OpenQuest 3 Combat

Work continues on OpenQuest 3. I’m very close to finishing of the core of the game, which will be made available to patrons of my OpenQuest Adventures Patreon along with an updated The Road Less Travelled (the introductory adventure, last seen in OpenQuest 2 Deluxe).

Currently, I’m working my way through the Combat chapter. One of the big changes from OpenQuest 2 is that I’ve reorganised the chapter to include Social and Magical combat as well as physical combat. These two sections aren’t complete rewrites of what’s in OQ2, but as the following introduction to the current draft Combat chapter shows, the overall effect is to treat combat more as a complete whole where verbal and magical attacks are made force the opposition to bend to the character’s will as well as fighting, and that verbal and magical attacks can also form a big part of any physical combat.

“Combat occurs when one side, either the characters or the non-player characters, decide to use force, either physical, social, or magical, to get what they want. This chapter looks at all the offensive and defensive options a character has when things take a less peaceful path.

There are three combat sub-systems in OpenQuest.

Social Combat occurs when words turn sharp in meaning and at least one side of an argument is trying to get the other to do want they want.

Social combat can take three forms:

  • Fast talk, where an attacker tries to quickly sway a defender into accepting their course of action.
  • Oratory, where two sides field advocates for their position and try to get the other side to accept it.
  • Intimidation, where one side tries to threaten the other into submission. This type of social combat given its nature can be used as a sub-conflict in physical combat.

Physical Combat is when swords and axes go smashing through armour in Close Combat, bows shot at distant foes in Ranged Combat, and when it’s fist against claw in Unarmed Combat.

Magical Combat occurs when magicians attack targets with offensive magic, who then try to resist against it, when two magicians throw magical energy at one another and when hostile spirits attack mortals seeking to take control of their bodies.

The combat sub-systems are discussed in the order they are because it’s the order that players tend to go through when trying to get their way with non-player characters.  First, they will use one of the social combat techniques to talk it over with the non-player characters. Then if that doesn’t work weapons will be drawn and they will engage in physical combat. If they have a magician in the party who is actively supporting them with spells, or they realise that they need to use magic themselves to boost their combat abilities, they then engage with the Magic Combat techniques.”

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