Does the computer get to interrupt you too? Can the monster change course after your interrupt blocks him?

Step 1
M moving towards G

  A  B  C       A  B  C  1[ ][G][D]    1[ ][G][D] 2[ ][ ][ ] -> 2[ ][ ][ ]3[ ][ ][ ]    3[M][ ][ ]4[M][ ][ ]    4[ ][ ][ ]

Step 2
Player Interrupts and moves D in front of G.

  A  B  C       A  B  C  1[ ][G][D]    1[ ][G][ ] 2[ ][ ][ ] -> 2[ ][D][ ]3[M][ ][ ]    3[M][ ][ ]4[ ][ ][ ]    4[ ][ ][ ]

Step 3
Monster keeps going for G

  A  B  C       A  B  C  1[ ][G][ ]    1[ ][G][ ] 2[ ][D][ ] -> 2[M][D][ ]3[M][ ][ ]    3[ ][ ][ ]4[ ][ ][ ]    4[ ][ ][ ]

Step 4
Can you interrupt again and move to A1? Can D even move diagonally? If D can move to A1 then what's to stop M from moving to B2 and bashing G?

  A  B  C       A  B  C  1[ ][G][D]    1[?][G][ ] 2[M][ ][ ] -> 2[M][D][ ]3[ ][ ][ ]    3[ ][ ][ ]4[ ][ ][ ]    4[ ][ ][ ]

How is M blocked?

Quote:

Original post by tstrimp Does the computer get to interrupt you too? Can the monster change course after your interrupt blocks him?

No, the idea is that the interception stops his momentum, so once M is blocked by D, he doesn't get to continue on with his turn (unless he has a skill with some kind of trampling mechanism, but we'll leave that out for now).

You, as the player, don't get to decide where the defender goes. You simply pick an applicable defender, and it steps into the closest square within M's path. Once that happens, M is stopped in the square before the square now occupied by D. They trade blows and M's turn ends, unless there is some magical intervention.

I guess I should have known from the OP that you wanted MtG style combat. In that case just show the list or avatars of who are attacking and then give the player a chance to assign blockers. Why make them press an interrupt button for what is a normal phase in combat? Now it makes sense for there not to be a grid since there is no strategic placement of units.

Quote:

Original post by tstrimp I guess I should have known from the OP that you wanted MtG style combat. In that case just show the list or avatars of who are attacking and then give the player a chance to assign blockers. Why make them press an interrupt button for what is a normal phase in combat? Now it makes sense for there not to be a grid since there is no strategic placement of units.

Actually, I'm planning to add grid-based combat if it gets received warmly. I haven't yet, because I didn't know whether people would find it too complicated to assign blockers in 3d space.

Do you think the need to place units strategically for blocking will help or hinder a 3d-battlefield M:tG SRPG?

EDIT:
I suppose the press-a-button-to-interrupt isn't necessary. I just thought it would be more tedious to have to say "no, I don't want to interrupt" to every action. Even if the menu didn't show up when no interrupting actions were available, you'd still have to answer every time something happened if you were saving it up for later.

It depends entirely on how much of the "magic" you add. There are plenty of ways to win in MtG without summoning any creatures at all. If that's possible in your game then I don't think the grid will help at all. Even if it's mostly creature combat, what does blocking in 3d space really offer you over just assigning blockers in a list?

Quote:

Original post by templewulf I suppose the press-a-button-to-interrupt isn't necessary. I just thought it would be more tedious to have to say "no, I don't want to interrupt" to every action. Even if the menu didn't show up when no interrupting actions were available, you'd still have to answer every time something happened if you were saving it up for later.

Well, the only way for creature combat to occur in MtG is for the defender to assign blockers. Were you planning on allowing your opponent to target your creatures in combat instead of just the main character?

Quote:

Original post by templewulfI want my defenders to be able to actively stop an advancing goblin.

Actually, in D&D, you can use your AoO to do a Trip Attack or a Grapple instead of a normal attack, which accomplishes more or less exactly what you want.

(The rules may be a little overkill, but here they are:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#trip
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#grapple )

In most computer D&D games, the AoO is automated, like tstrimp is suggesting. If someone walks by someone else who has an AoO available, that person automatically makes a melee attack against the walker. But in actual pen and paper D&D, you decide when someone walks through if you want to take your AoO, and if so, what you want to do, sort of like an Interrupt or Instant from Magic The Gathering. If you just want to do damage, you can hit them with your sword. But if you want battlefield control in D&D, you equip a spiked chain and take the feat Combat Reflexes, which lets you reach 2 tiles away and gives you a bonus on trip attempts; then anyone who walks through your area can get tripped, and their movement immediately halts for that turn.

If you were trying to automate it as much as possible, maybe you could just have certain skills or weapons that auto-execute a certain response when someone walks through your threatened area. So, you could walk your knight into position, then select "Auto-intercept" as his action, and he stands there looking tough with a little intercept icon blinking over his head. Or you could have each unit select what they want their "auto-ability" to be (like Reflex actions in FF Tactics). Then on the opponent's turn, if he walks through the knight's threatened area, he has to defend against some sort of trip attack in order to successfully walk through. Maybe if you had high enough dodge, you could avoid the attack altogether (like a ninja), or high enough strength you could overrun the blocker (like a dragon), or if you had enough stamina/speed, you could get tripped, stand back up again, and keep running (like a... um... faster ninja ;)

Quote:

Original post by tstrimp It depends entirely on how much of the "magic" you add. There are plenty of ways to win in MtG without summoning any creatures at all. If that's possible in your game then I don't think the grid will help at all. Even if it's mostly creature combat, what does blocking in 3d space really offer you over just assigning blockers in a list?

That's sort of the question I was trying to get across in this thread. Does it offer anything? Is the increased complexity worth it? Does it increase depth, or is it just more frustrating?

Quote:

Original post by tstrimp Well, the only way for creature combat to occur in MtG is for the defender to assign blockers. Were you planning on allowing your opponent to target your creatures in combat instead of just the main character?

Yes, and that's one of the reasons I wanted to use a grid for combat. I think if you're allowed to target any creature with a physical attack from any other creature, position suddenly becomes much more important. I've also been looking into Shogi lately, but that, to me, is a bit more complicated than necessary. (Although, it might just be because I can't read kanji)

Quote:

Original post by makeshiftwings D&D stuff

Does a trip maneuver halt the tripped NPC's turn completely? Can they respond to the attack in some way, or is that it until they get another turn?

That kind of customization is a bit more than I wanted to put into this game. Since each minion is a "summon", I was thinking of having them relatively static. I might find it overwhelming if I couldn't judge a unit's strength from a glance at its name in a list. Consider that collecting spells and summons to be the game's primary draw, and upgradable summons sound somewhat intimidating. Perhaps these variations on AoO could be various special abilities?

Assigning an action to a reaction is pretty cool, though, especially in the wake of FFXII's successful gambit system.

Quote:

Original post by templewulf Quote: Original post by makeshiftwings D&D stuff Does a trip maneuver halt the tripped NPC's turn completely?

Well, like most of D&D, the answer is very complicated. On a normal turn, a normal creature usually gets one Move Action (example: moving up to 6 squares) and one Standard Action (example: attacking). If you want, you can substitute a second Move Action for your Standard Action. If you get tripped in the middle of moving, your current move action is canceled, and you are now Prone. You can do various things while prone, like attack or cast a spell at a penalty. Standing back up from Prone requires a Move Action. So... if you're running past someone and get tripped, you can either immediately stand back up again and then be done with your turn, or you can try to attack them while you're on the ground and stand up at the beginning of your next turn, etc.

Quote:

Can they respond to the attack in some way, or is that it until they get another turn?

Again, that can be complicated. Sometimes one person taking an AoO on you allows you to interrupt and get an AoO on them first. There are also a bunch of feats and things that let you react or counter in different ways. But in general, what happens is that the tripper rolls to make a trip attempt versus a combination of your defense and strength and some other stuff, and if they fail, you can automatically attempt to counter-trip them, at which point they either have to fall down themselves and you get to continue on your way, or sometimes they are allowed to drop their weapon instead of falling over. Like I said, it's annoyingly complicated most of the time (at least in my opinion). But I guess it is good at simulating all the various "realistic" things that could possibly influence getting tripped.

Quote:

That kind of customization is a bit more than I wanted to put into this game. Since each minion is a "summon", I was thinking of having them relatively static. I might find it overwhelming if I couldn't judge a unit's strength from a glance at its name in a list. Consider that collecting spells and summons to be the game's primary draw, and upgradable summons sound somewhat intimidating. Perhaps these variations on AoO could be various special abilities?

Maybe you could just have certain summons have the "Auto-Trip" trait, the same way certain Magic cards have Trample or Flying. Still, like you said, you'll need to decide on a balance between depth of trip mechanics and simplicity. The simple way would be to just roll the attacker's attack versus the opponent's defense and trip if he wins. D&D tries to account for multiple stats and situations. And if you think the trip mechanics are complicated, don't even look at all the rolls and math you need to do if you want to try to grapple somebody.