Steel on Steel and Blood on Blood!

 My foolhardy rules-tinkering knows no bounds! Or well, I guess actually it is pretty bounded, since I am just going to be re-examining something that has been examined innumerable times before by innumerable other referees and game designers: combat. 

I have set out to make a combat system that:

01: is no more complex than B/X combat already is

02: has simultaneous/descriptive initiative (this is the biggest change from how I'm used to running things, but I think it will be a change for the better)

03: has as many rolls as possible be player-facing (gotten really into player-facing rolls from the GLOG tbh)

04: has abstracted and simplified movement that doesn't require tracking distances (this is because on the one hand a lot of my games are run over the internet and on the other hand because I am awful at visualizing distances so just not bothering with it is better for me)

There are many posts that inspired this one, too many to link individually, though I would like to thank the fine post-writers over at METAL vs SKIN, Spells and Steel, Goblin Punch, Alone in the Labyrinth, and innumerable people I know via the OSR discord who helped me in discussions about this, especially Retired Adventurer, CosmicOrrery, Archon's Court, and kahva. Very likely I've forgotten some people, sorry about that if I have!

I've taken too long to actually get to the combat rules stuff so here it is

DEATH TO INITIATIVE, DEATH TO ARMOR CLASS, DEATH TO MOVEMENT RATES

Let's take a look at this step by step using a made up random encounter to illustrate. Skip to the section titled IN SUMMARY for a more succinct description.

An adventuring party of two fighters, a thief, a cleric, and the cleric's henchman come across four pigmen wandering the halls of some abandoned cellar, one of them astride a stinking manpig. It would take 2 rounds for one party moving in to close the distance, and the pigmen are doing just that! At the table, the referee rolled a hostile reaction for the pigmen, who noticed the adventurers by their torchlight. The adventurers cannot see anything just yet, but they hear movement in the darkness and smell the dripping spit of the manpig as it approaches. The players succeeded their roll to see if they would be surprised.

So far this mostly works like a B/X encounter normally does! Notice the switch from rolling the exact distance that the monsters are encountered at to rolling the number of rounds it takes to close the distance. Since we will not be tracking distances elsewhere in combat, I figured that an easy abstraction would be to just roll how long it would take for the players, the monsters, or both to close in. Then, it becomes a binary choice: do you move in to engage in combat, or move away to avoid a fight? There are of course other alternatives, but those would be situational and don't have to be detailed here. The way this is determined depends on the location:

Dungeon/Underground: 1d4 rounds to close in.

Wilderness: 3d6 rounds to close in.

A rambunctious pigman, upon rushing closer to the group for a round, throws a rock at one of the fighters, who is holding a torch. The fighter's player makes a saving throw vs. dragon breath, and fails. They are hit on the head with the rock, taking 2 points of damage.

Like I said above, as many rolls as possible are made player-facing. Rather than the pigman making an attack roll to hit the fighter with their rock, the fighter makes a saving throw to not get hit. Didn't help them much here though; they got hit anyway!

By the time the four pigmen come within the light of the torches, the adventurers are ready. The referee describes the situation to them: a pigman with a tangled mess of teeth holds another rock in their hands, while a pigman with one eye missing approaches the fighter that was hit by the rock, a sword in hand. The pigman astride the manpig rushes toward the cleric, while another pigman wielding a flail approaches the other fighter. Each player describes what they are doing in response: the already hit fighter defends themself from the sword-wielding pigman, the other fighter engages the flail-wielding pigman, the cleric and their henchman defend from the pigman astride the manpig, and the thief dashes in to strike the sword-wielding pigman while distracted by the fighter.

Here is where things start to look more and more different from B/X. Combat is handled with simultaneous initiative: the referee describes a starting situation, the players describe their reaction to that situation, and each response is handled one by one. A round finishes once all of these are resolved.

The fighter who wasn't struck by the rock is wielding a short sword and a wicker shield, and is engaged in melee with the pigman wielding a flail. The fighter rolls 1d20+2; this is the combat roll, it is modified by +2 because of the fighter's level (they are level 1, so they add +1 to their rolls) and because they are carrying a wicker shield (which adds an additional +1). They roll an 8, which is a failing roll, so the referee rolls 1d6 for the pigman's flail: 3 damage is rolled, which would halve the fighter's HP, but they are wearing cloth armor that lessens it by 1 point.

With monsters no longer having a dedicated turn in combat that they do their actions on, and with as many rolls as possible being player-facing, I decided to combine monster and player attack/to-hit rolls into one single roll that the player makes every round they are engaged in melee. The player rolls 1d20+combat bonus (your combat bonus is based on your class, level, and possibly also certain items you are using) with the referee comparing it to the monster's combat score. On a success the player rolls damage dealt to the monster, on a failure the referee rolls damage dealt to the player. Armor worn by a character is damage reduction. The combat roll functions this way as an abstraction of offensive hits and defensive parries in aggregate, with the ultimate result of each round of fighting coming out at the end.

That armor doesn't look very protective young lady! I would be inclined to grant a bonus to damage for wearing that!

The other fighter (the one who got hit by a rock earlier) and the thief are engaged in melee with the sword-wielding pigman. The pigman is focused on the fighter, although they do notice the thief slipping behind them out of the edge of the torchlight. The fighter rolls 1d20+1, rolling a 19, which is a success! In addition, since the majority of their attention is focused on the fighter, the thief is able to stab them with a knife, automatically dealing damage. The pigman collapses to the ground from their injuries.

A creature/character with only one attack per round simply does not have the capability to keep attention on multiple opponents at once. As a result, if another combatant attacks the "distracted" opponent, that combatant's attack automatically deals damage. In a sense, this is an abstracted way to handle that flanking that "tactical" combat in games like 3e and 5e like so much. Notice however that this did not give the thief the opportunity for a sneak attack; the pigman was fully aware of the thief, but couldn't risk turning to defend from them since they were already defending from the fighter.

The cleric and their henchman are engaged in combat with the pigman and its manpig mount. This is a dangerous situation for the cleric: they have to contend with two melee combatants, as well as a very likely thrown rock from the other pigman. The cleric's player asks if it would be possible for their henchman to distract the pigman so that they could turn the unclean manpig and force the mount and rider to flee. The referee gives the a-okay to that plan, but includes a difficult cost: the henchman will automatically take damage and the player must make a save vs. poison or their henchman contracts a horrid disease from the manpig's bite. The cleric player succeeds on the saving throw, but the henchman ends up taking 6 points of damage and collapses to the ground. In the interim, however, the cleric succeeds on the turn unclean roll, forcing the manpig to flee with its rider in tow. The referee makes a morale check for the other pigmen, resulting in them fleeing, but not before the one wielding a rock throws it at the cleric. They fail their save and take 4 points of damage.

After just one round the combat is over. Morale works just the same as in B/X, since it is by far my favorite aspect of that system's encounter rules. I included the bits about the cleric's player discussing with the referee to show that this combat rework is just as flexible as normal OSR play, with everything coming about as agreement between players and referee, and DM adjudication. 

IN SUMMARY:

Distances are not tracked in absolute numbers. Whether you are able to engage with a given creature is entirely based on relative, narrative-based description. Initiative is simultaneous, rather than going in turns.

To-hit rolls, AC, and monster saving throws have all been scrapped. Instead, players make combat rolls that represent all aspects of a fight in a round, defensive and offensive. If they succeed in a combat roll against a monster's static combat score, they deal damage; if they fail, the monster deals damage to them. Characters have a bonus to their combat rolls based on their level, their class, and items/hirelings they may have. Armor is damage reduction, and players make saving throws for non-player characters/monsters, as well as making saving throws to avoid being hit by ranged attacks, rather than the monster rolling to hit them with the ranged attack. Characters/monsters can only engage with as many combatants as they have attacks per round; any creatures attacking them in excess automatically deal damage.

COMBAT PROCEDURE:

01: (if applicable/at beginning of combat) Roll for surprise. During the surprise round, whichever side has surprise can act unopposed (attacks automatically deal damage).

02: Referee describes the situation at the start of the round to the players.

03: Players discuss among themselves and communicate to the referee how they respond.

04: Non-melee actions are resolved first. Spells, retreats, missile attacks. (these are resolved first so that monsters can respond to them if possible. this didn't happen in the example above but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen).

05: Melee combat is resolved.

06: Check morale when applicable. If monsters or players do not flee, return to step 2.

COMBAT BONUSES:

Martial Classes: Equal to level. Example: Fighter, Berserker.

Semi-Martial Classes: Half level, rounded up. Example: Wrestler, Ranger.

Semi-Combatant Classes: Half level, rounded down. Example: Cleric, Thief.

Non-Combatant Classes: 0 at level 1, +1 every level after. Example: Magic-User.

DEX modifies melee combat rolls. INT modifies missile attack rolls. STR modifies all damage rolls.

Wielding a side-arm along with a one-handed weapon provides a +1 to a combat roll. Think a parrying dagger or swordbreaker. On a critical hit, deal the damage of the sidearm in addition to the maximum damage of your primary weapon.

Carrying a shield with a one-handed weapon provides a bonus to the combat roll. +1 for a wicker shield, +2 for wood or metal. The player can choose to sacrifice their shield to negate all damage taken (a la SHIELDS SHALL BE SPLINTERED).

Henchmen (defined here as retainers that typically engage in combat) provide a bonus to the attack roll of whoever they are helping equal to half their HD/level, rounded up if a more fighty-type character, rounded down if a less fighty-type character.

ARMOR:

Armor is damage reduction. Damage dealt can not go below 1 point from armor.

No armor, normal clothing: 0 armor

Cloth/padded armor, leather, animal skins: 1 armor

Mail: 2 armor
Plate and mail: 4 armor

SOME THOUGHTS ON SPECIAL COMBAT STUFF:

Reach weapons (such as spears, polearms) stop their opponent from effectively responding. The player still rolls (when both on the receiving end of the polearm or they are the one wielding it themself), but the one not wielding a reach weapon never deals damage to the one that is wielding it. If both parties are wielding spears/polearms, combat works as normal, with some risk of the polearms getting caught up on one another and falling to the floor.

Being slow in combat (either from encumbrance or wielding a slow two-handed type weapon) leaves you open to attacks even when attacking. If engaged in combat with a faster opponent (i.e. one that isn't encumbered and isn't wielding a slow weapon), they always deal damage to you even if you succeed on the combat roll. If you succeed, for instance, they deal damage to you and you deal damage to them. Two opponents that both wield slow weapons fight as normal.

Sneak attacks automatically hit, none of this "+4 to-hit" stuff, if your opponent is actually unaware that you are attacking then you always hit with the sole exception of if some extraneous circumstance stops you from doing so. 

Whispers in the Night (A Potential Spellcasting System for King of Kings)

In the world of King of Kings, magical spells are uncanny unearthly whispers which crawl their way into the ears of those who open their minds to them (whether willingly or not) when they are asleep at night. The whispers in their raw form are nigh unusable, but when focused through meditation, incantation, preparation, and other such elements they become incredible powers in the hands and on the lips of sorcerers.

This explanation for the existence of magic spells was something I initially created for a different game (although I've recently been thinking that that game, and several others, are probably set in the same world as King of Kings), in part as an explanation for the "Vancian" magic system built into D&D. King of Kings has used that system thus far, though only one spell has been cast in the game... I'm just thinking about the subject and tinkering with ways to tie spellcasting more directly into the setting and my conception of how those uncanny whispers work (which has diverged a little bit from the vague pseudo-Vancian conception I started out with!)

Also you will notice that a big part of this system is a 2d6 table somewhat reminiscent of the Turn Undead table built into the Cleric class in classic D&D. This was undeniably inspired by d4 caltrops's post on using the Turning table for other mechanics, which I found absolutely fascinating. So uh, yeah I guess let's just get into it!

I just really love this DCC wizard art, its got great vibes

So, to start with: the cleric and magic-user spell lists are merged (ideally with some modifications for some spells that I'm not a big fan of) because in truth the spells of mystery cults and of sorcerers are one and the same, with only their place in society differing. However, this does not mean that a spellcaster has access to all of these spells all at once. Firstly, alignment figures into it (with alignment in King of Kings being allegiance to one side or another in a dualistic cosmic conflict, rather than a description of worth or behavior), and secondly you are only ever able to cast spells that you know. Sure, this gets rid of the cleric's ability to prepare any of the spells from their spell list but uh... don't really care.

A spellcaster aligned with law/truth can only cast spells which are whispered into their ears by the stars above. A spellcaster aligned with chaos/deceit can only cast spells which are whispered into their ears by the moon which looms over us all. A neutral spellcaster can cast spells from either source, but is more unpredictable in their casting success than a caster who has dedicated themselves to law or chaos. This doesn't affect scrolls, which can be used by anyone regardless of alignment, since their whispered words have been caged to the page.

Before you get to repeating the uncanny whispers of the sky you have to prepare your spells for the day. You can prepare a number of spells equal to your level, which you can then cast as many times as you are able to so long as you do not fail your casting roll. This follows closely with the spell slots in b/x for a magic-user up until level 7, but provides more flexibility since a spell does not immediately disappear upon being spoken into the world. This also kind of alleviates the problem some people have with level one magic-users being ineffectual once they cast their only spell; you'll still be ineffectual once you fail a spell roll, but at least that ineffectiveness comes bombastically and dramatically!

You can only prepare spells that you know, with knowledge of spells coming from two sources: masters (heads of mystery cults, sorcerous sects, teachers you are an apprentice of, etc) who will teach you certain spells when you reach certain ranks or levels in service to them, and by stealing the spells of other sorcerers, typically by stealing the records of the spells they know (grimoires, clay tablets, skin tattoos).

When you cast a spell, roll 2d6 and consult the table below. A result equal to or over the number indicated on the table is a successful casting, while a result lower than the number indicated is a spell failure.

MU Level	First Circle	Second Circle	Third Circle	Fourth Circle	Fifth Circle	Sixth Circle
1	8	10	12	--	--	--
2	7	9	11	--	--	--
3	6	8	10	12	--	--
4	5	7	9	11	--	--
5	4	6	8	10	12	--
6	3	5	7	9	11	--
7	3	4	6	8	10	12
8	3	3	5	7	9	11
9	3	3	4	6	8	10
10	3	3	3	5	7	9
11	3	3	3	4	6	8
12	3	3	3	3	5	7

(Oh yeah I'm using circle instead of level, for Flavor... they're exactly the same)

Aligned (i.e. non-neutral) spellcasters are treated as two levels higher than their actual level for purposes of spellcasting rolls. Additionally, if you have a mentor/master/guide assisting in the casting of a spell (for instance, if a jinni or daeva or more experienced sorcerer is channeling whispers with you to assist) you roll 3d6 and take the best two rolled. 

A spell failure causes the mishap associated with a particular spell to occur. From now on when I write new spells I'll include this, and I'll start writing mishap effects for spells that my players have in King of Kings. An example (just as a thought):

Shield

(By the way I am making shield a spell of the stars)

A miscasting of this spell results in the caster being encased in a glistening field which completely impedes movement, freezing them in place. They cannot be hurt while encased in this field, but can be lifted and moved unwillingly. This lasts for 2 turns, but increases by 1 every subsequent failed roll. After 6 miscasts of shield, the caster will be encased alive in a glistening force field indefinitely.

Gathering spells by examining the stars of course!

In addition, a failed spellcasting roll makes you lose the spell cast for the remainder of the day. Might change this to a failure making you lose all spells, don't really know. Also, I will add this to NPC spellcasters too, because of course they should be able to experience such esoteric mishaps! Also also, you automatically experience a mishap if your spellcasting is interrupted in combat.

That's about it really. Oh uh, here's a description of which spells I am putting in each category.

Spells of the Stars: anything which reveals secret knowledge (stuff like clairvoyance, ESP, see invisible), anything which relates to fire or bright light, anything which relates to plants, anything that just feels right to be grouped in here
Spells of the Moon: anything which causes pain (cause light wounds is the archetypal one in my mind), anything which hides knowledge (illusion spells especially), anything which relates to wild animals, anything which relates to water, anything that just feels right to be grouped in here

Hopefully I haven't been too rambly here... I might just introduce this system into my game shortly! Hope it has been a lovely read for you all.

Inventories and Encumbrance

 This is a bit less of a setting-specific post, but it is one of the few house rules that I will be using for King of Kings. I find that resource management is a very important part of the game, something which adds an important element of pressure on the players to really make their decisionmaking and exploration feel impactful. Well, this is something that plenty of other people have already said before. Here I'll just be describing my encumbrance rules so I can have them all in one place.

So that my inspirations can be openly available (and so I can link to other posts on this topic that I think are interesting and useful):
Mechanics for Resource Management Part 1 and Part 2
Across the Clones - Encumbrance
This compilation of resource management related posts from DIY & Dragons
Presenting the Only Good Encumbrance System
HMS Apollyon Exploration Rules

Okay, so to begin with: King of Kings is going to use slot-based encumbrance (rather than pound/stone/coin based encumbrance) where slots are only considered for significant items. This system of abstracting encumbrance away from the nitty gritty numbers of measuring specific weights of items allows it to have a more readily apparent impact on gameplay, with how it forces player decisionmaking and makes for easy encumbrance tracking.

Player characters have a number of inventory item slots equal to 10+STR modifier (modifier listed below):
3: -3
4-5: -2
6-8: -1
9-12: 0
13-15: +1
16-17: +2
18: +3
This allows for inventories ranging from 7 to 13 slots in size. This differs from the encumbrance system that I have typically used in my games up to this point. Normally, I have had the number of slots equal to the character's STR score, with some modifications based on race perhaps. However, this has oftentimes ended up with characters not interacting with the encumbrance system in a significant way, primarily because of just how high the values were oftentimes! Characters with very low STR scores simply didn't bother picking anything up, while characters with higher STR just never had to worry about it. By bringing it down to a more bounded range, it equalizes the system across all characters.

The first three of these item slots are "quick-draw" slots, items and equipment that the character has close on hand and can be pulled out at a moment's notice. During a combat encounter, items in the quick-draw slots can be used no problem. Items outside of the quick-draw slots require at least one round to retrieve (where the character is not doing anything but searching for that item), and due to the chaotic combat situation the character must roll 1d20 over the item's slot number in the inventory in order to retrieve it. If they fail this roll, they may attempt again, but it is very likely that enemy combatants will have noticed their helpless searching and decided to target them.

Fighters have a potential maximum of five quick-draw slots, allowing them to have more weapons/shields/etc with easy access. For slots four and five, the fighter character can choose whether they are quick-draw slots or normal item slots.

A character can carry up to their maximum amount of item slots without becoming encumbered. Going over the slot maximum encumbers the character, slowing them down and making them clumsier. 10 items over makes you heavily encumbered.

Encumbered: Act last in initiative order, -1 to all rolls, 50% chance of drowning, considerably slower than unencumbered characters for purposes of chases and retreats.
Heavily Encumbered: Act last in initiative order, -3 to all rolls (other than damage rolls), 100% chance of drowning, will always be captured in a chase unless items are abandoned, -2 to AC, cannot disengage from combat.

Specific Item Rules:

Weapons
Weapons are categorized into Light, Medium, and Two-Handed. Light weapons take up half an item slot (so two daggers take up one item slot), medium weapons take up one item slot, and two-handed weapons take up three item slots. Examples of light weapons include daggers and slings, examples of medium weapons include most swords and maces along with shortbows, and examples of two-handed weapons include large swords and longbows.

Ammo
A quiver of arrows or crossbow bolts takes up one item slot. For mundane missile weapons, the specific amount of arrows need not be tracked; it is assumed that an adventuring character has brought enough for their purposes, as long as they have "refilled" the quiver by paying for the associated price on returning to a settlement. A quiver must be in the character's quick draw slots in order to be used in combat. Special ammo should be tracked, with 20 such ammo pieces taking up one slot.

Armor
Armor is categorized into Light, Medium, and Heavy (or, to use more traditional terms, Leather, Chain, and Plate). Light armor takes up two item slots, medium armor takes up four, and heavy armor takes up six. Shields take up one item slot, and must be in the character's quick draw slots and be held in hand to receive the AC bonus.

Coins, Gems, and Treasures
Most small treasure items are not individually important enough to be considered to fill an item slot. 100 coins, gems, or small treasures occupy one item slot. 

Spellbooks and Grimoires
A book of magical spells must be put in the quick draw slots and be held in hand to be used. A single spell book takes up one item slot.

Torches and Lanterns
Three torches or one lantern take up one item slot. For torches or lanterns to provide light, they must be put in the character's quick draw slots and be held in hand. Five units of lantern fuel take up one item slot. A torch or lantern provides enough light for three people to see.

Pack Animals
Items can be stored on pack animals for travel and transportation. Typically, a pack animal or group of pack animals is left outside of the dungeon, but a small pack animal (mule) can be brought into a dungeon or other adventure location. The number of slots of items that a pack animal can carry varies. A mule can typically carry 10 slots of items, while a larger horse or camel can carry 15, and an elephant or giant lizard can carry 20.