I was typing this up for the Tactics against low-Dex/Move-2 PKs thread (http://nocturnal-media.com/forum/index.php?topic=2024.msg16235#msg16235), when I reflected that since I am addressing a more general issue, it might be better to break this part off as a new thread.

While we are on the topic of Movement Rate, I think that the granularity of Movement Rate is too great, and especially over a longer distance, I would not round the MR but use the actual unrounded value. This prevents the issue that 24 -> Move 2 and 25 -> Move 30, a +50% difference for a single point in DEX or STR.

I also think Movement Rate is too slow, as it implies that the length of a single melee round is a matter of a couple of seconds. I can take a step in one second, even while having a heavy backpack, and assuming I have Move 2, that would give the length of the round as 2 seconds. This is too low for me, as it is basically a single swing of the sword, and I would be dubious as to my chances of getting up in full armor after being knocked down and while trying to protect myself, too. (Granted, I am not a trained knight. :) ).

I can understand an argument from the battle grid perspective that a higher movement rate would need bigger battle grids to differentiate between movements, which might get annoying. But we are not overly fond of that sort of tactical combat anyway and thus In Our Campaign, the length of a melee round has been handwaved to correspond more to the situation: for example, it might take you a round to move to help another knight, if he was standing away from you, whereas if he was next to you, you can join in the fight immediately. If I were to fix a time on it, I'd like at least something like 10 seconds. Granted, that is very (Old) D&D-ish of me, but it simply feels right a good minimum time for an exchange of blows, for one guy to struggle to get up while needing to protect himself, etc. This would imply a Movement Rate of (STR+DEX)/2, which would also address the granularity issue mentioned at the beginning.

In Our Campaign, the length of a melee round has been handwaved to correspond more to the situation


Well, since p. 96 (in the Time Scale section) gives the length of a melee round as “somewhere between a few seconds and perhaps a minute”, there’s not much handwaving needed here. It’s only reasonable to shrink and stretch combat rounds as needed to fit the fiction. (Sometimes, in special situations, I like to make them really long, for those proper Malorian sword fights lasting hours at a time.)

However, an elastic round length and a fixed movement rate do not go well together and inevitably lead to weird results when using a fixed reference system like a battle grid. I don’t think I have ever used the movement rate in combat – it seems only useful when there are competing characters involved: a race to get somewhere first, a chase, a hunt.


[Edit: Typo]

Quite agreed, Zarkov. That stretching of melee rounds also becomes problematic when it is a mass melee (3+ PKs vs. 3+ enemies) and some of the fighters select the Defensive option, which may or may not influence the turn length. It might be a good thing for the players have the option for stalling for time, as it makes Defensive even more useful, such as if one side is using Defensive and the other is fighting normally, the melee round for them stretches twice as long. Hence, by selecting Defensive, you would already be cutting down the enemy's ability to mangle you in half in a given time period. And if that duel gets interrupted, just ignore that it was supposed to last longer: things change! I'd also stay in 'normal time' if it is not a duel, like two guys fighting against a third, and the second guy of the pair is using Defensive while others are fighting normally.

As long as one knight doesn’t start moving in bullet-time compared to the others … ;D

I must say I have not had the discussion of movement rates during a battle. the only time movement is in play is during a chase, or when the question arises if some can get away. Usually the PK are on horse so footmen never get away then.