Hive pocket Beetle opening is too strong

1. Beetle, beetle

2. Beetle on beetle (stack 1), pass

3. Queen bee adjacent to beetle, pass

3. Beetle off beetle (b) one space away from queen bee (w), place queen bee equidistant from w. pieces

4. Beetle on beetle (b), move queen bee adjacent to queen bee (w)

5. Beetle on queen bee (b), 

Options for black:

5. (...), beetle on queen bee (w)

... By symmetry, white eventually forces a draw.

5. (...), move beetle one space away from stack (1)

6. Ant traps beetle (b), pass

... By forcing black to pass, white easily surrounds the black queen bee.

I might propose a fix for this in a later post...

I actually should look at past posts for ideas now :-)

Househack part 2 (combat)

I just realised I'm sort of doing the homework: https://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/03/three-years-gone.html

Initiative is rolled every round (Initiative die as a stat? Stats in another post.)

Take 2 actions on your turn (you can do any combination):

Move: Speed will be a stat to determine distance travelled.

Engage in combat (resolved at the end of the round).

Shoot a ranged weapon).

Special: Everything else.

What happens when 2 participants are tied?

They will alternate their actions. Use a coin flip or an agreement to decide who goes first.

Engaged participants:

Roll your attack dice (XdY, see part 1) vs the opponent's attack dice. Pair the dice against each other in descending order. The winner deals a hit for every weapon die higher than their corresponding armour die. For every hit, roll a die of the weapon's damage dice against the opponent's armour dice. Winning damage dice are converted into wounds. (HP and hits in another post.)

Hit location (2d6):

Result	Body part
2	Left foot
3	Left hand
4	Left leg
5	Left arm
6	Left torso
7	Head
8	Right torso
9	Right arm
10	Right leg
11	Right hand
12	Right foot

Armour:

When defending against hits, roll 1dY of the corresponding armour dice if the hit location is covered with armour. If you have a shield, roll that die as well alongside the other.

d4: Not armour, but protective.

d6: Textile/organic

d8: Mixed

d10: Mail 

d12: Plate

d4: Buckler.

d6: Small shield

d8: Round shield.

d10: Kite shield.

d12: Tower shield.

Weapons:

Damage\Attack	d4	d6	d8	d10	d12
d4	Unarmed	Improvised /club	Flail	Chain weapons /pole hooks	Whip/meteor hammer
d6	Knives	Axes	One-handed cutting swords	Two-handed cutting swords	Quarterstaff
d8	Fist weapons	Maces/ warhammers	Longsword	Small spears	Cutting polearms
d10	Light daggers	War picks	Rapier	Light spears/Greatswords	Heavy polearms
d12	Rondel/stiletto	Large daggers	Estoc	Heavy spears	Long thrusting polearms

I hope this doesn't fall apart in playtesting... 

Househack part 1 (dice)

For character skill and combat rolls:

[Highest of] XdY versus Target Number, Difficulty Class, Magic Score, etc.

Where X = skill rating (maximum of three, for now), Y = tool quality (d4 up to d12). 

(I might save the d20 for some special rolls, like saving throws.)

Hopefully, compatibility won't be too much of an issue. I can see fighters with multiple attacks roll, say, 3d8 with their longsword against an adjusted AC. Since everything is compressed to a 1-12 range, smaller dice will not have as good of a probabilistic gradation as I might like. The d4s increment in leaps of 25%, which might be a bit much. Besides, they don't roll very well. Anyhow, I think this system is intuitive enough. A tiebreaker stat for contested rolls will probably be required, though. Actually, character level is a good fit. This is open-source roleplaying (OSR) material, by the way.

Inspiration: MESBG

Design ye more varied games!

What is a role-playing game? (yet another attempt)

A role-playing game is a game format. (Other game formats include board games, video games, word games, etc.) I take the definition of a game as the act of structured play within a controlled enviroment (the game space) that registers at least one variable which is accepted as 'truth' within the enviroment. The game state is the sum of variables and their information. This game state is altered by the player's actions during play.

- A role-playing game is a game where the space and action are primarily imagined and thus imagination is the primary medium. I define primary here as the medium that is sufficient for play, and the medium in this case defines the format.

- In the case of multiplayer games, some form of communication is necessary to ensure correspondence between the individual's imagined game states and changes due to the player's actions.

- All games need a codified and agreed-upon set of rules which structure gameplay, define player roles and authority, and dictate permitted and prohibited actions within the game space. 

What can role-playing games be? (more like, what elements can we play with as designers?)

- The game space can be created, controlled, and modified by one or more players.

- Players can control individual or collective entities within the game space, or even treat the game space as an entity of its own.

- The rules text can be modified, as it is not the ultimate authority during the act of play.

- The manner of communication need not be verbal but must be intelligible.

What games can exist, then? (off the top of my head)

- Controlling individual agents in a world created by one unique player named the Dungeon Master.

- Creating the history of a world in a non-linear fashion.

- Games which allow the modification of their own rules text.

- Writing narratives collaboratively or competitively.

- Jointly embodying a single character, or individually controlling collectives.

- Simulating pre-planned scenarios.

- Games with multiple assymetric roles.

- Games where the rules text is known (or not) within the game space.

- etc.

There is a wide design space yet to be explored!