The clever combatant will prepare the arena of conflict and carefully choose the moment to strike long before the victim imagines a conflict at all.

Sun Tzu's The Art of War contains 10 core principles of conflict to consider when designing a conflict encounter.

The Adventurers opponents may also attempt to set Ambushes if given opportunity and time.

☐ AMBUSH SITE OR PREPARATIONS
How or where will the attackers take cover or conceal their attack?

☐ AMBUSH SPOILERS
What events might spoil the ambush or cause the attackers to abort their planned attack?

☐ AMBUSH CONDITIONS
What events or target locations cause the attackers to spring the ambush?

If the Adventurer's successfully set an Ambush, they may take a free Round of action against their unprepared opponents.

However, if the opponents successfully detect the Ambush, no surprise Round need occur as both sides ready for conflict together.

If the Adventurers fail to detect an Ambush set by an opponent, the opponent may take a free Round of action against the Adventurers.

Carefully consider how to “fail forward” in this case to avoid a possible “total party kill” (TPK).

In the spirit of early 20th century serial films, consider allowing the opponent to monologue and gloat then rebuff or capture the Adventurers, rather than outright slay them.

Generally, the Adventurer's Reflexes Attribute will govern how quickly they act or react within a conflict.

The Guide may choose to add modifiers to accommodate specific circumstances.

Consider who may notice or react first in the circumstance, and possibly assign a bonus.

Also consider who may not notice or react first, and possibly assign a penalty.

Many other options for determining Initiative and Turn Order exist such as:

• Random: Assign each action to a card, shuffle the deck of action cards and draw each card to find whose Turn comes next.

Design Alternatives Analysis Archive - Combat Round Structure And Initiative
Roleplaying Tips #0503 - Taking The Initiative - These Methods and Ideas Will Surprise You
Roleplaying Tips #0630 - How To Take Care of Initiative
Roleplaying Tips #0873 - Use Initiative To Keep Players Engaged
Roleplaying Tips #1033 - Novel Ways To Use Non-Combat Initiative

◢ Salvage Space: Initiative

If the group determines Initiative only once per Session or once per Conflict, it may help for everyone to seat themselves at the table in Turn order.

Guides may speed up resolving conflicts by acting for all Opponents in a single Turn within the Round, instead of each Opponent acting in Turn individually.

On each Adventurer's Turn, also call out who comes next to help prompt them to ready their next Action.

This may help keep conflicts moving swiftly.

◢ Salvage Space: Turn Order

Generally, Adventurers take 1, 2, or 3 actions during their Turn depending on their Speed attribute.

Encourage the Adventurers to plan their actions as a sequence on their turn, and consider narrating the intended actions as a story.

◢ Salvage Space: Actions Per Turn

Adding events to conflicts adds choices and decisions for Adventurers to make beyond “who do I attack next?”.

While planning conflict scenes, consider adding one or more external events driven by a countdown clock, to change the stakes and add more choices and decisions of which actions to take or delay.

At the start or top of a Round, or at the end or bottom of a Round, update the Adventurers on the changing countdown of the events, even if the update is a cryptic clue that something may get worse soon.

• Air runs out.
• Fires spread
• Sounds of approaching reinforcements grow louder.
• Distant lights grow stronger or dimmer.
• Ships sink further.
• Cracks grow wider threatening to break sooner.

Change the arena of conflict in overt and subtle ways to help each Round of a conflict tell its own story around the Adventurers.

◢ Salvage Space: Events in Conflicts

A Guide can prepare a list of possible actions or moves for the first few Rounds of anticipated conflicts during their preparation time.

Then, during the conflict, the Guide consults their menu of prepared options rather than spend more cognitive effort and time considering strategy and tactics in the moment.

Combined with Conditions, a Guide may prepare an “AI Table” to simply roll on to find their NPC combatant's next action.

Example Table:

The sheer number of possible actions allowed may paralyze a Player on their Turn, unable to decide which to commit to.

If you find a Player getting stuck, quickly review some common options with them.

The Roleplaying Tips “Five Actions” cover five common actions an Adventurer may choose on their Turn:

• Avoid any action
• Explore for more information
• Parley with the opponent such as attempting to de-escalate or negotiate
• Trick the opponent (which may including taunting or bluffing)
• Fight by continuing with an attack

Guides should limit their time to choose their action within their Turn to return the “spotlight” back to the Adventurers quickly.

If a Player has questions about the situation or requests clarifications about rules or actions, try to resolve or advise them on those questions quickly.

Strive to limit “out of character” discussion to the briefest possible amount and return to the action as quickly as possible for the benefit of all Adventurers.

Answer questions with a simple yes or no where possible and aim for brevity to improve response time and overall speed of conflict resolution.

Roleplaying Tips #0670 - Combat Roleplay: Teach Your Players To Narrate The Action
Roleplaying Tips #0996 - Make Your Turns Go Faster
Roleplaying Tips #1178 - 4 Ways To Surprise Players Who Know All The Monster Stats

◢ Salvage Space: Actions

For the Guide, roll all Task Resolution and damage dice together using dice of different colors to speed up Conflicts.

The Adventurers may choose to roll Damage separately to draw out their moments of impact to the story.

◢ Salvage Space: To-Hit Rolls

Before calling for any dice rolls, know which result ranges mean which degrees of success: total success, passable success with possible complications, and failures.

Consider and review modifiers needed to include current circumstances.

◢ Salvage Space: Core Mechanic

Attribute versus Attribute conflicts may extend for a number of Rounds.

Wearing down Attribute Reserves allows clear signals when one side of the conflict may choose to concede or withdraw.

Consider an upper limit of Rounds before one side or the other should concede or withdraw.

◢ Salvage Space: Opposed Attribute Score Test

Resolve Tasks using the Adventurers full range of Attributes, Skills, Modifiers, and Dice to allow Adventurers the widest range of choice for solving situations.

Consider creating conflict tasks which require differing Attributes, Skills, and SFX Abilities to engage multiple Adventurers within each Turn of each Round.

Avoid repeating the Task resolution from Adventurer to Adventurer in the same Round.

◢ Salvage Space: Task Resolution

The 2d6-2d6 roll heavily stacks the results in favor of the central, average outcome, leaving the extreme results as rare occurrences.

When an Adventurer scores a Critical, celebrate the event with an “over-the-top” result, even if it might “break” or “ruin” the rest of the encounter.

And when an Adventurer scores a Fumble, celebrate that with a surprising “curve ball” rather than total abject failure with no way forward.

When planning encounters, consider the slim possibility any roll could result in a Critical or Fumble for the Adventurers, or their Opponents.

Plan to make that memorable if it happens.

◢ Salvage Space: Criticals and Fumbles

Before taking an Action, Adventurers and the Guide should consider the potential reactions.

When planning encounters, consider the opponents possible reactions to the Adventurers actions, and consider the Adventurers possible reactions to the Guide's actions.

Consider planning reactions in the form of:
“If the Adventurers …,
then these Opponents might …”

Start with “if” to preserve and encourage Adventurer options and freedom within the encounter while using reactions as triggers to setup the next problem to solve.

◢ Salvage Space: Reactions

Dramatically recount the effects of Adventurers' actions or attacks against their Opponents.

If the Adventurers score hits, definitely tell that story!

Even if the Adventurers miss, those misses may still allow a story to tell.

What happened with the swing, the shot, the spell, power, or ability?

If it didn't “hit the target”, then what did it hit?

◢ Salvage Space: Hit Locations

It falls to the Guide to track and describe damage inflicted by the Adventurers in a conflict.

Describe this damage through what the Adventurer sees and hears happen to their target.

Scale any graphic descriptions to the agreed tone and lines or veils set with the group during Session Zero.

When considering how to describe damage, base the description on the anticipated emotional state of the target in that event or circumstance.

How do people, animals, or monsters react when bad things happen to them?

◢ Salvage Space: Damage

The Guide may choose to track Attribute Reserves for the Adventurers' Opponents but should not share them numerically.

Describe the loss of Reserves, if used for Opponents, through narrative from how the Adventurers themselves perceive it in the moment.

For lower-priority Opponents, extended bookkeeping of Reserves may be avoided or replaced using descriptive milestones representing Attribute loss directly.

◢ Salvage Space: Reserves

Damage may trigger persistent impairments or conditions during the conflict which take an additional toll on the afflicted.

The Guide should describe these through narration for the Opponents, and encourage Players to incorporate additional storytelling to reflect their Adventurer's current Conditions.

◢ Salvage Space: Conditions

Aid and healing during the course of a battle provides many opportunities for dramatic moments and allows Guides to create more interesting choices within each Adventurer's Turn.

Whether to provide aid, attack, defend, or perform other actions can provide conflicting choices for the Adventures.

Create as many interesting choices in the Round as possible without completely overloading the Adventurers which could increase hesitations or delays.

Consider potential teamwork opportunities when Adventurers or their Opponents require aid or healing.

◢ Salvage Space: Healing

Much like aid or healing, field repairs in the course of a conflict provide opportunities for interesting choices and dramatic moments.

Repairs require parts, tools, skills, time, and thinking.

The Amount of damage and Degree of Success for the repair efforts may greatly affect the Adventurers next choices.

Can the Adventurers, or their Opponents complete repairs in time during the conflict?

If so, will the repairs hold as long as needed?

These two countdowns may also follow one after another to increase the stakes within the conflict.

◢ Salvage Space: Repair

Mass Conflicts may span many missions and encounters and involve many factions.

Plot a mass conflict as a miniature “campaign within the campaign”, as a story arc which changes the world which the Adventurers will contribute to, for good or bad …

• List the factions and their goals:
  • Why would they go to war?
  • What would they gain?
  • What can they lose?
• Why would the Adventurers get involved?
• How would the conflict play out without the Adventurers?
• What differences can the Adventurers make?
  • Scouting Missions
  • Diplomatic Missions
  • Subterfuge Operations
  • Support or Supply Operations
  • Sabotage Missions or Battles
• Each mission may require multiple objectives
• If the Adventurers succeed to deliver their mission objectives, how does the conflict change?
• If the Adventurers only partially succeed, but do not complete some objectives, how does the conflict change?
• If the Adventurers fail a mission, how does the conflict change?

Roleplaying Tips #0982 - A Simple And Fun Way To Run Army Battles

◢ Salvage Space: Mass Conflicts

▲ Chronology :: ◢ References: Conflicts