Tales from Dunwall Preview 2 - Rules, Weapons, and Armour Changes

Tales from Dunwall Preview 2

I don't intend this to be a very long post, but I wanted to share another couple of sections of Tales from Dunwall for those who are curious about the mechanical changes I mentioned last time around. I've posted two excerpts, assembled in one PDF on Dropbox, detailing changes to the basic rules, as well as a list of weapons and armour available in the setting. Like last time, I'll dig a bit into these changes to discuss my rationale behind them, but broadly they're done with the same ideas in mind that I mentioned in the previous post.

Rules Changes

This section of the document is a working list, which I intend to add to over time. As I mentioned previously, one of the challenges I face with this project is taking the Mordheim rules and tweaking them to match the flavour of Dishonored. With this in mind, let me briefly describe a few of these changes.

First, I've made a few alterations to combat so far: two-weapon fighting does not (usually) grant an extra attack; parrying is possible with any weapon, though more effective with some than others; a character's facing changes the effectiveness of certain attacks and suits of armour; weaker attacks can still stagger an enemy; enemies can be taken down nonlethally; and armour is unaffected by the Strength of an attack. 

Restricting two-weapon fighting is meant to address a problem I noted in my Mordheim Musings article on shields, namely that a second weapon is an extremely cost-effective way to get an extra attack. In Tales from Dunwall, a second close combat weapon may be used to parry, but does not increase the character's total attacks per round. On the other hand, pistols and wristbows allow a single bonus attack per combat (like in Mordheim), but cannot be used to parry. The main idea behind this change is to encourage players towards strategies other than two-weapon fighting. Extra close combat attacks are still possible through certain skills, but even these are limited in scope. With attacks being arguable one of the most valuable characteristics, I wanted them to be correspondingly difficult to increase outside of character advancement.

Parrying is a relatively niche mechanic in Mordheim, but a staple of Dishonored's combat. I wanted it to be much more widely available in Tales from Dunwall, and for it to be a viable primary defensive option. Rolling off and adding WS is a house rule I'm familiar with, though the Parry Penalty is my own addition drawn from Inquisitor, which I think rounds out the system well. Like Mordheim, parrying is weighted in the favour of the attacker, but these rules changes reflect the advantage that a skilled fighter would have, as well as the simple fact that certain weapons are better suited to fencing than others.

I poached facing more or less directly from Necromunda. I think it adds an interesting extra layer of complexity to movement, and opens up design space for armour, weapons, and special rules that function differently depending on a character's facing. Besides that, it's important in Dishonored to know which way enemies are looking, and the facing mechanic is my nod to that aspect of stealth gameplay.

Staggering adds an additional Injury result below being knocked down, for Injury rolls whose result is reduced to 0 or less. While not debilitating, it prevents a character from running or parrying after suffering a "staggered" result. In part, this is a reference to Dishonored, but it's also meant to open avenues for designing weapons and effects that inflict Injury rolls at a penalty.

Nonlethal takedowns are another nod to Dishonored, where the player is rewarded for ending a level with clean hands. I wanted to reflect this in Tales from Dunwall somehow, since in Mordheim it's usually preferable to kill rather than sparing your enemies. I think the bonus Experience for having a clean conscience is an appropriate carrot to counteract the advantage gained by simply killing one's foes, while not being such a huge bonus that players will never want to lose out.

Finally, armour being unaffected by Strength is my attempt to make it a viable choice. As I discussed briefly in my post about shields, armour in Mordheim is broadly seen (rightly so) as being too expensive and not effective enough. In Tales from Dunwall, while some weapons have an inherent armour save modifier or ignore armour altogether, for the most part it will be just as effective against any attack. The facing mechanic also mitigates armour's power level, as many suits of armour offer less protection from the sides or rear.

Other than direct combat adjustments, I've made a few general mechanical changes so far: stealth and detection, magic, and swimming all have expanded rules. 

Since stealth is so central to Dishonored, I wanted to make it feel important in Tales from Dunwall, granting automatic critical hits to hidden assailants. Along with this benefit, however, I also wanted to make stealth a bit more restrictive, by allowing characters to spot more distant hidden enemies with an Initiative test. This means that while the bonuses gained by hiding are significant, stealthy characters also need to be cautious even of enemies too far away to automatically detect them.

I mentioned the magic changes briefly last time, but I'll reiterate them here. Instead of a Difficulty roll to cast spells, characters using Powers in Tales from Dunwall automatically succeed, but must make a Mana roll afterwards, a D6 roll against a target number dependent on the Power. if this roll is failed, the character gains a Mana Depleted token (design TBD) that prevents them from using any more Powers until they have recovered their Mana with an elixir or other ability. All of this is meant to build a system more reflective of the magic of Dishonored, and I'll share a list of Powers in a future post to illustrate these mechanics in action.

As for swimming, I've mostly set about codifying the rules presented in various Mordheim supplements, since I couldn't find them all in one place. I've also made clear distinctions between shallow and deep water, made it so that characters in armour don't automatically sink (but still won't have an easy time swimming), and allowed stronger swimmers to help nearby allies stay afloat. Dunwall is a city built around a massive river and above extensive sewers, and I think it would have been remiss of me not to include clearly defined rules for characters to navigate the waterways.

Weapons and Armour

You'll also find a set of weapons and armour in the PDF, all tailored to Tales from Dunwall. A number of weapons are largely unchanged from Mordheim, but I've rewritten their profiles to match the core mechanics of TfD. There are new additions as well, which play off of some of the mechanical changes I've introduced above; I'll let you explore those yourself.

The only major change to staple weapons is that firearms no longer require a turn to reload. Tales from Dunwall takes place in a more advanced setting than Mordheim, where reloading is a simple case of slotting a new whale oil cartridge into the weapon, and while this alteration does detract from some of the points I made in my post about Mordheim handguns, I think that overall it's fitting for the setting. 

I did say I didn't want this to be a long post, and I intend to stick to that. I believe that between this document and the Gangs of Dunwall warband, anyone really eager could have a game or three of Tales from Dunwall gang wars. There's much more to come, though, so stay tuned!