Minimal Melee Combat
Game Design by Timothy Swenson
(This game is freeware and my be freely distributed.)
1.0 Introduction
From Gladiorial contests to Medieval knights duking it out, man-to-man
combat with swords and shields had been the primary form of combat for
a thousand years. The advent of fantasy role playing games and the
Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) has made it popular in the
gaming hobby.
Minimal Melee Combat is a simple game designed to create a feeling for
combat between to combatants armed with swords. It is not designed to
be an accurate simulation and make no attempts at this. It is a quick
and easy game of simple hack 'n slash.
Put your armor on, pick up your sword and shield, and enter the fray.
2.0 Combatants
Combatants are comprised of the following Attributes:
DX: Dexterity, the ability of a combatant to hit an opponent.
HITS: The amount of hits of damage a combatant can take.
ARMOR: The amount of armor that a combatant has. Armor absorbs damage
before it goes to HITS.
Combatant Record Sheets: Each combatant is kept track of using a
Combatant Record Sheet. At the beginning of the game, the Attributes
of each combatant is entered on a Record Sheet. Since Attributes can
change during the game, due to damage, ovals are used to track the
current value of an Attribute. If a combatant has a DX of 3, fill in
all but 3 ovals on the Record Sheet. Due this for each Attribute.
3.0 Combatant Design
Combatants are created using Build Points (BPs). Players build their
combatants by spending BPs on Attributes and weapons. Average
combatants are 13 BPs with 17 BPs being the most a combatant can have.
Attributes may have a value from 1 to 5. Each point of an Attribute
cost 1 BP. Combatants also have weapons and/or a shield. The costs
for each is listed below. The number of hits of damage that each
weapon does is also listed. Combatants do not have to have any armor
nor a shield. If buying a Two-Handed Sword, then a Shield may not be
used.
Weapons
Sword 1 hit 2 BP
Two Handed Sword 3 hits 4 BP
Defense
Shield 2 BP
Armor absorbs 1 hit 1 BP
Example Combatants
DX: 4 DX: 5
HITS: 3 HITS: 2
ARMOR: 2 ARMOR: 2
Sword, Shield Two-Handed Sword
4.0 Turn Sequence
Each turn is comprised of the following phases:
Initiative Roll
Player 1 Attacks
Player 2 Attacks
Before each turn, both players roll a die. The player with the
highest die roll becomes Player 1. Ties are re-rolled.
The game is played until one player has HITS of 0.
5.0 Setup
Each player will need to design a combatant and enter its Attributes
on the Combatant Record Sheet. Since there is no movement, no playing
board is necessary.
A number of 6 sided die and pen/pencils are also needed for play.
6.0 Combat
During each players attack phase, each player will choose a Move and
Aim for each hand. For the rest of these rules, a combination of Move
and Aim will get generalized to just Move.
Move
Swing
Thrust: Gives 1 extra hit of attack succeeds.
Block: Is only used a hand holding a shield.
Aim
High
Middle
Low
The sword is always in the right hand and the shield is in the left.
For Two-Handed Swords on the right hand is used to choose a Move.
Combat: Both players choose their moves in secret. When both players
are done, compare the moves with the Combat Chart to see if the
Attacker has hit the Defender. Any location without an X is
considered a hit. Dashes are hits, but at -1 DX. The Attacking
player then rolls 1 die. If the die roll is less than or equal to DX
(with modifiers), then the hit was sucessfull.
Damage: For each hit of damage, a die is rolled and compared with the
Damage Chart. Hits against Armor/HITS are first marked off against
Armor, until there is no armor left. Then the hits of damage are
applied to HITS. The first hit against the left arm renders it
useless for the rest of the game. If the combatant is using a shield,
then it is considered gone. If the combatant is using a two handed
sword, then all remaining attacks are made at -2 DX. Any additional
damage rolled for the left arm is applied to Armor/HITS. Hits of
damage are immediately marked off on the Defenders Combatant Record
Chart.
Damage Chart
-------------
1 - 5 Armor/HITS
6 Left Arm
Combat Chart
Attacker
S S S T T T B B B
H L M H L M H L M
-------------------------
S H | X . X X . . X . .
D S L | . X X . X . . X .
e S M | X X X . . X . . X
f T H | X . . X - - X . .
e T L | . X . - X - . X .
n T M | . . X - - X . . X
d B H | X . . X . .
e B L | . X . . X .
r B M | . . X . . X
Combatant Record Sheet
Name: _________________
DX O O O O O
HITS O O O O O
ARMOR O O O O O
Weapons:__________________
Left Right
Turn 1 -- -- -- --
-- -- -- --
Turn 2 -- -- -- --
-- -- -- --
Turn 3 -- -- -- --
-- -- -- --
Turn 4 -- -- -- --
-- -- -- --
Turn 5 -- -- -- --
-- -- -- --
Turn 6 __ __ __ __
__ __ __ __
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