Nobody Blink!: Movement in a Fighting TTRPG
Greetings, Dan Here!
Today I wanted to talk a little about how movement in Festival of Fighters. As a Vibe System RPG, FoF uses a cinematic movement system that is based on ranges, and singling out targets during combat. Essentially, during combat a fighter identifies their target, and the GM determines what range they are from that target. In a one on one fight, this is easy, but in a brawl with many fighters works best when each player singles off or groups up on a single opponent. Once a fighter knows their range from their target, a move action will pass them throw a number of ranges based on their Movement Rate. So if a fighter is at Medium Range from their opponent, and they have a MR of 1, on a move action they can move one range closer into Close Range. There are six ranges in Festival of Fighters combat: Grappling, Close, Medium, Far, Extended, Extreme. The size of these ranges are left intentionally vague that is, they are as big as they need to be for the scene. The mechanics of moving and attacking are both based on the range, not a specific number of feet or meters.
While this same system was used in Beneath Twisted Earth, replicating the feeling of locking onto a single target and dueling them to the death, in Festival of Fighters it rather aptly replicates the experience of 2D fighters such as King of Fighters and Street Fighter. The player can focus on getting to the right distance to make the best attack available. Though it is similar to the feeling of a 2D fighter, this movement system still works in 3D space, with players able to make strafing movements, high jumps, climbing, etc. As players advance their Stances, they will be able to learn Techniques, some of which can affect movement in new and interesting ways. The one prominent example is the Lightness Technique, which will grant a player a +1 MR bonus when performing a High Jump, while also allowing them to run up or along walls.
That said, just as with Beneath Twisted Earth, we intend to include an alternate movement system for groups who prefer playing on battle maps. This alternate method will translate the ranges of FoF into hexes so that battles can be played out on a hex map. That said, the physical distances involved will still remain, intentionally vague. While players will have plenty of tactical decisions to make, the intent of keeping physical distances vague is to reduce the amount of time/effort needed to asses options in combat. Battles should always be quick, and cinematic, placing excitement of the scene as more important than the accuracy of the numbers involved.
Greetings, Dan Here! Today I wanted to talk a little about how movement in Festival of Fighters. As a Vibe System RPG, FoF uses a cinematic