Version 0.8 - major refactoring


First of all, the small stuff.

Names of things are still fluctuating, some Actions, some Reactions, some game resources. Stuff moves around, but hopefully it gets closer and closer to a definitive identity.

Typo fixes, text rewriting for the sake of clarity, trying to be as unambiguous as I can, preventing and dispelling as many doubts and questions as possible. Some elements got majorly streamlined, so now the rulebook is slimmer and more orderly.

And now, the big stuff...

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The 80%

Infinite movement is gone.
One of my original design goals was to implement a form of gameplay where movement is infinite and doesn't need measurements. Iteration after iteration this consistently turned out to be the most fiddly and confusing game element. I wanted it to simplify and lighten up the average tabletop miniature experience, and instead it was the one thing all players struggled to grasp and, after that, to correctly and quickly perform.

It had to go.

In its place I settled for something less innovative but that, I believe, delivers 80% of the benefits I was looking for. The current implementation relies solely on the universal 5cm "standard unit" for everything. Using a dedicated measuring tool completely removes numbers and calculations from the act of measuring distances, and after very little time it all becomes so familiar that players can pretty much eyeball everything. That's it, eyeballing is the new no-measurements :P

This method is found in many modern miniature games, but they usually lose its main benefits by introducing a host of different measuring tools, and templates, and non-standard measures. Torque only has the one Unit.

Another element that supports eyeballing is the Brash Measurements rule. Inspired by Gaslands' Rule of Carnage, my rule helps avoid losing time on precise and minute measurements, favoring whatever decision would lead to the most engaging gameplay: 

  • Is a target in LöS? Yes!
  • Is an obstacle in the way? Yes!
  • Is a target in contact? Yes!

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A New Rush

The shift in the movement/measuring system allowed me to consistently streamline the turn structure... which now doesn't exist anymore.

No phases, no rounds and, at least in name, no turns.
Actions simply alternate individually between players: I go once, you go once, etc.

But...

The first time a seeker is activated is for free, while subsequent activations cost fatigue, worsening the base dice pool. Only once all your seekers have activated once, they reset to a "ready" state that allows for a new round of free actions.

But...

Most re/actions a seeker performs grant Momentum, allowing for actions outside the alternating order (Extras). These still count as normal Actions though, engaging the aforementioned ready/spent/tired economy. Also, Extras "chain" together, preventing the opponent from using their Momentum as an interruption/breaker.

Everything is possible, but at a cost. Everything is shifting, but there are patterns you can aim for. Most things depend on chance, but you can plan and prepare so that the odds will be more easily in your favor. All of this discourages players from pouring time and brain cycles into big multi-action strategies, while encouraging them to think about moment-to-moment tactical choices with potentially one, two, three extra steps.

Seeker cards and action tokens should make this whole process intuitive and actionable.


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Math!

I'm tinkering with the dice mathematics.

Opposing tests are kind of self balancing. No problems there.

Fixed tests are instead feeling a bit off.
Scoring 2 Hits on dice that succeed on a roll of 4+ was ok statistically, but they meant that occasionally the player would score just 1 Hit, which would lead to a LOSS outcome. Functionally it all works ok, but conceptually and emotionally the scoring of a useless Hit feels off.

Turns out, I'm very bad at crunching dice math, even with the help of online resources 😅
It doesn't help that my specific use case (calculate the % of an exploding pool to score N hits at different success thresholds) is particularly complex.
So, as far as I can tell, the universe should more or less be in balance if I modify my dice in the following way:

  • Fixed tests require 1 Hit (instead of 2 Hits) to score a WIN outcome
  • Skill dice produce a Hit on a roll of 5 or 6 (instead of 4+)
  • Drag dice  produce a Hit only on a roll of 6 (instead of 5+)
  • The CRIT outcome happens when scoring the Target+2 amount of Hits 
    • This used to be relatively frequent, albeit not a safe bet. Still at times it felt a bit too frequent. Testing with a Target+3 felt too sporadic. Hopefully the slightly modified dice mathematics will make Target+2 just a tad less frequent, helping with the overall game feel.

Another change from previous versions is what happens to a 0d6 pool. Previously, the re/action would roll zero dice, thus scoring zero Hits, whatever that might mean in the specific circumstances. Very functional, but also very limiting. Ok.

Now I'm toying with a "disadvantage" mechanic. So a pool of zero or less dice will still have a chance of winning, by rolling 2d6 and only keeping the worst one. Slim chance, but better than nothing. And 6s explode as usual, adding normal "un-disadvantaged" dice to the roll, allowing for unexpected comebacks.

If my calculations aren't wrong, rolling Disadvantage with Skill dice is still worse than rolling normally with a single Drag die, but it's not as bad as rolling Disadvantage with Drag dice. So... slim chances of comeback, but big enough as to feel possible/meaningful.

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Spring Cleaning

All these changes allowed for a slimmer and more streamlined set of rules. Some actions (like Rush and Throw) are now less fiddly. All re/actions now uniformly grant Momentum, with only two specific and self-contained exceptions that instead grant an immediate Extra to the seeker performing them, avoiding complex tangles. And the overall tracking of whose-turn-it-is has become an obsolete task: actions are always alternating, unless an Extra chains to whomever performed the last action, and then we go back to alternating from there. No initiative, no precedence, no turn order.

The rules text is now down to 

Files

20240525_TorqueArena_PLAYTEST_v.0.8.pdf 1.4 MB
23 days ago

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