The Nature GM

It seems that since the dawn of text messengers, they have been used to play Dungeons & Dragons. Whether SMS texting, Facebook messenger, or even AOL Instant Messenger I have encountered stories of how these tools brought tables together over distance.

A common theme for these discussions is that text-based D&D is slow, with responses often having a delay of several minutes. Well, I am currently running a text-based solo adventure for a friend, and for us the delay is often several days. If not weeks.

This causes a dilemma. Combat in D&D is notoriously time-consuming even when played in real time, and yet it is the crux of the game system, arguably what makes D&D, D&D. How can one possibly retain any excitement and tension in a single combat encounter that may drag out over a month?

And so, after talking through some options with my player, we are devising a new combat system specifically for our solo adventurer text-based game. This post will cover the first draft of the combat system, which we will test out (very slowly) over the next months.

Feedback on the system is welcome and invited, HOWEVER please be aware that it will intentionally be a rough and incomplete system. I only need to solve my particular problem; I have no need to create an entire balanced system that works for every class and situation.

Method Behind the Madness

These are the criteria my player and I agreed upon for our combat system:

• We will attempt to represent an entire encounter with a single d20 roll. A single roll was chosen over an average of multiple rolls to preserve the existence of critical successes (though clearly it will need to mean something different).
• When we calculate damage taken by the player, it will be in units of % of total HP.
• Instead of contesting AC, the combat roll will contest the overall difficulty of the opponent relative to the player. So an easy opponent may have a DC 10, a moderate DC 15, etc.
• We will have multiple options with clear outcomes in the event of success or failure. In addition to the option to kill an opponent, there should be actions to negotiate, escape, and neutralize without killing.

The overall goal is to make something that feels somewhat like D&D in that a d20 is rolled and there are multiple ways to resolve a conflict, but we are removing details of features and are eliminating turns altogether.

The Text Combat System

I am drawing from the rules of Dungeon World, which I have never played but is similar to Monster of the Week, which I have. A major difference between Dungeon World and D&D is that Dungeon World rolls use 2d6 + small bonus and create a bell curve where rolls of 7-9 are the most likely, and D&D rolls use d20 + increasingly large bonus which creates a random splatter of results that inch higher over time.

What I like about the Dungeon World moves is that success, miss, and partial success all have clear yet non-specific outcomes of the roll. For example, with the move Defy Danger “On a 7–9, you stumble, hesitate, or flinch: the GM will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.” The general idea of the consequence is clear while being non-specific enough to fit any situation.

We will define rules for the four basic moves mentioned above: Slay, Disarm, Flee, and Parley.

Two Move Maximum

You may attempt a maximum of two moves in a single combat encounter, and the first move attempted limits the options available on the second move. If you fail both, you have lost and are now dead, dinner, captured, or whatever is appropriate to the encounter. If you succeed either the first OR second move, then you win the encounter.

Slay

You attempt to kill your opponent(s) by dropping them to 0 HP, with the option to knock unconscious if using a martial weapon. State if you are making a strong, moderate, or weak attack and the type of attack. Make a single attack roll.

• On a success, you slay (or knock unconscious) your opponents, and you take damage according to the chart below.
• On a failure, you do not slay your opponents. Take damage according to the chart, and if you are still conscious you may attempt a Parley (with disadvantage) or Flee move.
• On a natural 20, you successfully slay (or knock unconscious) your opponents, and you take no damage.

Damage Chart

Attack Power	Examples	Damage on Success*	Damage on Failure*
Strong	Highest level spell, weapon attack with feature buff or increased number of attacks	10%	50%
Moderate	Low level spell, regular d6/d8 weapon attack with normal number of attacks	25%	75%
Weak	Cantrip, d4 weapon attack with no buffs	50%	100%

The attack power is a rule of thumb that will change as characters level up. For my warlock player, Eldrich Blast is an enhanced cantrip that would count as a moderate power attack instead of a weak one, but Firebolt would still count as a weak power attack. The categories of attack power are relative for that character’s current abilities, and not compared to any other level or character.

The damage chart allows you to quickly estimate how much health you would lose during the course of a single combat encounter. Using more powerful attacks causes the encounter to end more quickly and results in less damage taken; however, strong attacks normally have limitations on how many times they can be used per rest, whereas moderate and weak attacks typically do not have such limitations. A natural 20 nullifies all damage taken regardless of the attack power used.

Disarm

Disarm can only be used against a single opponent. You attempt to render your opponent harmless by means of removing their weapons, restraining them, incapacitating them, or otherwise neutralizing their threat level without dropping them to 0 HP. State your course of action and make the appropriate d20 roll.

• On a success, you disarm your opponent as described.
• On a failure, you do not disarm your opponent. You may attempt a Slay or Flee move.
• On a natural 20, you disarm your opponent and choose one of the following:
  • You have them right where you want them
  • You are holding their weapon or magic item.
  • They cannot get away until you allow it.
  • They will not pursue you if you run.

No damage is taken or dealt in a Disarm move.

Flee

You attempt to escape your opponent(s) and reach safety. State your escape route and make the appropriate d20 roll.

• On a success, you escape. Congratulations.
• One a failure, you do not escape. You may attempt a Parley (with disadvantage), Slay, or Disarm move.
• On a natural 20, you escape and choose one of the following:
  • They do not know which way you went.
  • They do not notice something important.
  • Something else grabs their attention.

Parley

You can only parley with intelligent creatures that share a language with you. You attempt to convince your opponent(s) to give you a favorable outcome (i.e. let you go, become your ally, etc.). State your case and make the appropriate d20 roll.

• On a success, they do as you request (though they may interpret your request literally: I said I will not hurt you—no one said anything about what Beelzebub does!)
• On a fail, they are not persuaded. You may attempt a Slay or Flee move.
• On a natural 20, they do as you request and choose one of the following:
  • You make an additional minor request.
  • Your opponents mention something useful.
  • You make a strong impression that can be used to your advantage in the future.

Sample Combat Encounter

EDIT: After trying this in a real scenario, we realized that I needed to state the DC for each option up front. Doing so provided the dual benefit of 1) making the relative difficulty of each action obvious, and 2) enabling the player to immediately know whether or not they succeeded the roll.

Thrip, the level 2 warlock aarakocra, is faced with two angry goblins. The DC for each move is as follows:

Slay: 19
Disarm: — (not available with more than one enemy)
Flee: 17
Parley: 10

Thrip decides to attempt a Parley (he and the goblins both speak common). The DC on the Parley is 10 because the goblins are not so intelligent.

“Stay back, stay back or I’ll blast you to smithereens!” Thrips cries, waving his arcane focus menacingly. He rolls an Intimidation check and gets a total of 6, which is a failure.

Thrip’s options are now to Slay or Flee, and he chooses to Slay. The DC is 19 because two goblins are a deadly encounter for a single level 2 character.

Thrip chooses to make a strong attack to minimize the damage he takes. He says he will hit the goblins with Hellish Rebuke and finish them off with as many Eldritch Blasts as it takes.

He gets lucky and rolls a total of 22 to make his spell attack (Hellish Rebuke would normally require a saving throw from the target, but for simplicity we will have Thrip make a spell attack roll). “Die!!” Thrip exclaims happily. He has killed the goblins and subtracts 2 HP (because it is 10% of his total of 15, rounded up).

Thrip has won the combat encounter against the goblins!

Implications of This System

Combat will now be resolved in only a couple of messages instead of potentially dozens. This, after all, was the entire point. We will progress the story much more quickly, while still allowing combat to have meaningful options and consequences.

Character armor no longer matters, except as a matter of flavor. True, and I do not see this as a significant problem.

Character features no longer matter. This I partly disagree with. Yes, the details of damage and effects are no longer significant (except to be used in role playing), but the relative power of abilities continues to matter because they impact the amount of damage taken during combat. To me this is an acceptable compromise in the interest of expediency.

Spells with saving throws are completely broken. I do not think so, because they still fall under the category of a strong, moderate, or weak powered attack.

Leveling up no longer matters. This might be true, but it remains to be seen. One could argue that in D&D RAW, leveling up hardly matters because adventures are scaled to character level anyway. The impact of level is on cool abilities more than encounter difficulty.

You are no longer playing Dungeons & Dragons. That may be true, and again I do not see it as a problem. The goal is to play out a hero’s adventure together and enjoy doing it.

Your system is so full of holes I can think of 38 ways to exploit it to my own advantage. I realize that it is a little fast and loose. If you do take the time to poke holes in my text-adventure friendly combat system, do kindly also offer ideas on how they might be plugged.

Closing Thoughts

I am rather pleased with what we have come up with, and I am optimistic that it gets our long-delayed game moving again. I think this same approach could be applied to other common actions in D&D, such as sneaking, looting, and exploring. I hope, if you do not find this combat system useful, at least you have managed to derive some entertainment from it.

My posts have been erratic of late due to travel, sickness, or indulgence. Going forward I will maintain a bi-weekly post schedule. Thank you for reading!