Basic Fantasy Combat via Maptool

The framework I've created for BF is relatively simple. After I create a token, I can define its attributes, one of the most critical being its attack forms. On my Campaign window (Maptool gives you several windows, one of which is a blank canvass where you can store macros accessible to your players), I can press this button to launch a macro with a token selected, which will prompt me for the name of the attack and damage dice to roll. 





After all the attacks are defined, I can click another button, visible in the first image above, 'NPC Attack', and the results will spit out to Maptool's chat window. 


I eyeball this output and compare it to the targets' AC. 

I use a different macro, visible in the first image above as 'New Weapon, to assign a weapon to a PC. I've programmed a slightly different input screen for this, as you can see:


Whenever a PC makes an attack, they get a prompt asking for which weapon should be used. Ability bonuses or penalties are added automatically, along the pluses or minuses for magical adjustments and the Base Attack Bonus. 


Grappling has turned into a significant option in our game. As I've mentioned, we use the Dungeon Grappling rules by Doug Cole. Implementing these rules into this framework has been an interesting exercise. In a nutshell, these rules let you apply Control Points onto a target within reach. As Control Points accumulate, the target suffers increasingly large penalties to spell-casting, movement, AC and Attack Rolls. This abstraction is a fantastic way to adjudicate grappling, but by letting the computer crunch the numbers, game play usually zips right along. 



You can see in the above image that the character Perran has been grabbed by a gargoyle variant, who has the standard Claw/Claw/Bite attack. After 2 rounds of grappling, the monster has applied 3 Control Points on Perran (noted in the 2nd line of his attributes for CPs). That's enough to give him a Grappled Status. You'll notice that his AC has now dropped 2 points and his MV says 'HALF', whereas in the above image, it was 'FULL'. My framework is handling all those calculations, in addition to checking for failure if he tries to cast a spell. His status is noted with a small red icon on his token; the gargoyle monster has a similar white icon on his token.

Grappling is mutual and the monster has a slightly less constrained status than Perran, noted in the rules as 'Grabbed'. If the monster applied a lot more points, he could also show 'Grappled' or worse! For example, it's entirely possible, even probable, that lowly goblins will wind up pinned down if trying to grapple a towering giant. 

I'll also point out how nice it is to have a sensible rule-set to rely on whenever PCs need to engage in non-lethal combat, not to mention how vastly amusing it is when flying monsters like the above begin to fly away with the party's mage.  






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