Of course, this isn’t a problem in Into the Odd (ItO) because there are no “to hit” rolls. I don’t think depriving someone of auto damage is the same kind of feels bad as it is for when damage has been “won” by a roll. And I’ve actually felt for a while that a dodge mechanic might be a good addition to an ItO style game.
Before looking at some of the games out there, I’ll mention a couple of the desiderata I’m applying. Firstly, there should be some limit to how often you can dodge, to prevent combatants running around a table like Bugs Bunny. Secondly, I’d love to not be inserting too many dice rolls into ItO’s minimalist game play (in an ideal world, no extra dice rolls).
Runecairn
Runecairn, an early adopter of the Soulslike approach, ticks a lot of my boxes for a dodge mechanic. Firstly, it draws on Cairn’s inventory fatigue system, restricting the number of times you can pull it off in an encounter. Each dodge (or “Roll”) attempt incurs 1 fatigue, which fills an inventory slot, a very limited resource as they are also needed for equipment. This seems good in terms of realism, as obviously carrying lots of stuff makes you less dexterous.
Another feature of Runecairn I like is all damage in a turn being avoided by a single successful dodge. Some of the other games I’m looking at have a single dodge avoiding just a single attack. Runecairn’s version seems cleaner and more efficient. Having to roll multiple times to dodge multiple attacks in a single turn would certainly add to the dice roll tally.
What you can’t get around it though is that dodging does add to your dice rolls in Runecairn. You roll a DEX save (no “auto dodging”) to pull off a dodge. This is a “reaction”, not your main action of the turn. Your average turn will involve an attack damage roll and a reaction – doubling your dice rolls.
Exhumed
Exhumed is one of several Soulslike games produced by Jason Tocci, this one being specifically built around the ItO system. Like Runecairn, it accounts for physical fatigue as a limiting factor on dodges, here represented by Stamina. All players get 3 Stamina points, unrelated to your inventory, which serves for a more minimalist game experience for those not wanting to track encumbrance.
Unlike Runecairn, Stamina points regenerate every turn, rather than after a short rest. This makes for a very different resource management exercise. The type of decision you face every turn is whether to expend Stamina on attacking or evading. This seems similar to the approach Dicegoblin has been play testing on their blog. Here, your reaction can be used for offensive or defensive purposes, allowing you to double down on attacks instead of dodging.
A question I have about this approach is whether it is ever in your interests to dodge, in the case of 2 combatants plugging away at each other. There is always the chance of your dodge failing, meaning an opponent “all in” attacking will average higher damage over time. It feels like a zero-sum game to me, but I may be missing some subtlety of the system. Runecairn avoids this issue, by making reaction rolls exclusively defensive.
Mythic (formerly Primeval) Bastionland
Hot off the presses, ItO creator Chris McDowall’s dodge rules for the new Mythic Bastionland play test are evolving as I write this. The dodge effect (“Endure”) has moved from negate all damage (as in Runecairn) to remove one damage die in the latest version. In playtests, the latter was found to be too powerful, and detracting a little from multi-die attacks.
Mythic’s method of rationing dodges is a feature I really like. Each use means the character acquiring a Burden, with 3 Burdens leading to big negative consequences, and removing them is no small matter. This makes dodges a more rarely used manoeuvre, to dramatically change the course of battle.
Fittingly for an auto damage game, dodging too is auto success. This is the only game of those I’ve looked at which has this feature. Auto damage vs auto dodge feels like a comical stand-off in principle, but that’s where tight rationing of dodge rolls prevents a deadlock. This is a big box tick for me, in adding zero additional die rolls to the game – the new version of dodge actually removing them!
The Beggar’s Choice System
I’m going to cheat here now, and talk about my own take on the Soulslike Bastionlike/Cairnlike dodge mechanic. It feels like Chris McDowall has laid down the gauntlet in not adding any further die rolls to combat. Here’s my attempt match this in the current system I’m working on, for use with my 2nd Age collaborative project.
- Dodging takes your entire action
- It negates all damage that turn
- It sometimes succeeds automatically, but quickly scales in difficulty
In my Beggar’s Choice version, dodging starts off as being a certain success, though other factors can apply Detriments. Every time you dodge in the same encounter, the difficulty increases by one degree, as opponents close you down and get wise to your tricks. The difficulty scales very quickly, meaning dodging won’t ever stay on the table for very long.
I’ve called this approach Beggar’s Choice, because dodging only starts as a certain success for those very lightly encumbered. Characters must be Fleet of foot, meaning they carry only 4 items or less. You might pursue a character build that carries very few things to be good at dodging. But this forgoes a lot of the powerful benefits that come from items in the game, which are hard to obtain, hence a beggar’s choice.
What I like about the auto success for initial dodges, is the way it over comes an issue I’ve come across in many RPGs. This is where you meet a group of monsters, and before you’ve had a chance evade them by jumping into a nearby waterfall, the DM has already rolled to attack you. An automatic dodge here is a natural break, to potentially avoid harm altogether, even if you fail an initiative roll.
Dying Thoughts
I’ve seen Soulslike games that are self-aware in their move away from the Old School ethos. I’ve also seen blog posts arguing that Darks Souls captures the spirit of Old School D&D. This could come down to your focus of interest (Lore vs Mechanics). Introducing crunchier combat mechanics does seem a step away from OSR territory, as acknowledged by David Perry in their Knave Hack:
“Combat is the central focus and more Sport than War, with a crunchier action system to support rich decision-making in that context.”
Minimising dice rolls seems one way to counteract this. My approach seeks to extend the sense of 2 seconds of computer play over an entire encounter, rather than recreate Dark Souls combat blow for blow. This seems in keeping with the timescale of ItO combat, which breaks a combat encounter in 2-3 main decision points, rather than having multiple decisions every combat turn.
What I’m envisaging is desperate, poorly equipped characters sneaking round a dungeon with just their lunch in a satchel. There’s potential to dash past slow, lumbering enemies, grab that jade idol, and be out the door. But without decent armour and weapons, there’s little fall back on if things go wrong. There’s potential for some leveraging, increasing your odds through creative combat tactics, but encumbrance will have precedence in determining dexterity-based outcomes.
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