effects and powers in war

[mean_liar]

So I'm writing an effect-based RPG with a mass combat system hardcoded in.

What sorts of things or events would you as a player be really happy to see as explicit powers or abilities within such a system?

The hand-to-hand combat thing was much easier, but I'm having some difficulty skinning this part out. The idea is that its separated between:

Tactics - what you actually do when you finally zoom in and fight. The scale is based on units. This is the actual tactical battle.
Operations - how corps and armies move around without zooming in.
Strategy - effects that transcend location.
Epic Heroics - being a singular badass at this point transcends your abilities in hand-to-hand combat; your actual hand-to-hand ability is abstracted and Warfare abilities (these abilities) are the ones used.
War Magic - big effects that are nominally non-natural, though they don't necessarily need to be.
Leadership - abilities that transcend your scale or activities.


Units are given stats separate from their commanders, so don't focus too much on boosting units. I was more interested in just what kind of interesting ideas I can use for more powers/techniques.


TACTICS
(Terrain) Warrior
Fix
Assault
Hold Out
Charge
Lure
Unorthodox Command
Besiege
(other basic tactical options?)


OPERATIONS
Effective Patrolling
Live Off the Land
(Terrain) Commander
Skilled Occupier
(effective use of operational warfare)


STRATEGY
Discernment
Communication
Officer Training
Troop Training
Logistics
Military Intelligence
(broad-based strategic advantages)


EPIC HEROICS
Dark Shadow
Rain of Terror
Master of Melee
(go be a badass)


WAR MAGIC
Summon Horde
Control Weather
Fearlessness
Sustainability
(Blessing)
(the freakier stuff you'd expect from a fantasy genre go here)


LEADERSHIP
Iron Spine
Cunning
Brutal
Impetuous
Thoughtful
Bull-headed
(this is more mechanically-minded... don't worry too much about these)

[violence in the media]

I think you should switch around the order of your categories.

If you go:

• Tactics
• Operations
• War Magic
• Epic Heroics
• Leadership
• Strategy

Then it will spell TOWELS and be easier to remember, which is what I thought you were going for a first glance anyway.

That said, I'd want powers that locked my opponent into bringing or not bringing certain things to the battle. If I use my Sexy Courtesans or Keg Party power, I want to know that that will tangibly reduce the number of barbarians or ogres that my opponent can bring to the fight. Similarly, I might want to make sure that the Crown Prince or Lord Admiral or whatever is present at the battle.

[mean_liar]

You know, I *still* remember FASERIP. So maybe TOWELS. Maybe.

I think that means splitting Dark Shadow's abilities from infiltration and assassination to sabotage on top of that.

[Username17]

That said, I'd want powers that locked my opponent into bringing or not bringing certain things to the battle

Absolutely. Weather control, higher ground, skirmish attacks on supply trains.

Also: TOWELS.

-Username17

[The Lunatic Fringe]

So, do you get fewer of each category up? Also, how do the leadership abilities work?

...and how much (in relative terms) can different categories affect the war? Is the game modeling a war, a battle? Are we going to be dealing with the "home front" (historically pretty damn important in war)?

This looks cool. If you want to put out some quasi-specific aims and guidelines I would love to help.

[mean_liar]

I wanted there to be an even, deep spread between categories but haven't been able to come up with it on my own - hence this thread. Right now I'm just going to skeletons of the abilities, so they don't really "do" anything mechanical yet: they're just titles (that I posted) and descriptions (which I didn't).

Within play, the idea is:

Tactics - the ultimate zoom-in, replacing hand-to-hand combat between individuals and designed to run very similarly

Operations - map-based maneuvers of armies whose clashes create Tactical battles

Strategy - affects overall command and can only be implemented by a commander for his subordinates; for a supreme commander it affects the under sub-structure

Epic Heroics - ways for individuals to act as their own units in mass combat

War Magic - non-standard effects that I didn't want to put in with the other categories

Leadership - universal modifiers to an officer's capability (the game wants to differentiate between unit stats and officer stats)



In some sense the game is a tailored-for-fantasy effect-based RPG - as if MnM or HERO were written only within the context of the fantasy genre. So far I've set it up to have different Arenas of gameplay:

Combat (typical hand-to-hand fantasy stuff)
Warfare (the above stuff)
Dominance (rulership)
Transcendence (achieving godhood or legendary power)
Tertiary (universally-applicable skill subsystem)