So I like the abstract nature of EotE, but I feel like somethimes that same abstract nature can lead to muddled understanding onf the game world and what is where.

So I want to float this idea out and see if it's useful for people.

So the basic idea is that locations can be placed on a grid, and the grids should be pretty high level. say a 8x8 grid for a big city bloc or two. A ship like a YT-1300 might occupy 2-4 squares. One maneuver would move you one square, and ranges would be 1 square = short range, 2 squares = medium, 3-4 squares = long range, 5-6 squares = extreme range.

LOS is basically up to the GM and areas impassable are easier to show in relationship to where they are. it's also easier to figure out combat relative distances when multiple targets may be moving.

Anyway, just a thought for people who may want a extremely small step away from abstract to slightly more tactical.

Thebearisdriving said:

So, you're not explicit about the engaged status in your proposal. What about melee combat?

It seems implicit that engaged is removed in this proposal, and everyone is just "close enough". Zat right?

-WJL

"Engaged" is sort of a subset of Short range, so it doesn't need to removed.

If you were using a grid system, I'd say a Hex grid would be the easiest to use. I see this fitting pretty seamlessly with the rules as is, but just giving a little more definition to a character's movement at a relative long range.

Engaged would be 0 squares, AKA in your square. You could use 1 inch squares for this, but using 2 inch squares would work well with existing minis, and that could provide some fun narrative elements as you "move" around and interact with your particular place on the map.

Nice thing about this is that none of it requires new "rules." Say for instance you're runnign a game and you have a quick fight that you want to be a note in teh story, not a whole scene. No need to pull out the map. Just run the combat with the range bands and boom, done.

But lets say you want to run a combat and you want some specific terrain to be impassable, in an almost maze like environment. Map comes out and it's easy for people to navigate the complex topography you may be envisioning, w/o relearning a rule set or invalidating or homebrewing talents.

Are there any other elements of the game that need to be addressed that people can see?

Interesting

I also came up with a less abstract method to track movement, very similar to your method.

My main objective was to try to follow the rules as closely as possible.

The system I came up with:

1. Use a grid made up of 2" by 2" squares with 1" base miniatures.
2. Characters in the same square are considered to be "engaged" (4 miniatures can fit in a single square)
3. 1 maneuver allows a character to move from one square to an adjacent square. (Diagonals are OK)

Here are the range bands I use:

• Engaged: 0 (Within same square)
• Short Range: 1 square away
• Medium Range: 2-3 squares away
• Long Range: 4-5 squares away
• Extreme Range: 6-8 squares away

Here is a graphical representation:

• Han Solo, armed with a Heavy Blaster Pistol (Range Medium) can Fire at Red Stormtrooper (Short Range) with an Easy Ranged-Light check (Difficulty 1)
• He can also fire at the Purple Stormtrooper (Medium Range) with an Average check (Difficulty 2)
• The Green Stormtrooper is out of weapon range from his current position. (Long range)
• Solo could use 1 maneuver to move 1 square to the right, then fire at the Green Stormtrooper (Now within medium range)

Here is my checklist for rules compliance (Range bands, p.135):

• Two characters engaged with each other are in very close proximity. True
• Moving to another spot in short range…generally only requires one maneuver. True
• Moving from medium to long range requires two maneuvers. True
• A character cannot close the distance between short and long range in a single round,… True
• …as it would take three maneuvers (one for short to medium, two for medium to long). True
• Moving between long range and extreme range… requires two maneuvers… True
• …a character can move the entire distance between long and extreme range in a single round… True
• …but will suffer strain or give up is action to do so. True

Pros :

• Sticks closely to the rules.
• Simpler/faster than traditional 1" grid map, with characters moving 4 to 12+ squares per round.
• Not as much table space needed as a traditional battle map.

Cons :

• Not as simple (arguable) or fast (arguable) as the cinematic system.
• Requires a map and miniatures.
• Only 4 characters can be engaged together in a single square. (Not a problem most of the time).
  

Here is a link to a printable "single page" 2 inches grid .

Engaged would be 0 squares, AKA in your square. You could use 1 inch squares for this, but using 2 inch squares would work well with existing minis,

What a coincidence. You posted while I was writing mine.

Ah. Wax on. Wax off.

I think if we're trying to prove who scooped whom…

That is awesome work, and I knew I forgot to add that second square to medium.

Thanks for the added checklist of rules that blend with this.

Aazlain said:

I thought about something like this earlier, but when I extrapolated past 'ranges relative to one person', it got messy fast. Throw Chewie into the mix, and now you either need two sets of minis for each character in the encounter, or you need to have a much larger grid to represent absolute relative positioning. (Yes, that's an awkward phrasing, but I haven't come up with a better one yet.)

For example, put Chewie at Short range from Han. Is he closer to, or farther from, each of the Stormtroopers? That's dependent entirely upon the direction for everyone. He could quite possibly be Engaged with the trooper closest to Han, but be at Long range to the next closest, and Medium for the farthest.

Things get even messier when you add Luke, Leia, R2, 3PO, and Lando, because now you have relative positions for 7 characters *and* however many enemies.

In the end, I decided that when things get complex enough that maps are important (so the players can be sure we're all sharing the same mental 'map' of where everything is), I'd simply sketch it out, and divide it up into 'zones', each of which constitutes a change of range band. Usually by chopping the map up at choke points, or the like.

With the idea of putting multiple characters on the board, the relative positioning could be done by counting how many squares away a target is, right?

Lemme see… Short is 1 Sq… Medium is 2-3 Sq… Long is 4-5 Sq… Extreme is 6+ Sq… Right?

So if Chewie is in Han's Short range band, as previously exampled, Mr Red and Mr Purple are 1 Sq away (Short), and Mr Green is 3 Sq (Medium).

I might actually use this with a big map now, because I love my minis, and this seems… pretty simple?

jordiver2 said:

Exactly. The title "Range bands from Solo's position" might have been a little bit confusing. I'll doodle a better pic shortly.

Here is a another example. (Solo still armed with his trademark Heavy Blaster, Medium Range. ) On this grid:

• Han can fire at the Red Stormtrooper: S hort range (1 square Away), Easy Difficulty.
• Han can fire at the Green Stormtrooper: Medium range (2 squares Away), Average Difficulty + Engaged with ally penalty and risk.
• Han cannot fire at the Purple Stormtrooper from his current position: Long Range (4 squares Away)
• Han could use a maneuver to move one square closer to Purple Stormtrooper, then fire at him from Medium range (3 squares away)
• Chewie is Engaged with the Green Stormtrooper. He can make a Brawl/Melee attack (Average Difficulty)
• Chewie could also fire at the Green Stormtrooper with his Bowcaster: Engaged, Hard Difficulty (Easy Difficulty, +2 additional difficulty dice for making an attack while engaged with a Ranged (Heavy) weapon).
• Chewie could use a maneuver to disengage (move 1 square away) from the Green Stormtrooper.

Add in an actual bit of terrain and this could be a battle over the forests of Kasshyyk, on platforms of bespin, or in narrow alley ways of a 2 square city block span of a city.

Very not bad actually. I might even call this double plus good.

Aazlain said:

Does that not mean that Han has moved from long to medium with one maneuver? Doesn't it take 2 by the rules?

gribble said:

The band descriptions imply 10 to 12 meters or so per maneuver, so if I grid out, I'll use 10m grids. Close being same grid, medium being next two, long being the two after that, extreme being anything past that.

Which, BTW, puts the walls being the big limiter on-board ship. Looking at Jake's online preview of the map from the boxed set, I'd divide the YT1300 portrayed thereupon into several areas…

• Flight Pod and its hall
• central and port hall
• Hold (forward)
• bunkroom
• engineering
• ramp

I might divide the starboard portion of engineering off, and the same for the starboard chunk of the hold. Likewise, the gun wells and the rec table

gribble said:

Indeed. But with this houserule alloting 2 squares between medium and long, it will sometimes take 2 maneuvers to close the gap, and some other times only 1, depending of the position of the characters. It's not perfect but it follows most of the rules.