hands above their heads."

As you can see, a very simple rule, together with some player ingenuity, can be used to stage quite elaborate plans.

The Volley Attack is a maneuver common to cinema and real life. It represents a multitude of characters all attacking the same target at once, combining their attacks to deal more damage than any could by themselves. (And, though it's called a Volley, it applies to any situation in which multiple attackers are assaulting a single target.)

Volley Attacks are a special use of the Coordination Challenge rules. Because it deals with both Skill and Combat Challenges, it is slightly more complicated than regular Coordination, though the basic rule is unchanged.

The primary skill in a Volley Attack is whichever combat skill rolls highest, no matter what it is. Related skills include any other skills the gamemaster agrees are relevant. (A manuever, for example, might cause the target to turn, exposing a weak spot.)

All characters generate Skill Totals. The highest combat Skill Total becomes the base Total. Every other Skill Total adds +1 to this base Total.

As this is an attack, the Damage Rating of the weapon used by the highest combat Skill Total is added to the final Skill Total to get the group Attack Total. This is compared to the Defense Rating of the target, with the Result Rating read as Wounds.

Example: A group of characters breaking into a lab are attacked by a security robot. After a couple of futile rounds of attack, it becomes clear that individually, none of them can meaningfully damage the robot. So they volley their fire.

One shoots with a gun (firearms total 13), one throws a grenade (thrown weapons total 12), and another uses a trick to lead the robot off, exposing a weak spot (trick total 20).

The highest combat Skill Total is a 13. This becomes the base Skill Total. Both of the other skill totals beat a 0 DR, so Coordinate. Each adds a +1 to the firearms Skill Total, for a final Skill Total of 15 (13 + 1 + 1).

To this 15, the firearms player adds his pistol damage of 16, for an Attack Total of 31. This Attack Total of 31 is compared to the robot's Defense Rating. (Had the character throwing grenades rolled higher, his total would be the base Total, and he would add his grenade damage of 18 to the final Skill Total).

Using this method, characters can work together to bring down a single, tough target with coordinated attacks.

Traditionally, combat Initiative is about action scheduling, determining when characters can go in combat. Sometimes this depends on rolling the dice, sometimes weapon speed, sometimes other factors.

In real-world combat, the Initiative is about being aggressive, taking the fight to the enemy, keeping them off balance, and using their confusion to defeat them. One side makes and executes plans, the other side reacts to those plans as best they can.

Quote[Two pilots battle in the skies. Both make decisions and execute attacks, but Blue has the Initiative.]

While Red is still orienting himself, Blue has already chosen a maneuver and executed it. This renders Red's [decision] useless: Blue is no longer where he was a moment before.

Red must...make a new decision. Out of rising panic he commits to an action that may have been appropriate [moments] ago, but which is now — no other word for it — obsolete.

Blue sees the confusion and delay. He decides and acts again. His advantage increases.

To Red, Blue appears psychic, magical, demonic: able to read his mind, anticipate his every move. The more this goes on the more rattled, confused and demoralized Red becomes.

Blue owns the initiative.

- Bill Whittle

The Initiative represents taking control of the pace of the combat. You are on the attack, you are making decisions and acting, and the enemy is reacting to your decisions. You chose to attack, when and where and how you will, and all the enemy can do is respond to your choices.

To those without the Initiative, this is a disconcerting experience. Their enemy appears prescient (almost omniscient). Each gambit is a surprise, each attack an ambush.

They have no time to analyze the situation, to understand what is being done to them. They don't understand what is happening, they only know they are being defeated.

This is demoralizing, shocking, and confusing. It interferes with their ability to observe, organize, and fight back.

As the side with the Initiative keeps up the press of combat, the other side begins to make mistakes, which makes them even more desperate. They lash out in panic, but can't seem to hurt the enemy, or even find them.

The enemy keeps striking them, killing them, and they can't do anything to stop it. Soon their morale collapses and they are defeated.

That's how combat works. The Initiative isn't about who goes first, it's about who is in control of the conflict. One side is making decisions and acting, the other reacting. Those reacting will eventually lose.

The same principles apply to individual duels, battlefield maneuvers, an entire war, even business conflicts. And these principles are reflected in the Destiny Initiative system.

[A rewritten Introduction to the game.]

The full name of the game is:

[/SIZE]

What does that mean? Destiny is:

• Omni-Genre. Not generic or universal, but well-suited to any genre, flexible enough to handle magic, guns, car chases, psionics, cyberware, and much more.

Destiny campaigns can be set in fantasy worlds, cyberpunk worlds, the real world, and any other setting the GM can devise.

An infinite number of worlds, limited only by your imagination.

• Action-Movie. Destiny is an action-movie system. The mechanics allow characters to emulate the daring feats of an Indiana Jones, Ethan Hunt, or Evelyn Salt. They encourage and reward players who do more than just shoot or punch; witty banter and rapier-fast retorts are often more useful than bullets or blades.

Destiny is an action-movie roleplaying system.

• Heroics. Evil threatens every Destiny campaign world. Player Characters are the heroes of the campaign, those destined to face these evils.

Player Characters are fated heroes, touched by destiny.

The game mechanics of Destiny have been written to implement those three goals: omni-genre action-movie heroics. They are designed to be light and fast in play, to — as much as possible — be simple, direct, and obvious.
   
The core design philosophy of Destiny is:

“Simple rules that allow for innumerable situations, limited only by the Players' and Gamemaster’s imaginations.”

All else is secondary to that.

Sidebar: “Touched by Destiny”?

Destiny is an action-movie roleplaying game. The mechanics are, by deliberate design, intended to reflect the events of a good action movie.

The heroes of an action movie survive through skill, courage, and plain old ordinary luck. In all cases, things break better and worse for them than most people. Just ask John McClane.

Part of the bad luck plaguing such characters is that they are thrust into situations that are enormously dangerous, far more dangerous than most normal people ever experience. Part of their good luck is that they survive, overcome, and emerge victorious, despite being outnumbered and out-gunned. Somehow, they just win.

A Destiny campaign is less like a single movie, and more like a television series. Supernatural is this author’s favorite example, but one could use The Walking Dead, Alias, The X-Files, or whatever series you love the most. Such series are different than single action movies.

Action-movie heroes get into outrageous trouble once (barring sequels). Television heroes get into enormously dangerous situations again and again. And so do Destiny PC’s.

“Touched by destiny” just reflects this facet of their existence. They get into and out of trouble more often than anyone else in the world, whether they seek it out or not.

Call it random chance, luck, fortune, fate, wyrd, or, yes, destiny, it just happens. For whatever reason, the PC’s in a Destiny campaign are destined to get into (and out of) a lot of trouble. (Just as PC’s in any RPG do.)

[Doing something right requires constant revision. So, let's try again.]

Why “Destiny”?

Partly because the name Destiny is unique and evocative. It sticks in the memory.

It’s also a nod to a mostly-unacknowledged truth: PC’s are destined for trouble. Like Jessica Fletcher or John McClane, they can’t go to a simple office party without something terrible happening to or around them.

If there was a single vampire in all of North America, it would attack the PC’s, their family, or their friends. And do it while they were downstairs, relaxing, unaware that such an event was even possible.

PC’s are the victims of the best and worst luck imaginable. As action-movie heroes, they’ll get dragged into situations that are enormously dangerous, far more dangerous than most normal people ever experience. Then, despite being outnumbered and out-gunned, they’ll somehow survive, overcome, and emerge victorious.

This notion of dual best and worst luck appears in the rules at several points. The dice roll Hot or Cold. Destiny Deck cards can either Aid or Injure. And Character Traits are either Qualities or Trouble.

Player characters have a destiny: all the interesting stuff happens to or around them. How they deal with it, well that’s the game.

Just want to say I'm enjoying this, still in absorption mode, maybe some questions later if you're looking for them.

Quote from: The Traveller;600749Just want to say I'm enjoying this,

Thanks.

Quote from: The Traveller;600749still in absorption mode, maybe some questions later if you're looking for them.

Absolutely. Any you might have are very welcome.

Quick sidebar: I'm writing the next iteration of the Initiative rules right now (which is why the posts on that stopped). I think the expanded rules will answer a lot of the issues you raised in the Destiny "Fight Club" thread.

Quote from: Daddy Warpig;600752I think the expanded rules will answer a lot of the issues you raised in the Destiny "Fight Club" thread.

Excellent, looking forward to it. I meant to mention, the suddenly-penalised-men-at-arms thing works from the other direction too, a group of goblins wandering into the fight probably shouldn't have huge bonuses immediately.

Quote from: The Traveller;600753Excellent, looking forward to it. I meant to mention, the suddenly-penalised-men-at-arms thing works from the other direction too, a group of goblins wandering into the fight probably shouldn't have huge bonuses immediately.

That was actually pretty easy to address:

Reinforcements

Reinforcements (or other "new arrivals" to a battle) fall into two general categories: those who haven't been involved in the battle at all, or those who have been, but have just arrived at the scene.

Example: Soldiers racing to aid their companions, who haven’t been involved in fighting, count as new participants. Soldiers fighting on the walls, who fight their way to the courtyard (the focus of the battle between the Leads) have been involved in the combat.

Those who are fresh participants, who haven’t been involved at all, have one round to act during which they are not affected by the Advantage (positively or negatively). After that, the Advantage applies as usual.

Those who have been involved are affected by the Advantage, positive or negative, as if they had been “on-screen” the whole time.

Since the last time I posted a significant chunk of the rules, I held my first playtest session (online at roll20.net). I had 5 players, covering 3 time zones from Seattle to the Midwest.

The first scenario involved an introduction to my Dead Man's Land setting. The PC's were rookie cops, called in to rescue a paramedic who'd been trapped by rioters (in fact, people driven insane by incipient zombieism).

After a few rounds of being torn up by the rioters (staving off significant damage with judicious use of Action Points), the players figured out their opponents' weakness and (despite some Trouble, courtesy of doubles) rescued the paramedic and made their escape.

The session went very well. The core mechanics all worked, none were obviously broken, and the most frequent complaint was that there were missing rules (which we knew, because, hey, Alpha Test.)

All of the posts from this thread were from the 0.1a version of the rules, basically the first compilation with enough rules to be playable, if barely. Since that release, most of the posted material has been touched, some sections only proofed, some completely rewritten (one three or four times).

Since the playtest, I've been compiling comments (including a survey of the players) and focusing my energies on implementing/revising 4 core features:

• Actions and Movement
• Character Traits
• Initiative Mechanics
• Combat Maneuvers and Conditions

I'm really liking how these are shaping up. Of course, I'll be posting the revised/completed sections in this thread (in case anyone has comments about the material).

I'll also be posting to my development blog:

daddywarpig.wordpress.com

Once they're finished, I'll run a playtest with the 0.2a version.

The first playtest was a great experience. It boosted my confidence in some of the design decisions I've made, plus it was a lot of fun.

Big thanks to all the participants. I'm really looking forward to the next session. (Whenever that happens.)

tl;dr: Been busy writing rules for the next version. Will post more when they're done.

There have been some questions that came up about the rules, in specific the "why?" of certain design decisions. So here are some answers.

Attributes

Q1. Why do Attributes only give a small boost to skills? Doesn't that make them redundant?

A1. Attributes do contribute but a small amount to skills, but their full numeric value is used in other places. Endurance is the base Rating for Toughness, and characters heal a # of Wounds equal to their Endurance each day. Strength is the base Damage Rating for hand to hand combat, and determines how much a character can Lift and Carry. Dexterity is used in Initiative. Other attributes have other uses, based on their full Ratings.

So, the full scale is used, just not for skills.

Q2. Why not just add plusses directly to the Attribute?

A2. This decision arose from a balance issue. When a totally average person with the most minimal of training has a skill of 9 (attribute 8 +1), the character arc of power (the development curve) is very short.

Within a short amount of time, characters become more powerful than any plausible opponents. With a smaller contribution from Attributes, there's a wider range of plausible skill ratings, and a wider range of opponents.

This decision also means that Dexterity and Intellect are less powerful than they would be, because they contribute much less to their linked skills.

Ties vs. DR

Q. Why doesn't a character succeed if their Skill Total equals the Difficulty Rating?

A. In combat, a tie goes to the defender. The same goes for Skill Challenges. For Skill Challenges, in order to defeat the Challenge, you must beat the Challenge.

There's a dirty little secret, though: with Declarations (+1 bonus), players can (in effect) move back to "ties win". DM's don't get a bonus for Declarations, they're expected to be describing things. Players do. It's a subtle way to encourage in-character and in-world descriptions and play.

So if you want a tie to win, toss out a Declaration.

Doubles are Trouble

Q. I'm not so sure about this. Doesn't this happen an awful lot?

A. Disasters and Mishaps are intended to be colorful and interesting, not punitive. In fact, I'm writing a section for the rules to explain this better. Used correctly, they add to the game.

However, I'm keeping an eye on them. If it seems like they're too disruptive or punitive, I'll adjust the mechanic.

# Wounds

Q. Why can't I take more Wounds if I have a higher Endurance?

A. Because it would be a broken mechanic. Each point of Endurance already means you take 1 less Wound. So, 1 point of END = 1 Wound. If a point of END also meant you could take one more point of Wounds without negative consequences, each point would equal 2 Wounds.

There's no need to double the efficacy of END. It's one of the more powerful stats already, right behind DEX.

Also, this maintains scalability. Under the current rules, I can scale characters from human (4-8-12), to superhuman (20-50+), to cosmic (150+) and all the rules work exactly the same.

A fight between two characters, one with Attack 20 and the other with Defense 15, is exactly the same as a battle between an Attack 50 and Defense 45. This makes the system much more robust, and easily adaptable to a Superhero setting (something other systems sometimes have trouble scaling to).

(Although, since you heal END wounds per day, once your END is above 20, you heal all Wounds in 1 day. I'm thinking of a rule for Supers, characters with 20+ attributes, where each 5 END points past 20 cuts that time roughly in half. END 25 = heal all Wounds in 12 hours. 40 = 1 hour. 60 = 5 min. 80 = 10 seconds or 1 round. So a character with END 80 could heal all Wounds in 10 seconds of resting. That's perfect for a supers game. And a Regeneration power could duplicate those effects.)

Attack skills vs. Combat Interaction skills

Q. Why can't combat skills do all the same things Combat Interaction skills can?

A. Balance and color. The whole point of Combat Interaction skills is to give non-kill characters ways to be effective, and to encourage the kind of banter and interactions seen in action movies.

Combat skills already kill, they don't need to duplicate the effects of Combat Interaction skills. It would make CI skills irrelevant. As-is, CI skills offer unique capabilities, making them worthwhile and encouraging their use.

Other Questions

There are some other questions that were asked during the playtest and in the surveys. I'll answer those ASAP.

[Some more questions about the "whys?" of the game mechanics. These questions mostly arose in play, because of small rules that were necessary for play, but hadn't previously appeared on the site or in the 0.1a Rules pdf.]

Melee Weapons

Q1. Does Strength really add twice to melee attacks?

A1. Sort of. Sometimes. And pretty much on purpose.

Your Attack Rating is Skill + Damage. Power melee skills (see next question) are based on Strength, so the Base Skill Rating is +1 to +3. Melee damage is also based on Strength (such as a club which is STR +3). So, a STR of 8 will add a total of 10 points to the Attack Rating (8 from damage, +2 from the Skill Rating), purely from the character's Strength itself. And an Olympic weightlifter, with a Strength of 12, gets 15 points from skill and damage, due to his Strength alone.

In a modern setting (or a viable cross-genre one, one of the design goals of Destiny) high-Strength characters are at a disadvantage. Firearms are available, and guns do a lot of damage, at range, and are fairly reliable. Giving strong characters a little extra boost (from +1 to +3) makes them more balanced.

Q1. What's the difference between a power melee skill and a fast melee skill?

A1. In the real world, melee combat depends on your muscle power "to hit". Boxing, sword-and-shield fighting, and so forth, all require you to hammer your way past a target's defenses, using main force. So most melee skills are based on Strength.

But a few, such as dueling rapiers, are based on Dexterity, because they depend on physical agility and speed instead. Some forms of hand-to-hand combat are also speed/agility based, such as wrestling or judo.

Power melee skills are Strength based, fast melee skills Dexterity based. This adds some skills to the list, increasing complexity, but makes the game match the real world a bit better.

It also addresses flavor concerns, as well. "Bruce Lee" characters can have their agile, fast-striking martial arts, while "Rocky" characters get their brutal, hard-hitting boxing skills. Those distinctions make for great roleplaying fodder, and having two different kinds of hand-to-hand (or other melee) skills implements them.

Defending

Q1. What is a "Full Defense"?

A1. A Full Defense is one of the few (6 or so) combat maneuvers in the game. It represents the character concentrating wholly on defending themselves.

Normally, your Defense is a static number. With a Full Defense, you can roll the hot dice and add it to your Defense against any and all attacks that round.

"Full Defense" is a rule not in the current release (0.1a), but which will be detailed in 0.2a. It came up in the playtest, however, hence the question.

Q2. Do you really want to allow Declarations on regular Defense?

A2. After some thought, yes. Declarations are optional, but they add color.

When the GM says "Your opponent dashes in, striking hard with his axe." and the player responds with "I parry wildly.", that's all good. The game mechanics should, and in Destiny do, encourage exactly this sort of play.

Roleplaying games depend on description. The game "comes alive" in the imaginations of players and GM's when they know what they see, hear, feel, smell, and do.

Immersing players in the world is hard, but good descriptions (and unobtrusive mechanics) make it easier. Declarations encourage "in-character" thinking: the player has to focus on what his character is doing just to make one, instead of worrying solely about the numbers and the dice.

Re-reading the playtest chat log convinced me of this. The defense Declarations were cool, and an opportunity to roleplay. The entire goal of the game is to support and encourage just this sort of interaction. And defense Declarations did.

[There are more questions, so expect a FAQ, Part III presently.]