Recently on the OSR Discord Server, a challenge has been posted. This is Sahh’s reCalled From Action, created with help from Havoc over on Lonely Star, which challenges GMs to take a fight scene from media and show how it would play out in their systems of choice. The excellent responses so far, from Sahh, Havoc, Havoc Again, Mr. Mann, Diregrizzlybear and Justin H. have largely focused on fairly light systems with a great deal of interpretation on the part of the referee and players. At the urging of Diregrizzlybear, I am going to perhaps deviate a step away from the spirit of the challenge to demonstrate how a very crunchy blow-by-blow system would work in a combat to produce dramatic results. There’s very little ruling going on, the fight depicted could easily come purely as a consequence of the system’s intended play. The system I am choosing is one made by my very good friend Fields, a project called Seize the Initiative (link to game download) that tries to build on the legacy of books such as The Riddle of Steel and Song of Swords and make a very detail-oriented pre-modern combat engine while rationalizing some of the jank of those previous systems. Plus, for fun, she’s added some extensive systems to bring the same concept to Avatar The Last Airbender bending fights, Jedi duels, gunfights, and more. If you like glorious mechanical maximalism and like the idea of Lancer if the mechs were burly Italian knights hip checking one another and slipping a dagger into visors during a grapple, I highly recommend taking a look.

Seize the Initiative (StI) works around a dice pool betting system. This begins with Initiative. Participants in a fight bid from their Initiative Pools on who gets to go first, the highest dice bid gets to declare and act first. However, dice not spent during this period serve as a reserve of extra dice that can be used to enhance rolls or make emergency moves later in the fight. Think of it something like a reserve of stamina. If you come out of the gate swinging, you won’t have as much to dig deep for later in the fight. 

Once initiative is determined, the Action Pool comes into play. The combatants have a set number of dice based on their physical condition and skill, and choose how many of these dice to roll when performing a maneuver. Some more advanced maneuvers require an activation cost, a payment of dice that aren’t rolled to attempt something fancy. Declarations are made in order of initiative, which usually means people who go first declare attacks and their targets declare defenses. Both participants roll and count successes, with the Target Number (TN) varying based on weapon and action. Parrying with a big fuckoff sword is kind of hard, and thrusting with a rapier is very easy. Dice equal to or higher than the TN are counted as successes, whoever gets more wins. A successful attack is dealt with as a hit, successful defenses often allow the victor to take initiative and make their own declaration. If combatants are still alive after everyone’s gone, another round plays out. This is why saving dice is important, you don’t want to spend all your dice, fail at your attack or get attacked by a third party, and then have nothing to defend yourself with. Conversely if you play too defensively you’ll basically hand your opponent Initiative and cede control of the fight. In this conflict is where the Game is, and layered over it are all sorts of juicy options based on range, weapon choice, armor, specific abilities, etc. After a second bout, action pools refresh and whoever has initiative after that second bout declares. Combat proceeds in this bout, bout, refresh, bout, bout, refresh pattern until it has come to a suitable conclusion. Combat has a great deal of intrinsic fun to it in the same way a wargame has an intrinsic tactical puzzle fun. I’m sure a good number of OSR-aligned readers are feeling quite ill right now, and it is admittedly a steep learning curve, but if you’re willing to lean in it can be a lot of fun!

I struggled for a bit finding a suitable fight. Most media fights are cinematic, intended to demonstrate the inner turmoils and emotions of the characters through choreography and to look cool. StI is a system that more closely tries to emulate the fights that you would see in a HEMA tournament, one or two explosive exchanges and then someone loses. Most fights are over quite quickly within the fiction. So I have decided on the introductory scene of Kyuzo, one of the Seven Samurai of Seven Samurai, an absolutely stellar movie that I am probably going to fully rewatch after finishing this blogpost. This fight fits aesthetically, and serves as a very convenient guide to explaining the mechanics of the game. As a bonus, it’s cool as hell.

Our two combatants are Kyuzo, an extremely experienced and skilled swordsman, and an unnamed samurai. We will call him Goonpei, because he is effectively just a goon.

StI characters have a lot of mechanical heft to them, so bear with me. For the purposes of simplicity, neither fighter has any Traits or Talents that matter to the fight, which would add another layer of tactical complexity. These basically serve the roles that advantages and disadvantages play in GURPS and Feats in other systems play, respectively, extra customization for the character. 

Kyuzo is not particularly physically gifted. He is an extremely steely-eyed individual, however, never the first to blink in danger, and a swordsman bordering on the highest practical levels of the craft. Overall, he’s an established and well-honed fighter.

Strength: 4
Agility: 5
Constitution: 4
Perception: 6
Intelligence: 4
Acuity: 6
Willpower: 7
Charisma: 3

Dexterity (AGI+ACU)/2: 6
Initiative Pool: (DEX+WIL): 13
Height (Set by being human): 5
Weight: (STR+4): 8
Mobility (STR+AGI+HGT)-(WGT+CARRY): 6

2H Sword 14+Dex, for a total action pool of 20

Goonpei is skilled but less so than his rival. He is also perhaps a bit stronger and tougher. Most importantly, he is also notably impetuous and a bit slower on the draw.

Strength: 6
Agility: 5
Constitution: 5
Perception: 5
Intelligence: 4
Acuity: 5
Willpower: 4
Charisma: 4

Dex: 5
Init Pool: 9
Height: 5
Weight: 10
Mobility: 6

2H Sword: 10+5 dex, for 15 Action Pool.

Both combatants are armed with sticks, standing in for Katanas. Both combatants are pulling their strikes to not injure the other. In StI, weapons basically have their own character sheets, much as a hireling would in another system. They’re your most trusted companion, after all.

Katana: 2 H Sword, Reach 4, Swing TN 6 (+3 cutting damage), Thrust TN 7, Defense TN 7 (3 hand armor), Heft 5, Curved I

One such example of Goonpei’s impetuousness is challenging an excellent swordsman to a mock duel, using bamboo sword stand-ins. The two fighters prepare their weapons and then stand a bit aways, eyeing one another up. Some posturing and pre-battle bluster comes from Goonpei’s side.

Both combatants bid from their initiative pools to determine who will act. Goonpei is out here to get this over with, and he wants to make sure that he has the first strike. A bit foolishly, he bids all of his dice on initiative. Kyuzo is more cautious and bids only four dice. This cedes initiative to Goonpei, who rushes in to strike. He declares a fifteen dice swing to the head, using all of his dice. Goonpei is a long-time fan of the age-old tactic of bonking the other guy on the head until he stops fighting back. 

Kyuzo, however, spots his chance. Goonpei has overcommitted, both in initiative and in his attack. He has no spare dice to defend himself and no Initiative Pool dice to delve deeply into. Kyuzo declares that he will Seize the Initiative (everyone claps for the title drop), paying one die for the cost of the maneuver and bidding a single die from his Action Pool to steal initiative away from the hapless Goonpei. Initiative taken, he is free to spend the rest of his 18 dice, plus any Initiative Pool bonus dice he wants, into the attack. Were they using real swords, Goonpei would take the sort of injury that is too horrible to think about for very long. Though Kyuzo risks also being hit, the blow would very clearly kill Goonpei, and under the rules of first strike he’s the victor.

However, because sticks are being used, the full horror of what would have happened to him escapes Goonpei and he considers it to be a draw. Instead, his pride stung at Kyuzo’s insistence on victory, he angrily demands a rematch. As it is a new combat, everyone’s pool refreshes and initiative is re-declared. More standoff, more posturing.

This time Goonpei’s a bit more cautious. He wants initiative still, and so bids only six dice. Kyuzo bids four, and once again cedes initiative as Goonpei moves forward and strikes. This time he swings with only ten dice, saving five back plus the three unspent dice of his initiative pool. Kyuzo declares his own defense, a twelve die evade at TN 8, spending a single die to reduce his evasion TN to 7. He isn’t going to risk a double hit now that steel is in play. Both players roll their maneuvers. Goonpei rolls four successes, while Kyuzo rolls five. Kyuzo successfully defends, dodging skillfully away from the comparatively slow and clumsy strike.

This gives him initiative, and he immediately declares his own swing at Goonpei’s chest for his remaining seven dice, with an additional six from his unused Initiative Pool. Goonpei tries his own defense, a parry or his own feint with his five remaining dice plus the three he held in reserve. It isn’t enough. Kyuzo rolls well and gets six successes, while Goonpei completely bombs and rolls a catastrophic 0 successes, standing still as a statue as the blow takes him. As both combatants are unarmored, the damage comes to (6 successes to hit)+(3 damage bonus from katana)-(0 successes to defend)-(0 armor)= 9 damage. A hit location roll later, this leaves Goonpei with a level 9 wound to his chest. The pain inflicted will completely burn through his action pool and leave him incapacitated. He’s likely to bleed to death in a few minutes unless he sees immediate medical attention. Appropriately, Goonpei decides that the best thing to do now is to have a bit of a lie down. 

With different weapons, this could have turned out very differently. Closing on a spear sucks. Trying to cut through armor sucks. Differences in loadout, approach, and character options can completely change the tactical options and completely change the fight. I hope that this has elucidated just a bit of why such a system can be fun. I’ve had fights equally tense happen as a completely organic result of game mechanics, and it’s a blast. All kinds of games can be fun, but personally every so often the most satisfying texture out there is crunch.