Combat
Turn Structure
In combat, how and when you can take actions is the foundation of everything else. With GnG every combatant is grouped into teams and the teams take alternating turns. On a teams turn they decide who gets to go, meaning that all members of the team are involved even when it isn’t their individual characters turn.
And when your turn does come around you get 4 Action Points to spend on any actions that you want. There is no limit to different types of actions, just your mind. Can’t decide what to do? No good options? Well you can choose not to act and any AP unspent will carry over to your next turn (To a maximum of 6).
Martials
Martials are defined by their equipment and how they use them. Because of that we made every weapon unique with a wide selection of properties to provide both positives and negatives for each one. But none of that would matter if we didn’t give the martials themselves special techniques to use these weapons. These techniques can give passive benefits and massively powerful actions to increase martials influence across the battlefield.
But another element of equipment is armour/shields. Whilst they don’t provide additional actions we made sure that armour is incredibly impactful, whether you play as a light-footed assassin or a tank in a tomb of metal, you will be grateful for the protection your armour provides.
Positioning
1 of the biggest elements of strategy in a battle is positioning, and we wanted to make sure that was felt when playing GnG. To do this we deviated from the standardised “Opportunity attacks” that normal just ends up locking down movement completely. Adding to that both the AP system (which forces you to spend valuable resources to reposition) and the wide variety of movement speeds we believe that how you position in battle can easily be the defining factor to your success/failure.
In addition to making movement more possible we wanted to make it have a larger impact so emphasised AOEs as Cones and Lines rather than Spheres. We didn’t eradicate all spheres but they are much more costly, meaning most of the time you (and the monsters) will need to rely on actually lining up the collaterals to have maximum impact.
Wounds
When your HP hits 0 it should feel impactful, that spark or terror at the thought of losing your character is precisely what makes combat thrilling. Which is why in GnG we decided to create the “Bleeding Out” state. In this state your AP is reduced to 1, this means you are much more limited but not useless. Whether you crawl away to safety or get 1 last stab in the back of the BBEG, the choice is yours.
This is where wounds come in. You gain wounds in many ways but the most common is that if you take any damage whilst bleeding out you gain a wound, and enough wounds will kill you. Beyond just death, wounds leave a lasting impact on your character sometimes for months, sometimes permanently. These wounds are not a punishment, but rather a reminder of that time you teetered on the edge of death.
Dealing Damage
Bludgeoning, Slashing, Necrotic, Radiant. These are damage types that should all feel different. 1 key way of doing this is by applying vulnerabilities, resistances, and immunities to different creatures. Whilst this does make them mechanically different it doesn’t have any story relationship. In GnG we have added unique monster interactions with different damage types beyond just increasing/reducing the number delt, some may block abilities, cause fear, or enrage them, the possibilities are truly endless.
But in order to create a different feeling when dealing damage types in GnG we added critical-hit effects for every damage type. From Psychic causing Paranoia to Fire literally setting them ablaze, each type has been customised to make it stand out from the rest.
Varied Objectives
Combat can be the most tactical and strategic element possible, but if it is always just a fight to the death then it will inevitably feel stale eventually. In GnG we added 2 mechanics to encourage a varied approach to combat.
Moral) Most creatures would rather lose the fight and live than die trying, whether it be because the leader dies, they themselves take massive damage, or 1 player brutally slaughters the 1st goon to approach them, there are so many ways your players will approach breaking enemy moral.
Goals) These are tied directly to how players level up and progress generally throughout the game, however even in the nitty gritty of a single combat, goals can be the markers for success. If players know that their goal is to escape, or defend a point, or just destroy something, and the enemies are simply there to get in their way that drastically changes how they will approach the encounter, for the better.
Legendary Enemies
Legendary creatures are a staple of the genre, they change an ordinary encounter into a boss fight. In GnG we wanted that feeling from the lowest levels, so we gave legendary creatures options between 4 different traits;
Legendary Turns) Legendary creatures can have multiple whole turns in a round, this helps even out the disparity between a solo boss vs an entire party of 4+ adventurers, and the best part is that it is easily adaptable by the GM depending on the size of the party.
Legendary Actions) At the end of each round the legendary creature gets to take a legendary action, these are powerful effects that are designed to shift the state of battle.
Legendary Resistances) Nothing is more anti-climactic than a boss being taken out in 1 turn by a single bad roll, which is why some legendary creatures can choose to turn any failed D20 roll into a success. However this isn’t free, as they have to spend HP to do it, so no matter what you’re still making progress to defeating them.
Legendary Form) The classic multi-staged boss battle can be recreated in GnG with the Legendary Form. When the boss hits 0HP they unlock new abilities and completely change the dynamic of the battle.
1 thing that many legendary (And some non-legendary) creatures have is a lair. This can greatly increase the difficulty of fighting them when inside of it but more than that it can change the way that the party ned to approach the encounter entirely. Lairs can shift the environment, enhance already existing legendary abilities, or even act as semi-independent bosses themselves.
War
Leading legions as a commander, charging in solo as a champion, sailing at the head of an armada, and sieging the capital city. These are all common fantasies of the genre, but when a game is zoomed into the individual mass combat situations become difficult to track, slow, and boring. So in GnG we designed a mass-combat system that zooms out and allows your character to have influence over the entire battlefield. Whether it be a 1-time event or a continuous campaign of conquest, that is up to you, but if you do delve into this then we have countless trees of progression allowing your character to actually become better at leading an army.