New Friends and Foes - Combat Mechanics in Future Tales

Unable to make any headway in their search on the space station Harlan, our heroes Bart Blast and YM-3 set out next to the planet Ferbo and the town of Phin in search of another clue that will lead them to their treasure.  Hearing about an archaeologist that lives in the town, the two decide to explore the town to find him.

In previous posts, I demonstrated how the Story mechanics work in Future Tales.  For this post, since some who read this have never played games from Two Hour Wargames, I included samples of gameplay mechanics, including of course, combat and non-player interactions.

In many roleplaying games, the game/dungeon master tells the players who or what they encounter and (possibly based on dice rolls) what happens in each encounter.  However, Future Tales uses mechanics found in most THW games, which removes the game master, and using dice and tables to decide what happens instead.  Now before you get nervous at the mention of Tables, most of easy to memorize, and you probably won't be looking at them after a while.  They are just quick and easy ways to determine what happens in your games, which may lead to a number of unexpected results.

But now, back to our heroes!

Once again, I'm using the City Tiles, available soon from THW.  Bart and YM-3 start in the bottom right tile, and their goal is a building in the top right.  The 3 dice represent PEF's, or Possibly Enemy Forces.  These create an element of the unknown as they and the heroes move around the board.

 

Bart and YM-3 move to the next tile, and all 3 PEF's move toward them (Sometimes they'll move away or in another direction).  The first moves into their tile and they have their first encounter.

The PEF resolves as 1 being.  Rolling on the Alien and PEF Generators, I find that she is from a race known for their combat prowess and that she's a mechanic.  Performing a Talk the Talk, Bart learns that Rina is friendly.  Deciding we could use another face in our group, I have Bart try and recruit her.  He succeeds, and Rina agrees to accompany the two . . . as long as she gets a cut of the profits, of course!

Continuing, the trio moves to the next tile, and 1 PEF moves directly toward them while the other moves away.  I roll and resolve the PEF as 4 beings.  Hopefully they're friendly!

Turns out, they are soldiers and pilots and of the same race as Rina (This must be their planet.).  Another Talk the Talk is successful, and although they don't want to be recruited, they wish the trio well and head off in their own direction.

Two PEF's down and 1 to go.  And that last PEF just happens to be in the final tile the heroes need to reach.

The final PEF resolves as 3 beings, but of a different race than Rina's.  These lizard-like creatures are known for bullying other races, which fits since they are all thugs.  However, Bart gives them the benefit of the doubt and tries to talk to them.  Unfortunately, they're not looking to chat and the fight breaks out.

In many RPG's, combat is a series of turns where one side attacks, then the other.  In Future Tales, combat consists of one side acting, and then the other side reacting.  Both sides could go back and forth in a single turn.

Also, in Future Tales, weapons are divided into Melee and Shooting as well as Solid/Slug Throwers (strong against the living but not so much against robots), Shock/Disruptors (strong against robots but not as much against the living), and Powered/Lasers (strong against both).  There's also a fourth category; Disintegrators; lethal against everything, but with a catch or two (including the fact that they are illegal), but most races don't like to discuss them for some reason!

Now back to the fight!  Combat starts with an In Sight test, which is similar to a Surprise roll in many RPG's.  The thugs win and open fire.

They miss Bart and Rina (represented by the pink dice), but catch YM-3 with a shot to his shoulder (red d6).  He's singed but still in the fight.  

Now Bart and Rina take the Received Fire test to set how they react to laser fire flying by their heads. Since Bart is a Star (also known as a Player Character or PC) and is controlled by the player, I choose how he reacts and have him return fire.  Since Rina is a grunt (also known as a non-player character or NPC) and is controlled by the game, I roll for her and get a return fire result.  Both shoot back at the thugs that fired on them.

Rina misses but Bart scores a direct hit, catching the thug directly in the chest.  He drops like a rock, and I turn his tile upside down to represent this.  

Now the other two must roll for their Reactions.  You may be wondering why both have to take the reaction test if only one was shot at and missed.  Well the reason is that they have to take a second reaction test, known as Man Down.  This is when a grunt sees an ally get incapacitated, killed, or fleeing combat.  The first thug takes the test and passes, standing his ground.  The second has to take both the Man Down and Received Fire test.  Fortunately, we only roll once, but take the worst result.  He passes and stands his ground, rather than returning fire.

Whew, that wasn't even the first round yet!  By the way, you could roll for In Sights several times in a single fight.  This could turn a battle completely around if one side is quicker and/or sneakier than the other.

Now that we've completed In Sights, both sides roll for Activation.  This is Initiative and decides who acts first normally.  I've actually been rolling for Activation each time the heroes moved from 1 tile to another.  On a tie, they could have encountered a terrain hazard or obstacle like they have in previous scenes.  Luckily this hasn't happened (at least not yet).

Bart's team wins Activation and attacks first.   

Talk about bad luck!  All three heroes miss!  It's now time for the thugs to react.  Fortunately, they fail miserably on the Received Fire test and take off running . . . 

Right into the soldiers that our heroes had met before.  This causes another In Sight test, which the thugs somehow win again.  They immediately fire, and drop two soldiers.  The rest take the Man Down test and pass.  Sometimes, they'll stand their ground, sometimes, they'll run, and other times, they'll simply duck behind the nearest cover.  In this case, they choose to stand tall and face their opponents.

And here come our heroes!  Flanking the thugs, they force a new In Sight test and pass.  Opening fire on the surrounded thugs, they drop both of them and end the battle.  The soldiers thank them and move on.  

Returning to the final tile, our heroes enter the building.  Encountering no further opposition, they find Dr. Perry and question him.  Perry eagerly volunteers his information, providing our heroes with the final clue that they need, so they can move on to the final scene.

So those are the basics of how some of the mechanics work in Future Tales.  If you're curious and would like to see how combat works first-hand, you can download Chain Reaction for free.  While Future Tales uses slightly-tweaked versions of the rules, you can at least get an idea how they work, since the basic version exists in nearly every THW game.

Here are the Chain Reaction:

Chain Reaction

And here is a quick How to summary of the rules as well:

How to Play THW

I recommend both if you're curious about the games.  Keep an eye out for more samples as we move even closer to The Future!