Time Unit Combat System
for AD&D 2nd Ed.
Design: Nils-Børge Malkenes
Co-designers: Nils Petter Skjervheim & André Simonsen
Playtesters: Joacim Simonsen, Martin
Helland, Tor Magnus Hauge, Hilde Jæger,
Øivind Malkenes, Carsten Simonsen, Pål Irgans, Jostein Henanger, and Halvard Dalsgård.
Introduction | Initiative | Statistics | Combat | Spells | Misc.| Notes
TUCS
| Introduction This new combat and initiative system was first thought of in the early summer of 1997. I felt a need for a better combat system than the original AD&D-system. That system took to long time to play and I noticed that many players weren't paying too much attention to the parts of the battle that didn't involve their own PCs. But still I didn't want to make a totally new system that changed any other parts of the game. So I sat down with the intention of making a system that: 1. Was faster to play than
the original AD&D-system. And so I came up with the TimeUnit combat system. The core idea was inspired by the computer game "X-Com - Terror from the Deep", but I didn't want any rounds in my new system. I wanted each battle to be an ever ongoing activity, with no pauses. |
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| Statistics Introducing the new parameter into the system - The TimeUnit 1 TU = approx. 6 seconds Just as with original AD&D rules, this is a metavariable, it does not exist. Things could happen in real-life at the beginning, at the end, or even between two TUs - but in the game it can't. You may initially think it is unnecessary to cut initiative and combat rules into even smaller time-fragments than original rules, but please read on, try the system a couple of times and see how it works. It changed our gameplay - maybe it can change yours too! |
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| Initiative The first thing we're going to do is to get rid of 'rounds'. In my opinion this term is the weakest part of the original rules - as soon as some players are finished with their action in the combat round they wait until the next round, and while they wait, they start smoking, telling jokes and generally loses interest of what other players do. Now, smoking and talking is a part of many RPG-groups, but during combat it should be avoided. To get rid of rounds the DM will 'count-the-battle' starting with TU = 1 and counting upwards. This makes the battle an ongoing activity, no pauses caused by the term 'round' - there are no rounds anymore. To decide initiative do the following to decide at what TU your action should occur: 1. Roll 1d10 initiative This number added to the current TU gives the TU at which your action should happen. A short example will visualize the idea: We are at the very beginning of a battle (TU = 0), and Bolog wants to throw a Magic missile at one of the orcs that are attacking. His initiative roll is 4, adding the casting time of the spell gives 5, and adding the spell expense gives a totoal of 8. So when the DM has counted to TU = 8 Bolog can throw his Magic missile at the orc. Now, Bolog must also throw his next initiative roll and decide what to do next. Bolog decides that he wants to hit another orc with his bare hands. Bolog rolls initiative of 6, and adding body speed (5) gives a total of 11, adding this to the current (8) tells us that Bolog may hit the orc at TU = 19. Of course, while Bolog tries to do these actions the orc is also doing something. The orc might hit Bolog within the casting time of the spell (CT) and interrupt the spell, or punch his short sword into him - yes, even killing Bolog. The example here works fine without putting the orcs TUs into the example as well. It is also possible for any PC at any time to change his mind about what he wants to do. He simply makes another initiative roll and adds any modifiers and adds the total of that to the current TU. |
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| Combat If you read the intiative section above you should have no problems understanding how attacking with weapons work in this new system. But what about Bolog who is an expert with his quaterstaff and may attack thrice in two rounds? How can we transfer his skill to the new system? It is simple, use the table below:
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| Spells When casting spells we found it necessary to add a spell expense of 3. An example will illustrate how this works: Bolog want to cast his Magic missile spell at one of the orcs attacking. His initiative roll is 4, adding the casting time of the spell (1), and adding the spell expense (3) gives a total of 8. If you want in-depth information on why we added the spell expense see the notes section. One major benefit here is when concering spell durations. Use this table: 1 round = 10 TUs = 1 minute If a spell has a duration of 4 rounds and is cast at TU = 37, it ends at TU = 77, it's that simple. If you are changing your mind when casting spell you do not lose the spell if you change your mind before the casting time is the current TU. If you are casting a Fireball at TU = 28, and you decide to change your mind at TU = 24 you do not lose the spell, but if you decided to change you mind at TU = 25, 26 or 27 you would lose it, since this TU is within the casting time of the spell (Fireball has a casting time of 3). This also applies when spellcasters are interrupted while casting spells. |
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| Misc. You've probably thought of this yourself, after you read the last part of the spell section. There is no need to keep counting rounds anymore. Poision onset-times are calculated just as spell durations (1 minute = 10 TUs), and also people that are 'stunned 1d4 rounds' are easier than before to handle by the DM. There are probably hundreds of situations where this benefit of the new system can be used, but you will have to think of those situations yourself. |
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| Notes The early edition of the TU-system used proficiency-level as a parameter for the MAATU table. This was changed, much since we wanted to incorporate simple rules also for every monster in the game, and also since it did not take into account the RoF of any weapons. We changed it so that the MAATU was derived from the AD&D-term #AT. MAATU derivation from #AT was co-designer André's idea. In the very first playtesting sessions, we did not have any spell expense at any level.. We soon found out that balance between spellcasters and non-spellcasters was not maintained. Co-designer Nils Petter and myself tried out alot of different ways to get spells just-a-little-bit slower, and in the end it was easier than we first thought of - consequently the system now has a spell expense equal to 3 TUs. Thanks to Olik from Bergen, Norway, for pointing out that 10 TUs = 1 minute, and not as in a previous version where 1 minute was set to 20 TUs. |
| If you want to get in touch with the designers of this system feel free to contact us at the addresses and e-mails below: | |
| Nils-Børge Malkenes Vågsmarka 9 5680 TYSNES NORWAY malkenes@hl.telia.no |
André Simonsen Vågestykket 5680 TYSNES NORWAY rolsimon@online.no |