Skirmish #

A group of player characters fights a group of non-player characters. This is what most games just call “combat”, but to distinguish this from Duels (which are also a kind of combat) and Danger (which can also be combat-adjacent depending on the scope) I’m calling it a Skirmish.

Do I need this in my game? #

Unlike the other two kinds of conflict laid out here, this has limited flexibility. It’s going to be some kind of groups fighting each other. If your game isn’t really about that, don’t include it.

I’m sure you could use it for having a big argument in a social combat system or something if you were trying.

Timekeeping and Pacing #

In general, you’re going to want some kind of organization for when characters act. As noted in Measuring Time, I tend to prefer to break things down into turns (the set of actions of a particular character in a moment in time) and rounds (the time in which everyone involved has taken a turn).

Escalation #

One big thing is how this ties in with Escalation.

Escalation usually goes up every round in combat, then back down to whatever level it was at prior.
Typically you add Escalation to every roll in combat.

Turn Order #

If you’ve accepted the turn-and-round premise, you still have to think about when each character takes their turn within a round. I prefer one of two options for this:

Side-Based Turns: Every player character goes in whichever order they want, then every non-player character goes. This is great when you want to emphasize teamwork, because you can choose in which order everyone goes and there’s minimal risk of interruption. It works well when you want players to readily defeat enemies without worrying too-too much about what they’re up against.
- If enemies surprise players, they go first instead. If players surprise enemies, increase Escalation by 1 and proceed as normal.
Alternating Turns: One player character goes, then one non-player character goes. Repeat every round. This is great when you want each character to potentially have to reassess the situation and when you want enemies to be an active threat from the start of combat. (If you choose this option, you’re going to have to think about how to word abilities that last a round.)
- If one side surprises the other, all of that side goes first in the first round instead of alternating.
- You can also distinguish between “nobody surprises one another” and “player characters aren’t readied for combat but aren’t surprised as such” by starting the alternation with an non-player character instead of a player.

I don’t prefer randomized initiative because it often either takes an annoyingly long time to set up relative to the benefit gained (i.e. it only matters on the first round, in which case why are we doing this) or it leads to situations where whoever goes first has a clear, marked advantage (i.e. only the first round matters, in which case why is there a skirmish system at all). You can do whatever you like, of course.

Valiant Horizon #
Valiant Horizon is side-based: it’s all about heroism and teamwork with your friends and combat is as much an extension as a life-threatening thing. (Prime enemies, which we’ll get to later, are the exception here - and as such their presence is felt strongly when they show up.)

NULL_SPACE #
NULL_SPACE’s skirmish module alternates turns, as enemies are supposed to be threatening and getting in combat is supposed to be dangerous. This danger persists unless well-trained (which can sometimes move the proceeds towards side-based) or well-equipped.

Location and Mapping #

Having some concept of where characters are in a skirmish is helpful. It both allows a lot of design space for tactics and strategy to unfold and presents opportunities for players to play off of the scene.

Range #

Range is an important factor in thinking about the scale and size of a skirmish. In general, we work with 4 practical, abstract ranges:

Close/Melee: Characters who are for all intents and purposes close enough to touch each other, they’re Close to each other or in Melee. (Use whichever term makes sense.)
Near: Characters who are not terribly far from each other, but not quite close enough to touch. For the purposes of character movement, this is one “standard” movement away. Most abilities usable at range should be Near.
Far: Characters at a good distance from each other. For the purposes of character movement, this is two “standard” movements away. Far-range abilities should be fairly rare.
Extreme: Anything beyond Far.

These are simple enough to be used without any kind of map, but are helpful with a map. Typically you want ranges to be exclusive: abilities at longer ranges don’t inherently include closer ranges. This gives you more design levers as far as vulnerability of abilities (for instance, a Far-only ability requires more setup than a Near/Far ability). Also bear in mind that being at farther range with an ability is usually better because even with restrictive range bands, it gives you more options for positioning to avoid reprisal or take advantage of various conditions: as such, try to make closer-range abilities and more restrictive abilities a little stronger to compensate.

Zone Maps #

The kind of map I would recommend is a node map or a zone map. Sketch out a general arrangement of where notable things are in an area, draw nodes where generally important places in the scene are, and draw out how they connect. Movement in combat will be between these locations: a move between two connected nodes is the standard increment of movement. As such, range will be tracked by how many nodes away a character is: characters in the same node are in Melee/at Close, characters one node away are at Near, and characters two nodes away are at Far.

Can I avoid caring about this? #

Of course. You can eschew range/location, or just make it melee vs ranged or similar, to provide a more “theater of the mind”-style experience. If so, you should probably think about what tactically fills that space instead, if you want anything to do so. Positioning, relative or otherwise, provides a lot of juice with not that much squeeze.

Actions #

We’ve determined when and where things are happening. Now, we determine what is happening.

An action is a category of verb that a character can use during a skirmish. Actions can range from quite simple to very complex; more complex and effective actions are often associated with some degree of resource management. Typically my assumption is that actions in a Skirmish always work, while high rolls simply make them work better or add other dimensions to the action.

Typically player characters get 2 actions in a turn, but it might make sense to raise this number to 3-4, especially further into advancement when they presumably have more combat capabilities.

Components of an Action #

We create an action by thinking about its components. When considering an action, we have to consider its effect and its target.

Effects include:

Harm or Healing: As noted in Conflict Basics. The basic building blocks of a skirmish are Harm and Endurance. This includes both inflicting Harm and reversing it.
Movement: The basic unit of movement is to move to a Near location.
Qualitative Harm or Help: Changing another character’s status, but in a way that doesn’t relate to affecting their Endurance directly.
Interaction: Sometimes we have to acknowledge that not everything is going to be covered by something that affects the game state through these levers.

While targets include:

An opposing character at a given range.
An allied character at a given range.
Yourself.
Any combination of the above.

Simple and Indirect Actions #

Simple actions are usually the bedrock of a skirmish turn. These usually have one Effect, maybe two. Some typical ones include:

Movement: Movement to a Near location.
Simple Attack: Baseline “deal Harm” ability.
Recover: Recover some Endurance.
Recharge: Restore some non-Endurance resource or transfer one kind of resource to another to make an unavailable kind of action available.
Interact: Catch-all for non-proscribed actions.

Some of these may not make sense to be available depending on the focus of your game. Many of these may not require a roll, or may not vary what happens depending on the Total (i.e. they may just use the Effect).

Indirect actions are usually a way to signal some other kind of reserved action (like an action defined on a carried item): Use Item, Use Ability, etc.

Valiant Horizon #
Valiant Horizon’s simple actions are just:
Recover: Regain a little Vigor, with the amount based on your Class.
Revive: Help a defeated ally up.
Interact As noted above.
This seems like it’s missing a few from that list above! That’s because both movement and dealing Harm are sublimated into indirect actions:
Use a Standard: Use a mid-complexity ability that doesn’t require resource management but does need to be prepared beforehand.
Use a Power: Use a complex and powerful once-per-skirmish ability.

Intermediate actions #

In between simple and complex actions are intermediate actions. These usually have 2-3 of those action components. Typically these have minimal to no resource management, but require some kind of pre-preparation (like bringing a particular piece of equipment or preparing a specific ability in downtime).

Intermediate actions are usually where changes to abilities based on Totals are introduced.

Valiant Horizon #
Standards are where these come in: these are abilities that can be used repeatedly throughout a skirmish but need to be prepared. A sample Standard is:
Flourish (Bard Standard)
Low Die Harm to a Near enemy.
9+: An Near ally regains Low Die Vigor.
13+: That ally regains Mid Die Vigor instead.
This is primarily a Harm ability but has reliable Recover components to it as well.

Complex Actions #

Actions with the most components, likely with effects that are stronger (extra Harm, extra movement, etc) or extra targets. These are expected to have a stronger emphasis on resource management, but be worth it in certain circumstances.

Complex actions might also have conditional or drawback aspects to them in exchange for greater strength.

Valiant Horizon #
Powers are where these come in: these are abilities that can be used once per combat when prepared. A sample Power is:
Heedless Charge (Berserker Power)
Move into Melee with a Near enemy and deal High Die Harm to them.
8-: You also take Inverse High Die Harm.
15+: They take double Harm.
This is has Harm and Movement components to it, but is much stronger on Harm than usual.

Enemies #

Non-player characters in a Skirmish situation that intend to harm the player characters are, for the purposes of a Skirmish, referred to as enemies.

Minions and Elites #

The most common types of enemies. These should be the primary antagonists in a Skirmish.

Minions #

Minions are all about strength in numbers. They come in groups equal to the number of actions your player characters have.
Each minion enemy typically has 4 Endurance. (This means that on average, an attack that deals Mid Die Harm defeats them in one hit and attacks that deal Low Die Harm defeat them in two hits.)
- You can add a Resistance in exchange for a Vulnerability, 1 Endurance, or inability to move.
They typically have 2 actions per round, but can only use one to attack.
They have an attack listed and deal Low Die Harm on an attack.

Valiant Horizon #
Minions are insignificant threats relative to heroes’ might.
Volatile Shard (Minion): A cracked crystal spitting magical fury at those nearby. 4 Vigor, Resist Weapon, Can’t Move.
Lash Out: Low Die Magical Harm to an enemy at Melee or Near.
11+: Two enemies at Melee or Near.

Elites #

Elites are similar (but not quite equal) in capability to player characters. 1 Elite is equivalent to a group of Minions. They have as many actions as a player character.
They should have Endurance equal to about 4 times their number of actions. (If you want to keep them a little more vulnerable, 3 times the number: a 2-action Elite has 6 Endurance, which means they can be potentially defeated in one hit on a good roll.)
- Give them some other defensive measure as well, like a Resistance or +1 HP/action.
They have as many actions per round as player characters, but they can only each use listed ability once per round.
They typically have 2+ listed actions that are equivalent to Intermediate Actions: they’ll often deal Low Die Harm alongside some other effect, possibly dealing Mid Die Harm on a good roll. Often one of these can be limited in some sense.

Valiant Horizon #
Valiant Horizon elites are more substantive threats.
Sniper (Elite): A sharp-eyed marksman with an enormous crossbow. 10 Vigor.
Scout: Move to a Near location, then mark an enemy at Near. Everyone gains 1 Advantage when making attacks against them this round.
13+: You can mark an enemy at Near or Far.
Snipe: Low Die Weapon Harm to an enemy at Near or Far.
11-14: Deal Mid Die Harm instead
15+: Deal High Die Harm instead.

Swarms and Primes #

Less common types of enemies.

Swarms #

Swarms are groups of enemies that are a danger not because of individual harm but due to sheer numbers. They come in groups of 5, and a group of 5 Swarm enemies is equivalent to 1 Minion. Use Swarms in more horror-adjacent games or games where a large group of threats makes sense.

When attacking a Swarm enemy, a player attacks the group as a whole; for every Harm dealt, a member of that group is defeated.

Swarms attack with one roll as a group, and typically can move to a Near location and attack during a round. For every 2 members of a Swarm past the first enemy or if they forgo their movement this round, they gain 1 Advantage on their attack. If 1 Swarm enemy is left, their attack gains 1 Disadvantage. Partial groups can also combine mid-combat (no more than 10 in a group, max 3 Advantage from numbers).

Valiant Horizon #
Valiant Horizon is a bit too light/heroic in tone for Swarms.

Primes #

Primes are important enemies: these are “bosses”, typically. They’re real threats that define an encounter by their presence. Use these in games that expect big flashy and showy combat encounters.

They have a lot of Endurance: typically about 2.5 times what an Elite has. (20 Endurance if your Elites have 8 Endurance, for instance.)
They take one turn with a single action after every player character takes their turn. (As such, they have a number of turns/actions in a round equal to the number of player characters.)
Actions are equivalent to Complex Actions.
When they hit half Endurance, they should activate some new ability.

Valiant Horizon #
Valiant Horizon is absolutely the kind of game to have flashy boss fights.
Captain (Prime): A decorated commander. 20 Vigor, Resist Weapon.
Slam: Mid Die Weapon Harm to an enemy at Melee.
11+: They can’t move until the start of the next round.
13+: You may move the target to a Near location.
Assume Formation: Allies at Melee, Near, or Far move to a Near location.
13+: They may move to a Far location instead.
Deflect (Winded): Once per round, when an enemy in Melee attacks, reduce its Total by Inverse Mid Die.

Roles #

Actions, abilities, and general qualities for characters in a skirmish typically fall into one of three Roles, which are each split into four Sub-Roles. A lot of these will overlap for various abilities. This overlap is fine, but it’s helpful to start with one particular role and sub-role when creating qualities.

These exist to guide a designer in thinking about how to make abilities and archetypes stand out from one another. It’s often helpful to come at an ability or class from a perspective of “which of these roles/subroles am I making this ability to fulfill”. This gives them actual purpose and helps you avoid making samey abilities.

Roles and Characters #

Most of the below roles map pretty well to abilities. But you can also classify characters as well based on both those abilities and passive traits. This can range from increased or decreased Vigor to various kinds of defenses or vulnerabilities to passive abilities that change the context of some kind of ability use.

If applying roles to an archetype (character classes, for instance), consider focusing on particular subroles instead. This allows a character type to shift focus depending on what the player wants to do with them and encourages you to give them a variety of abilities. It also ensures that a party with any class combination will likely have a fairly well-rounded setup.

Roles and Enemies #

We can also think about these roles and subroles in the context of enemies and their actions. Guidance for each will be provided. When “all kinds of enemies” is specified, this means Swarm, Minion, Elite, and Prime; specific callouts are also provided. An important operating principle is that effects that numerous enemies apply should be more player-focused (Harm, debuffs, etc) rather than ally-focused (healing, buffs, etc), while less numerous enemies can dip their toe in that direction.

Attacker #

The Attacker role is focused on defeating threats, reducing enemy defenses, and hitting targets at varied ranges.

Spike #

Dealing high Harm to one target.

In a lot of cases it makes sense to attach exceptionally high Harm to high rolls (15+/17+) or add conditions (target being vulnerable in some way).
For passive abilities, think about increasing Harm situationally. A step-up, adding Escalation, or adding half Escalation is a great choice here.
Careful about this one: as dealing Harm is typically the point of combat, these can easily start to dominate, especially against Elite/Prime targets.
Suitable for all kinds of enemies, but be careful about this one: single-target offense means way more when applied to a player character!

Spread #

Harming multiple targets.

This could be all enemies (or all enemies AND players) in one zone or a few in range, depending on what makes sense.
For passive abilities, think about ways to either amplify area attacks or turn non-area-attack into area attacks.
See above with regards to being careful, but more so with Minion/Swarm groups than Elite/Prime.
This one’s fine for all kinds of enemies as well, if only because low Harm to multiple targets is less nasty against player characters generally.

Break #

Interfering with enemy defensive properties: resistance, cover, or something else. It can also be used to add vulnerabilities.

For both passive and active abilities, these work great either as a self-enabler of stronger abilities or as teamwork-based abilities: one character breaks down defenses while another takes advantage of that fact.
Usually you want to focus on one particular defense with passive, simple, and intermediate abilities. Complex abilities can be a little less discriminating sometimes.
This one is fine for all enemies too.

Exploit #

Adding movement to yourself or others, take advantage of battlefield conditions, or have a major drawback in exchange for power.

Movement is better the bigger a map is or the more restrictive ranges are.
Forced movement works great in concert with area abilities, such as from Spread abilities. Think about those kinds of synchronicities.
Drawbacks can include deal Harm to yourself, taking extra actions, restricting certain kinds of actions (like movement or healing). Make sure it’s an actual drawback!
Passive abilities could be properties that trigger upon drawbacks or upon sufficient movement/etc, or even entirely new options (i.e. the ability is that you can choose to gain something in exchange for a drawback outside of active abilities).
This one’s better for Elite and Prime enemies than Minions/Swarms. (An extra-movement ability might be fine for Minions/Swarms though.)

Defender #

The Defender role is focused on prevention of harm to themselves and/or others.

Shield #

Reduce Harm to yourself.

This works well with something that forces enemies to have to care about you.
Defensive moves that only affect you are often not worth the action economy unless paired with some other kind of component, like movement or harm.
Passive abilities might reduce harm under certain circumstances or let someone nearby share in your increased durability.
Be judicious about giving these abilities to enemies: given that dealing Harm to force Defeat is the point, prevention of it could well slow things down. Where it does exist, give it some kind of limit (reduction of a certain kind of harm, attacks from a certain range, etc).

Provoke #

Influencing enemy actions by providing enemies with incentive or disincentive to attack certain targets.

An example incentive would be something like “if enemies attack you this round, they gain Advantage”. You can also pair this with some kind of benefit if they do bite on it so it’s not purely a downside for you.
An example disincentive would be something like “if enemies don’t attack you this round when they could, they take Harm/you get a benefit against them”.
This can also be very direct stuff like “this enemy has to try to attack me if they’re in range”.
All of the above applies pretty directly to passives.
This kind of ability works for any kinds of enemies. For more numerous enemies (i.e. Minions/Swarms, but to some extent Elites too) to think about what happens if different enemies apply a similar effect to a single target and account for that.

Disable #

Reducing enemy offense.

This can be as simple as “apply Disadvantage” or “step down Harm of a certain kind”. This could apply to specific enemies, a group of enemies, or an area.
You could also disincentivize enemies from attacking or give them a penalty to do do.
Passive abilities might add either of the above to other attacks or provide a benefit of some kind to affect enemies penalized in that manner.
This can be fine for all enemies. For Minions/Swarms, just make sure you understand what’s going to happen if multiple reductions stack or limit that possibility.

Lockdown #

Restricting enemy movement.

Can be single-target or area-based. Area denial can be really strong against melee enemies, so be careful about effects that, for instance, deal Harm to anyone who enters an area.
In general fully preventing instead of penalizing or restricting movement can be tricky. It’s usually wise to reserve this for Complex abilities.
Make a distinction, either net or per-ability, whether or not penalties given upon movement apply to forced movement (i.e. if a target would take Harm from moving to a location, do they take Harm if someone else moves them there). Usually it’s more fun to allow this, for what it’s worth.
Passive abilities might apply a restriction effect to other attacks, give you a benefit to attack movement-restricted enemies, or amplify restriction of movement from abilities.
This is an especially fun one to give to Minion/Swarm enemies. It can really give a feeling of a large group pinning someone down!

Supporter #

The Supporter role is focused on supporting allies in various ways.

Heal #

Restoring Endurance in combat.

Action efficiency is key. If the amount healed isn’t high, it should come with some other secondary component; otherwise, it’s rarely going to make sense.
This can be paired with revival from defeat. Do NOT do this for enemies.
Healing can have a very different impact on longer-term Endurance (i.e. if it doesn’t come back easily between combats).
Passive abilities might provide some tiny bit of healing by locality or upon certain actions, or amplify healing abilities.
Elites might get some traction from limited doses of this: a little healing attached to a high roll wouldn’t go amiss. Otherwise, this is purely a Prime kind of thing. Don’t let any enemy healer be able to heal themselves unless you really know what you’re doing. Enemies healing can be very frustrating for players.

Ward #

Increasing allies’ defenses.

Generally speaking, these kinds of abilities should apply to multiple targets or have some secondary component. (And to differentiate them from Shield abilities, these usually shouldn’t affect the character themselves, at least without a good roll.)
This can be applied to characters or can be something that affects an area.
This can also be used to prevent certain kinds of effects like forced movement, reduction of defenses, etc.
Passive abilities might buff allies’ defenses by proximity or when they’re affected by abilities. Sometimes it might make sense to trigger an ability based on half-Endurance or defeat of an ally as well.
As with Heal abilities, this is mostly Prime territory and should not typically apply to the character themselves. Try not to make this too annoying to track - if it would apply to a lot of allies, consider instead shifting this to a Disable-style ability that affects players.

Boost #

Increasing allies’ offenses.

As with Ward/Heal, make sure this makes sense re: action efficiency. Using a Boost ability and then attacking shouldn’t be worse than two attacks.
Consider making this stronger and specific to certain kinds of abilities (like amplifying a certain type of Harm or attacks at a certain range or one single attack) rather than weaker and more generalized.
This kind of ability can be ok to give to yourself, but should probably not be better than similar abilities used on others.
Offensive increases can snowball or have a greater effect quickly, for better and worse: especially when Command actions come into play. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but keep an eye out for it.
Passive abilities might buff allied offense by proximity or upon affecting them by abilities. Sometimes this might make sense to trigger based on half-Endurance or defeat of enemies.
This one can be great for Elites or Primes alike. Try not to make this too annoying to track - if it would apply to a lot of their allies, consider instead shifting this to a Break-style ability that affects players.

Command #

Letting allies act more.

As with all action-economy amplification, this can get very nasty very quickly, so be careful.
This can take some care to make it not just always the best option to the exclusion of all others. Giving very specific commands (for example, for specific simple actions or a kind of intermediate action) is almost always going to be safer than general “use whatever action you want” commands.
“Breaking even” on actions (i.e. spending an action to give someone else an action) is still usually pretty worthwhile because it means you effectively have access to their entire action set.
Passive abilities can, for instance, trigger effects when giving other people certain kinds of actions.
You might be able to swing this with Elites if the action given is something simple and/or non-offensive (like movement or extremely low Harm). Otherwise, Prime-only for sure.