One of the key (potential) advantages of combat mechanics in CRPGs is the presence of the C: the computer. Because computers do math and generate random numbers very, very quickly and very well, and always intimately know the rules of the game being played, CRPG combat can focus on action instead of rolling, adding, and then arguing with your opponent.

But not everyone is simply content to "take the computer's word for it" when a vital blow has been struck or a well-planned attack misses. For those inquisitive skeptics, we offer a brief overview of the attack resolution mechanics of The Broken Hourglass and WeiNGINE.

We aim to answer the fundamental questions: "How do I score a hit?" and "How hard will I hit when I connect?" (Or, for the cautious and/or pessimistic among you, "How do I avoid getting hit?" and "How much will it hurt when I get hit?")

Attack and Defense Rolls

An attack begins when an attacker makes an attack roll. The basics behind this roll are the same whether the attack is issued with a melee or missile weapon, or a spell.

Here's the formula:

(we use the standard RPG notation for random numbers here: "d100" represents "a random number between 1 and 100, inclusive," as though you had rolled one of those big funny 100-sided ping pong ball dice.)

Weapon precision skill is a secondary skill representing your proficiency and effectiveness with one of a variety of groups of weapons: bows, blades, hafted (bludgeoning) weapons, and so forth. For a spellcaster it would be the Precision value of Physical or elemental magic (earth, air, fire, water.) Tactics is a secondary group skill reflecting your group's overall tactical aptitude. Modifiers are any miscellaneous bonuses you might be enjoying due to traits, other abilities, or weapon qualities, and the cover penalty addresses bodies and obstructions between attacker and target.

If the defender is aware of the attacker and the defender has not dropped its guard, the defender automatically selects whether to parry, dodge or deflect (whatever would give the best result, including all modifiers; all are secondary skills) and makes a defense roll. The makeup of the defense roll is slightly different, depending on how the defender tries to avoid the attack.

"Why does the attacker roll d100 but the defender only rolls d80?" you may ask. We'll get to that in a moment.

The defender may only parry if it has a melee weapon (even natural weapons like fists and claws count) equipped. The defender may only deflect if it has a shield equipped.

Every enemy of the defender that could currently strike the defender with a melee weapon contributes to the Facing Penalty because the defender must divide her defensive attention among those potential threats. Investing in the Facing secondary skill reduces the Facing Penalty. This is our simplified form of Flanking. If two muggers are attacking you, you have to use your shield to deflect both of their attacks so it is only half as useful against each one. Unless you're dramatically better than your opponents or you are starring in a martial arts movie, two-on-one odds are quickly fatal for the one. The Facing Penalty reflects that fundamental truth.

The Attack Weapon Bulk-Weight Penalty models the difficulty in dodging or parrying truly massive weapons (with high momentum and kinetic energy). For parries the penalty is related to the difference in your weapon's bulk-weight and the attacking weapon's bulk-weight. If Conan swings a chair at Remo, Remo cannot really parry it effectively with a rapier. He can probably get the rapier up in time, but the chair will just push it aside. In physics terms, he can't accelerate the rapier up to a high enough velocity in order to give it enough momentum/kinetic energy to deflect the course of the chair. Similarly, if someone standing next to you swings a telephone pole at you, your dodging options are somewhat limited—you cannot really evade the blow by taking a step to the side or to the rear because the weapon will reach that area as well.

All of the above presumes that the defender is aware of the attacker. If the attacker is hidden from the defender, the defense "roll" looks very bad for the defender indeed:

DR = -100 + Tactics if unaware of attack

This is our "backstab" or "sneak attack" in a nutshell. If the defender does not know where the attacker will strike from (or even if he will strike at all) the only thing mitigating a mortal blow is the defender's tactical know-how—that innate sense that a strike might be coming, a comrade's nearly-too-late cry of "Look out, he's behind you!", and so forth.

All that said, whenever AR is greater than DR, the attack is a hit. If DR exceeds AR, the attack is a miss.

What a Hit Means

How solid a hit is determined by the difference between AR and DR, called the hit factor.

HF = AR - DR.

The damage dealt is based on the weapon and is multiplied by the hit factor. Thus a hit that was almost a miss does little damage and a hit against an unaware target does quite a bit of damage.

In our system, weapons do not have an inherently random amount of damage associated with them. Instead of doing "1d8" or "2d6+1" points of damage, weapons do "5" or "20" points of damage—assuming "ideal" conditions of a 100% hit factor. In real combat, damage will vary because the hit factor will be different every time the weapon strikes home. So a "10 damage shortsword" will only do that 10 points of damage on a 100% hit factor hit. If hit factor is 11%, only 1 point of damage is done. If hit factor is 152%, 15 points of damage are done. (We don't track damage out to decimal places. We could, but it would make the character sheet look messy.)

"But what about that d80 vs. d100 thing?" you ask again. Now we can explain and have it make some sort of sense. In order to keep combat between two otherwise-evenly matched individuals from being a zero-damage stalemate, we give a slight advantage to the attacker. With no bonuses in play, the attacker's d100 rolls off against the defender's d80—resulting in an expected 10% hit factor per attack, on average—that's barely a scratch, but with a potent enough weapon, it's enough to sting. With a very weak weapon, a 10% hit factor might not actually generate a single point of damage—another reason why the d80 vs. d100 issue doesn't penalize the defender as deeply as it may seem.

You may also wonder why armor has not been mentioned yet. In our system, armor does not make you more difficult to hit—that's a sensible abstraction for a game being played on paper, but we think we can do better. In The Broken Hourglass, armor provides damage resistance. So Damage Dealt is reduced by a flat amount, provided by armor, shield, or a magical source of protection. Better armors provide more damage resistance. Even a well-landed punch to a platemail-clad guard will not injure her. However, that mundane suit of platemail doesn't provide any protection from air magic, so even a simple air incantation will bypass the armor and stand a good chance of leaving a mark.

To Summarize

• In The Broken Hourglass, both attackers and defenders get a roll to determine how well the attacker attacked and how well the defender defended.
• If the attack roll exceeds the defense roll, a hit occurs...
• ...but it matters by how much the attack roll exceeds the defense roll. The bigger the difference, the more damage is dealt.
• Armor doesn't help the defense roll—it may well hurt it if it's heavy armor and causes encumbrance penalties! What armor does is reduce damage. Armor absorbs damage.
• And no, weapons and armor don't wear out or break from use in The Broken Hourglass, but we understand why you asked.

Next month in this department we'll shift gears and talk about the underpinnings of dialogue and "soft skills." Check back next week for a deeper look under the hood of WeiNGINE. See you then!