How exactly do more narrative-driven systems handle combat? Do they deal damage based on numbers, do they have "wound degrees", levels of shit getting real?
I'd assume you mean diceless systems?
There would never be a number value anywhere in the system, so that probably leads to having descriptions of wounds.
>>44496375
no, dice do take place in this question
>>44496385
Fate Accelerated/Core, then?
Take the difference between the Attack and Defense rolls + their relevant Skills/Aspects/Stunts, and this is called Shift.
The Shift, if still a positive value (successful hit), must be "absorbed" by a Stress or Consequence box. When these boxes are full, you're fuckin' outta that fight (you can forfeit sooner to avoid taking Consequences, but...)
Stress is protecting you from the Consequences, so use your Stress boxes first. If you start using your Consequence boxes to detain damage, you will suffer having an Aspect related to the type of attack and other details. Having a "Slashed Up Shoulder" will mean the enemy could invoke this new Aspect to their benefit, because you couldn't block incoming attacks well, or whatever.
That is about as self-contained an explanation as I can muster
>>44496375
Amber Diceless uses stats. The person with the better stat is just better at doing the thing.
>>44496535
Bear in mind that Fate Core/Accelerated combat looks complex and in-depth, but is, in fact, quite tactically shallow. The primary combat actions available to all characters are "deal stress" and "gain a +2 bonus." Everything that follows from the combat mechanics, from stress to consequences, is nothing more than a framework for tracking everyone's progress at dealing stress and accruing +2 bonuses.
Yes, you can most certainly spruce it up by requiring everything to be narratively justified and by encouraging players to mix it up and pay attention to how they are describing things, but you can do that with other systems.
A much better example of narratively-driven combat that has plenty of engaging tactical decisions to it would be Legends of the Wulin, but it is, by and large, specialized for dueling rather than group battles.
That said, if you insist on trying to have interesting combat in Fate, you could hardly do worse than use this set of house rules:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12Qa9VSFjH9reUTEmQMxzGEpPYz00Tw3QMWOCrdtOKmk/edit
>>44496626
Thanks, I'd like to try whatever I can to circumvent the +2 Aspect meta.
I'm working on an inventory list that might make things more R-P-S and less "MORE DAMAGE"
>>44496228
AW has a clock.
Each point of harm not mitigated by armor fills one segment.
Once the clock strikes twelve, you're toast.
Without a medic, you're pretty much dead at 9 o'clock already.
Marvel Heroic RPG has Stress tracks.
The bigger the effect die, the closer you are to being down and out.
And whenever someone takes action against you, they get to use that Stress die against you.
Golden Sky Stories penalizes all parties unconditionally for even attempting combat.
Tenra Bansho Zero has Wounds and Vitality.
Once your Vitality runs out, you're K.O., but not dead.
You can always assign damage to wounds instead. The more grievous the wound, the more bonus dice you get from it, but the longer it takes to heal.
Then there's the Dead box. When you tick the Dead box, you negate all damage from one attack and your wound bonus dice rise to 4, but if your Vitality runs out in that state, you're gone for good.
>>44496699
Interesting how the similarly the systems approach less granulated HP. In the end, we're just dropping pieces of us until we're done, either way.
>>44496626
Legends of the Wulin occasionally gets mentioned on here for its depth, I think I'll read up on that
>>44496375
Dice less games are not the same thing as 'narrative' games. A game like Amber Diceless is actually a lot more complex and ruler heavy then a lot of games.
>>44496228
Savage worlds isn't 'narrative', but it does handle wounds in a fairly simple 'narrative' fashion. There is no hit point grind, a wound will either be bad enough to serious harm and causes a injury or some thing you can shrug off in a few rounds with out much problem.
