Diagonal Gameplay

[mitchiemasha]

What... There's nothing unreal about Orcs and Goblins. The world I live in is like an episode of Star Wars. Just with out the blasters and spaceships. Plenty of crazy creatures all over the place.

[Big Bene]

This reminded me a bit of this thread. Do you know it?

[Big Bene]

Some time ago, I was thinking about "dungeon crawler" rules of my own. I wanted to use diagnal movement, and I decided that compensating the factor 1.41 advantage of diagonal movement in any way is not worth the efford. Figures can take the diagonal way when possible, and by doing so, take a "shortcut" and move a bit further than they would have done orthogonally. It's open to all figures and players, so it doesn't break the game.

I put some thought, however, in the questions of cutting edges etc.
After some ponding, I found that you can cover all situations with a very small set of definitions and rules, if you strictly adhere to them.

- A square is blocked if it is occupied by a part of architecture, a piece of furniture, or a figure.
- A figure during it's movement may not move over a blocked square or end the movement on a blocked square.
- Some squares may be occupied, but not blocked. This is the case if the square is occupied by a figure, and the player of this figure allows the moving figure to pass.
There may also be pieces of furniture that are so small or thin that a figure may move around them (e. g. a candelabre). This does not apply to any of the standard furniture, and such "thin" furniture must be explained as such by the gamemaster when putting it on the board.
- A figure during its movement may pass over such an "occupied, but unblocked" square, but may still not end its movement on it.

All and by, these are just the rules as presented in HQ, just described a bit more pecisely. Now, for diagonal movement.

- A figure can, for every step of movent, move to any adjactant square, orthogonally or diagonally. It may move to an diagonally adjactant square only, if both of the squares it moves through in between are not blocked.

That's all.

Implicitely, it says that you can't cut a corner, but must move aroundit orthogonally, that you can move through between two friends, but not between a friend and an enemy, that you may slip through between two candelabres, but can't use a candelabre as an excuse to cut the corner of the cupboard beside it, etc.

[j_dean80]

A figure can, for every step of movent, move to any adjactant square, orthogonally or diagonally. It may move to an diagonally adjactant square only, if both of the squares it moves through in between are not blocked.

Only line you need to keep it HQ vanilla-esque.

[mitchiemasha]

My migits now have a new skill Character Creation

Tiny: Slip between 2 diagonally occupied squares.
Halflings, Hobbits, Midgets etc. Costs 1 Move d6.

[sorcerersapprentice]

Sorry to pick this up so late - I read it with interest but haven't had time to respond.

So - In general, when we look at the board of Geas: corridors that are 1 or 2 squares wide do not benefit from diagonal movement. there are some 3 and 4" corridors in my current dungeon design, where diagonal might offer a small leap in distance (though simply moving in any direction has its own risks) - and of course around 70 rooms - most of which are about 4x4 or 5x5. Wherein moving diagonal would again not offer a huge amount of distance advantage - but definitely tactical and combat advantage based on my system.

Here's an early image of the four boards for Geas - its still being developed but you can get some idea of how it will look. Also hopefully from what I wrote above, the notion that moving diagonally based on the width of corridors and the likelihood that it will mostly occur in rooms, does not offer huge gains/cheats even if 1.4 is not taken into account. In essence, from the middle of an 8x8" room - moving diagonal from the centre diagonally to one of the corners - or in a 90 degree direction, would offer a very small gain indeed.

I still believe it can work - simply - but of course its still theory until i build my prototype and run its through its paces. Though it is modular and diagonal can be switched off in GEAS, modifications are not out of the question - i've already made some based on our discussion: case in point, cornering.

[Daedalus]

. . . could anyone tell me what they see as the difficulty in using diagonals? . . . are there issues you can think of to mention or that are a problem in HQ, that perhaps I am not seeing?

. . . some characters can move further than others per turn, and some have a special extra factor that allows different types of movement. . . .

. . . Though it is modular and diagonal can be switched off in GEAS, modifications are not out of the question - i've already made some based on our discussion: case in point, cornering.

It sounds like you're onto a solution for general diagonal movement with cornering that satisfies the needs in your game. As a possible issue, I looked at Quest 14 of the Game System, Return to Barak Tor. In the top-left corner of the outer corridors there is a blocked square tile. With a cornering limit in place, the blocked square stays blocked to diagonal movement--no problem.

However, since the blocked square tile meets at a vertex with the corner wall of the top-left room, characters that have a special extra factor that allows different types of movement might interact in unintended ways if their movement exception allows for ignoring the cornering principle. For instance, if a special ability allowed a particularly agile or small character to pass between two diagonal squares that were occupied, that character wouldn't be stopped by this tile.

Without knowing your extra movement factors, I can't say there is an outstanding issue. Even if this pinched corner presents a problem, there certainly are some work-arounds I can think of. One is to never allow corner-adjacent blocked-square tile placement on a map, but I have a feeling that kind of restriction isn't desirable for you. You could instead define a blocked square tile as not fully occupying a square. Though that works fine mechanically, it seems to me to visually counter what a blocked square is. My fix (should an issue exist) would be to differentiate between a blocked and occupied square. Neither could normally be passed, but certain movement factors would allow a figure movement between occupied squares if a diagonal path was open.

[sorcerersapprentice]

Ive been studying/mastering Fantasy Grounds and have worked out a way to play it all online - once I have the rest of the game built. So live trials should help iron it out - plus allow it to be optional.