Combat and Contested Actions - LunarNeil/Call-of-Cthulhu-Campaign GitHub Wiki

While most of the game is decided through talking, describing, and responding to events, there are moments where the results of an action are contested, or the situation is so complex, or the action so unpredictable that the players and the Moderator cannot reach an arbitrated result that satisfies all parties. Such struggles are called a Contest when two or more parties are in competition, or a Challenge when an individual strives to succeed at some difficult task. In these situations, if the Moderator believes the result will be interesting enough, a roll of dice can be used to determine the result.

The system that Realms of Mythos and Madness uses for dice rolling is called Conflict Resolution, also known as a Negotiated Contest because a period of negotiation precedes the contest roll. Conflict resolution does not supersede the Dramatic Arbitration rules, even when both sides are in total opposition. You still narrate what you're doing, describe what you want to have happen and talk to your fellow Investigators like normal. You just need to roll your dice before the Moderator knows how successful your attempt was.

Conflict resolution requires the Moderator and the involved players players to have a short period of negotiation where the situation is examined, their action is planned, and the Stakes for winning and losing are agreed upon. The stakes are like the "ante" of the roll, the more you want to win the more you have to risk. They are the negotiated set of good and bad results you're willing to bet against the result of your roll. Once the player and the Moderator agree on the stakes and the player states what action they want to perform, the rules for conflict resolution are simple:

Player attempts to exceed the contest's Challenge Rating on a roll of 2d10 plus relevant modifiers. Higher is better.

The more favorable the stakes or complex your action, the greater the Challenge Rating. This allows the player to moderate the amount of risk they're willing to take on, stay immersed in the tension, and continue roleplaying even when embroiled in a series of dice rolls. When the resolution of this conflict is especially dramatic or exciting, the Moderator can refer the result to the Success Meter and determine not just if your Investigator succeeded, but how interesting their success was.

-Contested Actions

When the actions of an Investigator and an Enemy are in direct competition it is called a Contested Action or a Contest. Actions can only be contested if there are at least two involved parties with the ability to meaningfully alter the result of the action. Each of the parties involved are referred to as Actors. This isn't a film or stage performance reference, just a term to denote the important participants in a contest.

Contested actions are not opposed rolls, the player's roll will determine the resolution for both the Investigator and the Enemy. This is because the Investigator is the more dramatically important actor, and their success or failure is more interesting than the success or failure of an Enemy.

If the Investigators are contesting each other (unfortunate but possible) then they are each allowed to roll, as Investigators are all of equal dramatic importance. Plot essential allies and a few rare antagonists may also be considered "important actors" in some scenarios, meaning the Investigators and Enemies treat contests with them as if it was against another player's character.

-Conflict Resolution Phases

The conflict resolution system for Realms does not include an Initiative roll or use a Turn Order to divide player and enemy actions. Instead, when conflict resolution begins, time effectively freezes while every player plans their actions during the same period of negotiation. Once the negotiation phase ends, a formal declaration of Intent follows, and then the roll. Just to be clear, here the order of every "phase" in a round of conflict resolution:

1) Negotiation: During the negotiation phase, all players are to discuss among themselves what their characters should do in the next moments of play, ask questions of the Moderator, and negotiate for the most favorable modifiers. This is also where the stakes of the roll are negotiated. Once the players are finished negotiating, all parties move to the initiation phase.

2) Initiation: During the initiation phase, players state their Intents and their actions take effect within the game world. Moderators will reveal the Intent of the opposition much like how the players did, by describing what begins to happen as the roll is made. This reveal can change the situation dramatically, but the stakes remain the same.

3) Execution: During the execution phase, players roll their dice and make any last-second adjustments that the Moderator and their stated Intent will allow.

4) Resolution: During the resolution phase, the Moderator will compare the results of the player's rolls against the Challenge Ratings for their actions to determine if they succeeded or failed. Some results may be referred to the Success Meter to determine the degree of success. Moderators will then narrate the resolution of the round of actions, both successes and failures, apply consequences (like wounds) to those who suffer them, and either end conflict resolution or open up a new period of negotiation.

Players whose actions are not contested will be handled like a normal arbitrated event, and not subject to rolls. However, if the action is overly time consuming the Moderator can allow the player to "hurry up" their work and make it into a challenge. This moves the action into conflict resolution mode and can get them finished faster, so they can join in the ongoing fun.

-Negotiating Stakes and Modifiers

Negotiation can sound intimidating to players reading the_Realms of Mythos and Madness_ rules for the first time, because it sounds like you are forced to debate or argue with the Moderator over the validity of your actions, or to avoid being squashed like a bug by unfair stakes and modifiers.

This is not the case. Negotiation is a simple dialogue where the Moderator assumes their normal job as referee and information channel to the players, helping them to understand everything their Investigator can see, hear, or guess about the situation they find themselves in. The negotiation name comes from the process of players discussing with Moderators what risks the Investigators accept in order for the player to get the result they want from their roll. If you want something good to happen, you need to accept a risk of something bad happening if you fail.

The way a player negotiates for favorable stakes and modifiers is by talking with the Moderator and using their wits to identify beneficial elements of the environment, behaviors of the Enemies, or information that they have collected. Moderators get the final say on what benefit these elements provide, but paying attention and using your brain is always going to encourage a Moderator to lean in the player's favor.

Once the player and the moderator agree on the stakes, the player can reveal their action by formally stating their Intent, and the negotiation phase is over. Simple, fun, and should only take a minute of time once the players are acclimated to the negotiated contest system.

-Stating Intent

The most important thing a player does during conflict resolution is formulating their Investigator's Intent, which a combination of what they are doing and what they want to have happen. In a more technical sense, it is a precise statement that allows for a single contest roll to resolve both Actions and Results, and it gives the player an opportunity to elaborate on the contest, adding their own creativity and personality. Stating your Intent is simple, and similar to the kinds of descriptions used outside of conflict resolution.

One good example of a detailed Intent would be:

"I'll turn the corner, my head down and body low to hug cover, swinging my arms up and taking a second of aim before firing dead center on the Cultist with the dynamite vest--knocking them backwards and off the roof, down thirty feet to the cobblestones below."

But if you wish to wait before acting, or "hold" an action until an enemy moves, or otherwise leave room for reactions and improvisation, you can also craft an Intent that does that. Building flexibility into an Intent allows you more wiggle room in the execution phase, but it comes at the cost of narrative Priority during the initiation phase. Priority can be thought of as the "who wants it more" of a contest, and in general, the less flexible and the more single-minded an Intent is, the more they want it.

One good example of a flexible Intent would be:

"I'm going to wait a second before popping my head up, just to make sure nobody is shooting at me first, and then I'll look around and see if I can shoot any Cultists with those dynamite vests. If I can I'd like to shoot them in the hand, making them unable to flip the switch, but I won't hesitate to blast them right in the chest if that's what it takes."

As mentioned in the section on Contested Actions, when an Investigator and an Enemy are in conflict, it is the Investigator who is the important "actor" in that contest, and so Investigators have Priority over Enemies when everything else is equal. However, it is possible for an Investigator's Intent to succeed without invalidating an Enemy's Intent. If an Investigator's Intent is to kick a Cultist through a window, and the Cultist's Intent is to activate his dynamite vest, both can happen. The real question, the sort of thing that makes crafting an Intent so exciting, is which happens first.

-Modifiers on Conflict Resolution Rolls

Modifiers are the important influences on the conflict, adding or taking away a certain number from your roll. Having a Level 4 lock-picking skills gives a +4 positive modifier on lock-picking contests, while having to pick the lock in the dark while being hunted can give a negative modifier.

The rule for modifiers is that Investigators only apply at most One Positive Modifier and One Negative Modifier to their roll, no matter how many modifiers are on the table. Players can choose which positive modifier to use, and the moderator will choose which of the negative modifiers is applied.

Moderators will help players to apply the modifiers to their roll, but players can always look for modifiers in three places: the Environment descriptions, the Skills of your character, and possible Weak Points of your target. The Moderator is always free to allow any modifiers they deem suitable. There are things that can impact the outcome a contest without acting like a modifier, like helpful equipment or a crippling wound, and the effect these factors have is always intuitive and specifically explained.

####-Margin of Success Many contests will yield a simple "Yes or No" response on your action, but some contests are complex and exciting enough to require a "Yes, and..." response that says not only that you DID succeed in some way, but describe how you succeeded, and if there were any complications. This is called your Margin of Success, and helps make the results of contests more interesting and can even help raise the stakes for the entire scene.

To figure out the Margin of Success you need to figure out the amount rolled over over the cut-off number. If you needed to roll a 10 and you rolled a 14, you succeeded by 4 points. If you needed a 10 and you rolled a 10 you succeeded by 0 points. Simple!

Once you know how much you succeeded by, compare that number to this chart:

Chart Only Available in PDF Version -- Sorry, this wiki is Not The Best

So if you rolled 4 over the target you get a Success Margin of Three. If you rolled 0 over you get a Success Margin of One. See how easy that is to figure out?

The Success Meter is one of the few charts you'll ever need in a Realms of Mythos and Madness campaign, and you can find an easy reference version of it right on your Character Sheet. The Success Meter is only a tool though, not a universal rule. You only need to use it when it makes the resolution of a contest more interesting or when it helps figure out "what happens next?" with a minimum of complexity. If the group finds it more fun, dramatic, and scary to roll many times, with lots of chances of failure, then the Moderator is free to do that.

-The Panic Rules

The Panic Rules introduce In-Game Consequences for player indecision during conflict resolution, helping to replicate the kinds of panic responses players have when playing survival horror videogames or watching suspenseful movies. The Panic Rules can also be applied to Dramatic Arbitration as well. These are optional tools for roleplaying dangerous moments and maintaining a high level of tension at the gaming table, but they are highly encouraged. The three core panic rules are:

The First Rule: Think Fast

Players suffer greater challenge ratings and reduced priority for taking too long in negotiation phase, and can even be denied an action entirely (due to Investigator panic) if they exceed a reasonable time limit as specified by the Moderator.

The Second Rule: No Second Chances

Players cannot change the Intent once they start stating it, nor undo any arbitrated action once the Moderator begins describing the result, but in both cases the player may interrupt for an intentional failure of the action to minimize negative consequences.

The Third Rule: Be Confident

Players can influence their Investigator's mental state through their roleplay, and Intents stated without player confidence or commitment will have that decreased level of commitment translated to the Investigator's actions.

While these may sound like punitive responses to normal player indecision during action planning, it benefits the game to force the players plan their decisions quickly, to punish "take-back" attempts, and to take role-playing cues from the players when judging Investigator mental states. It is precisely the lack of time and lack of safety which makes situations tense or terrifying. For an example of how this might work at your table, look at the following example:

Player 1: "Uh... I... I peer open, I mean, push open the door slightly and peer down the hall to see what's making those noises!"

Player 2: "Don't do it!"

Player 1: "I'm doing it!"

Moderator: "Okay. You press your trembling hand against the cold door, and it hangs on ancient, rusty hinges. Your breath hangs in the air as you try to nudge it open. The hallway is lit by dim blue moonlight, and through the small opening you squint to see a billous loathsome shap-

Player 1: "Nope!" (slams hands on table)

Player 2: "I told you!"

Moderator: "You slam the door shut with a bang! Down the hall, you think you hear a high pitched squealing..."

In this situation the Player yelled out "Nope!" to intentionally fail his action and his lack of composure means he did it with a loud bang. But if the player hadn't done this, the Moderator may have applied a point of Madness, which the player suspected. It turned this scene from a dull bit of exposition into an exciting moment that the Moderator exploits to add a bit of extra action. When the players lack the normal "time-out" safe spaces of narration and planning phase, they are more likely to feel stress, get tense, and make mistakes. Have fun with these, use all or none of them, or even write your own!