A New Combat System

When I first started working on this game concept, I wanted a new combat system. I seem to recall that I had something worked out in the Swords & Sorcerers Game (I think that's what I was calling it), but I have lost that file. When I started Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl, I wanted to go a different route, but it wasn't adding up. In frustration, I went to a Defense Level System similar to the one used in the old red book.

The DL System works beautifully, even with three six sided dice, but I wanted something unique. I needed something that would further distinguish Basic HotDC from the current market, while keeping it in the old basic spirit I am looking for. So, I went back to the original formula I had written out in the beat up old notebook. It still seemed too unbalanced to me. There had to be a way to fix that.

Well, I think I've figured it out. It's the new Attack-Defense System or ADS. I'm not going to get into the details too much, but it's a system that will allow the Warriors to be the Hand to Hand brute force guys they've always been, while not overpowering, while not making the other professions entirely useless when it comes to fighting. I am still tweaking this system, but then it will be test time.

This is why I'm not rushing the book writing process, because this has to be done just right. I really loved the old school basic game, but I only seek to follow their lead when it comes to explaining things in an easy to understand way. I can't deny that those rules are great, but it will be up to The Wizards to one day release them again. I seek to follow in spirit, but with new rules, and I seek to improve on some things that I think needed to be improved.

Like what? In old basic, gold seemed useless. You have a bunch of gold, but what do you do with it? Also, why are the best non magical items so easily affordable at the start? And why... Well, I don't want to ramble. Suffice it to say, I'm putting much thought into this, and I'm hopeful that people will like the results. Time will tell.

Oh, and if/when I do another test session, those details will be posted here.