Basic 1d6 Combat System: Need opinions / help

[hextr1p]

I'm putting together a game where one of the components of gameplay is a simple combat system using only the 1d6. Listed below, tell me what you think of the system so far, and whether or not you see any way in which the system can be improved without making it overly difficult. Apologies if the rules are written clumsily:

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ZOMBIE ATTACKS HUMAN

When a zombie player is adjacent and facing a human player, a zombie may choose to attack that human player.

The zombie player rolls 1d6 to determine the outcome of the attack:

1 = Oops! On an oops, the attacking zombie figure loses its turn.
2 = Miss!
3 = Miss!
4 = Miss!
5 = Hit! The human player receives one hit!
6 = Wounded hit! The human player receives one hit, and the zombie player rolls 1d6 to determine the location of the wound. The human player places a wound marker on the rolled wound zone (see chart below):

1 = Neck wound: Human player places an 'Infected' marker on his card. If a human player receives another neck wound while infected, the player is zombified.
2 = Left arm wound: player can only carry two item cards (assigned weapon card excluded). If carrying three items, choose which item card to discard, and place it on the bottom of the item deck.
3 = Torso wound: Turning requires 2 action points
4 = Right arm wound: When attacking, subtract 1 from your 1d6 roll.
5 = Left leg wound: Movement requires 2 action points.
6 = Right leg wound: Player cannot move onto a square designated as an elevation.

NOTE: If a human player accumulates three body wounds during that game, the player is zombified!

(The player's card will have a body outline with designated areas to place wound markers accordingly.)

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As noted, those are the rules for a normal attacking a human. The zombie player will also be able to field 'uber-zombes' with a different attack outcome chart.

The human players each get 6 hit points, and will be able to find first aid kits to heal hit points and body wounds. However, there is no cure once a player is infected via a neck wound.

I'll post the HUMAN ATTACKS ZOMBIE rules later. I need to finish something up here at work before I head home.

So what do you think?

[Malechi]

Works for me, however double rolling always gets my goat.

• A suggestion (to be suggested in the rules) when a Zombie attacks roll 2 dice, 1 black die to determine the outcome and 1 red die to determine the wound if required.

This alleviates the need to possibly roll twice for each Zombie.

[Bobbo]

What else can a zombie do after attacking? Is there a reason that a 1 loses a turn, and a 2-4 just miss?

Yeah, I'm all about the roll 2 dice instead of rolling one twice. Even if you are only using the extra die roll 1/6 of the time.

[InfinityMax]

I am in the same camp with Mal and Bobbo. Roll two different-colored dice and just use the second if you need it. Otherwise it looks pretty cool, though (again like Bobbo) I wonder what a zombie can do on his turn besides bit someone.

[skyknight]

I had a big starfighter simulator based on a system like this when I was a kid. As you bought different weapons and such for your ships you recieved different ten sided options. It was actually quite fun, but who knows where it ended up??? I remember the big star cruisers could roll multiple ten siders to simulate barrages and such.

[Annerios]

Seeing that you are using an action point system, I am assuming that if a zombie does not need to move or change facing, then it probably can get multiple attacks against a human, hence the lose a turn on a roll of 1. Is that correct?

I think that other than some confusion on that, it looks good. We spoke about this simple 1d6 chart approach in the ZP thread and you know I like the approach. The multi-colored dice suggestion is great, but I'll be putting my hit location 1d6 to work on that one.

[hextr1p]

Bobbo and IMax, to answer your question about what a zombie can do besides attack someone... well, they can move forward, turn, and break down barriers. They will be able to do other things as well based on the map / scenario (i.e., activate objects), but that will come later.

Each zombie figure is given 3 action points. All of the actions I noted above will require 1 action point. So, if a zombie moves forward to become adjacent to a human figure, that zombie still has 2 action points left to use for two attack attempts. Thus, if said zombie rolls a 1 (Oops!), the rest of its turn is negated.

As for rolling two dice, I'm all for it. However, as Malechi noted, it will be more of a suggestion, as not everyone has two different colored dice available to them.

EDIT: Annerios beat me to the explanation. Obviously, I should have explained the 'action point' system a little better before talking about combat.

[Doc_Savage]

This looks like a good start.

Perhaps you should combine all of this into one thread like people do with their customs?

[hextr1p]

Originally Posted by Doc_Savage

Perhaps you should combine all of this into one thread like people do with their customs?

I do plan on doing that. Or at least a thread which references all of the threads I've posted. So far, each of the threads are pretty specific in what they're referencing. To combine them all would be one large jumbled mess... however, if a mod decides to merge the topics, there isn't much I can do about that. Heh...

[Rhydderch]

Hrm... no defense for the human player? Bummer. Remind me never to go near one of your zombies! :P

I also think the die roll can be reduced to a single roll of two dice. Also from a simple mechanics point of view I think it makes more sense for the body part roll to go from bottom to top so a 1 or 2 will be a leg shot and a 6 will be a head shot. Not sure how other people feel about that though. It would also be cool if you could increase the possibility of a torso shot since it is a larger target than the head but its probably not easily feasible with a D6 :P

[hextr1p]

Originally Posted by Rhydderch

Hrm... no defense for the human player? Bummer. Remind me never to go near one of your zombies!

I toyed briefly with the thought of allowing the human player to see if he/she could roll for defense, but opted not to. However, there are going to be items and cards available which can be played which act like defense (i.e., armor type items which reduce a roll).

Regarding the body hit zones, I will switch them as suggested. Seeing as how a neck wound infects a player, that should be the highest as it is the most powerful.

However, the hit zones are for the human players only. Most zombies are killed off with one hit. So there is really no need to keep track of body wounds. However, what the zombies lack in resiliency, they make up for in numbers.

Note also that there are going to be different kinds of zombies. A standard zombie, a zombie extra, an uber zombie, and eventually, zombie bosses! Also, I hope to release other kinds of zombies on down the line so the zombie player has a bit more to choose from.