Would you play a game with no combat items? There would still be items to bolster social interactions, stealth, and other out-of-combat activities.
Would this impede your sense of advancement, or are character feats and non-combat items enough?
I am working on a game with a magic system for combat. It is already complex enough that I prefer not to have combat items. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Some of my favourite systems are light on combat rules or feature combat as some kind of fail state. If you’re leveling a shotgun at an ancient void-dweller that may or may not be immune to conventional weaponry, you’ve messed up somewhere. Maybe the better plan is to douse the floorboards in lamp oil, smash a lit lantern, and run.
Would I play a game with no combat items? Absolutely. I’d love a game that invests as much pagespace into intrigue or stealth systems as some D&D-like systems invest into combat.
So I should have been more specific. While I like those kinds of games as well, in this case I am thinking of a medium-crunch game that does include frequent combat. The combat is magic-based, but is already complex enough that I prefer not to have items.
That said, I am also thinking about mechanical novelty for stealth and social interactions. It seems it will be less involved than combat, so there likely will be items for stealth and social aspects.
Ah. Are you aware of Mage: the Ascension and Mage: the Awakening? Both World of Darkness books; mechanically crunchy with a strong focus on magic as a solution to all situations. Looking at established systems that have already done something similar can help with ideas.
For a slightly different spin, I just picked up the Black Sword Hack yesterday. In terms of combat items, there are actual listed combat items but it’s all fluff really; every weapon is d6 damage. Maybe that would be another thing that interests you: weapons are abstracted to the point of players being able to buy/find “a weapon” which gives you a basic action.
I am aware of them, but haven’t read them. In the past World of Darkness has thrown me off with its lack of conciseness, but maybe I should give those a shot. I remember hearing something about a very philosophical and open-ended take on magic in one of those that did seem intriguing.
Can’t say I like the idea of specifying combat items, but having them all mechanically identical. Seems simpler to just not specify them at all then.