1.c Logistics

Moving

There are layers in this game (Free-Play, Zone-Based, Turn-Based, Grid-Based) and within those layers the player characters, NPCs, time and everything else flows differently depending on which layer you are on. Now there is no preferred standard, because somethings are just "as needed" to accomplish the story. But that leads to players who build themselves for speed (I'm looking at you Sandwich the Hedgewitch!) and in those cases, they will want their meaningful game choices to matter.

So you can't just toss things aside.

So we will start with the most and least defined layers of play and work our way towards the middle. Grid-Based is already defined by the grid, and as a matter of fact, the default move card says the move you should use for this mode in particular! The usual person moves 1 block for each Initiative, and the default initiative is 5, meaning the average person moves 5 blocks in one move action. There are details I'm skipping over right now, such as how big a block is (depending on your size it can be different), but we will cover that later.

On the flip side, Free-Play is capable of such time dilation that you could be half way into a fight, and resolve 25 years of someone's Free-Play turn in one sentence and get them into the battle. Free-Play distances and moves are usually about planning long term travel and has its own category further down.

So now we have Zone-Based which is still not turn based and Turn-Based which is in a zone, but with time. But when you are zoomed in on this level, then some sense of timing has to occur. Zone-Based, like Free-Play has to have time assigned to move from one part of the city to the next, or to go from one part of a dungeon to another. Turn-Based also needs to understand that being in a 15 foot room, and leaving it, should still result in getting out, even if there isn't much difference in what being out in the hallway means (5 feet here, 10 feet there, you're still in the hallway). How do we handle that? Well, for the most part we can call it units of movement, and give leeway to the difficulty of terrain and other exceptions to allow for a more digressed movement specificity. Which is to say, sometimes, you can't move as fast as the game says you can, cause there's like, people and doors in the way.

So the incomplete thought of all that is that when you go to move in Zone-Based, you are either in the zone (where the event is happening) or on the edge of the zone (near the entrance to the zone). This allows you to just call for a move action to go from one to the other, and if someone has more movement, you can skip to it (going from outside the zone edge to being in the zone with one movement instead of two).

So what does a move action look like now?

⌁5|5↪

Move (Walk)

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This has some useful information, but you have to reference your character sheet for details (might have a spot on the card for the info, as a design thing, still working on the card designs).

Speed is usually given in blocks. This is to limit the amount of thinking that has to occur. A giant moves 3 blocks, that is 3 Giant Steps. Not 3 medium or small people steps. Size alters perception quite often, so a small creature that is fast, might have way more blocks of movement. And a big creature that is fast, might have less blocks than you, but still outpace you.

Finally, your speed might not be easily divisible by 5, so what do we do then? Well remember, the action by default occurs on the end of the initiative, so if its too complicated, just move a little on the first step, and finish by the last initiative.

Sometimes you have to use your best judgement. For example, if your speed is 9 blocks, that is almost 2 blocks per initiative. So you can do a 1|2|2|2|2 movement, or put that one step anywhere in between. If you are slowed and your speed is 3 blocks, you can move 1 block on 1, the 2nd block on 3 and the final block on 5. Don't be afraid to mess up, and don't be afraid to default to just finishing the move at the end of initiative if the tracking or the math is to difficult to do in the moment.

A Conversation About Size

A creature's size dictates a lot about them. There is a reason why we use weight class in martial sports and there is a reason why we explain things as if aimed at others of equal size. But that's not how the world works, so for most things, it is assumed that they work on your same size, taller, or smaller. But not a size category higher.

So what do sizes mean in Anarchy Realms? Since most materials already use 1 inch squares as the default, we will base our .... base on that.

Each size category has some sub categories, sometimes with the same name... perhaps its better to just show a list:

Small Category (Each block is half a square)
 Tiny (<.5x<.5)
 Small (.5x.5)

Standard Category (Each block is 1 square)
 Short (1x1)
 Medium (1x1)
 Tall (1x1)

Giant Category (Each block is 2 squares)
 Large (2x2 or 3x1)
 Enormous (3x3 or 4x2)
 Huge (4x4 or 5x3 or 8x2)

Colossal Category (Each block is 3 squares)
 Colossal (6x6 or 9x3)

Titanic Category (Each block is 4 squares)
 Titanic (8x8 or 12x4)

Mythic Category (Each block is 5 squares)
 Mythic (12x12 or 20x4)

Cosmic Category (Each block is 6 squares!)
 Cosmic (16x16) (bigger than a mansion!)

Wow! So many size categories, what does it all mean? It means I'm not trying to make money off of cookie cutter factory miniatures. It also means that Shift Step is a way bigger move for larger creatures.

It means that a standard move can be called 5 blocks, 1 block per initiative, and we get a little bit of verisimilitude with larger creatures moving "faster" across a battlefield!

Size Categories also apply to Zone Based fights. Zone Based fights use a method I like to call a Battle Formation. Battle Formation is a type of slotted combat side by side that is probably more reminiscent of video games. The important notes are, 1 Giant Category takes up 2 Standard Categories in a row or column if its a long Giant creature. Similarly you can fit 2 Small Category creatures in 1 Standard Category Space.

Colossal Category takes up 3 spaces across 2 rows, which means (and this will be shown visually later to hopefully help) that they are essentially "solo" units in this type of combat (if they fit into the area at all). This applies to those categories bigger than Colossal as well.

⌁+3|5↪

Shift Step

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Battle Formation

Coming soon...