Last year, I discussed the importance of considering Tactical Depth v. Complexity in RPG Design. This week, I wanted to touch on an important related design issue that is sometimes overlooked, Active v. Passive Defenses:
By "Active Defense," I mean any system where the PCs can take action to defend themselves, typically parrying or dodging. Examples of RPGs with Active Defenses include Call of Cthulhu, and oWoD.
By "Passive Defense," I mean any game where the PCs have one or more defensive stats (calculated using the character's ability scores and/or their gear) representing their ability to avoid harm in one or more ways.
The most famous example of Passive Defense in RPG is D&D's Armor Class, which represents the difficulty to actually land an effective attack on the PC and which is calculated from the PC's Dexterity and/or their gear.
Other examples of systems with passive defense are nWoD and Savage Worlds.
There are, of course, RPGs with *BOTH* Active and Passive Defenses. For example, REIGN allows parrying and dodging (Active Defenses) and has Damage Reduction stats for armor (Passive Defense).
So, what's the big deal about Active v. Passive Defenses?
As I mentioned before when discussing Weaponry, many RPGs make combat is a key or even central element of gameplay. There are many, many, many different approaches to modeling Combat in RPGs, but a key design decision is whether a particular approach is more Tactical or more abstract.
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Combat, as it is usually portrayed, is fast paced. However, game mechanics (e.g., Initiative, attack rolls, etc.) by their nature are slow paced. Thus, in terms of Tactical Depth v. Complexity, the more crunchy a game's combat mechanics, the more complex and slower that game's combat becomes.
Unless a game is very narrative, most RPGs have Active Attacks. But when the designer also adds Active and/or Passive Defenses involving rolling, a game can really slow down.
Some people love really Tactical games (e.g., miniature war games). However, myself, I prefer faster paced combat, as it can be the more dramatic and the emergent narrative of the game session flows quicker and more easily.
By "Active Defense," I mean any system where the PCs can take action to defend themselves, typically parrying or dodging. Examples of RPGs with Active Defenses include Call of Cthulhu, and oWoD.
By "Passive Defense," I mean any game where the PCs have one or more defensive stats (calculated using the character's ability scores and/or their gear) representing their ability to avoid harm in one or more ways.
The most famous example of Passive Defense in RPG is D&D's Armor Class, which represents the difficulty to actually land an effective attack on the PC and which is calculated from the PC's Dexterity and/or their gear.
Other examples of systems with passive defense are nWoD and Savage Worlds.
There are, of course, RPGs with *BOTH* Active and Passive Defenses. For example, REIGN allows parrying and dodging (Active Defenses) and has Damage Reduction stats for armor (Passive Defense).
So, what's the big deal about Active v. Passive Defenses?
As I mentioned before when discussing Weaponry, many RPGs make combat is a key or even central element of gameplay. There are many, many, many different approaches to modeling Combat in RPGs, but a key design decision is whether a particular approach is more Tactical or more abstract.
Combat, as it is usually portrayed, is fast paced. However, game mechanics (e.g., Initiative, attack rolls, etc.) by their nature are slow paced. Thus, in terms of Tactical Depth v. Complexity, the more crunchy a game's combat mechanics, the more complex and slower that game's combat becomes.
Unless a game is very narrative, most RPGs have Active Attacks. But when the designer also adds Active and/or Passive Defenses involving rolling, a game can really slow down.
Some people love really Tactical games (e.g., miniature war games). However, myself, I prefer faster paced combat, as it can be the more dramatic and the emergent narrative of the game session flows quicker and more easily.
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