Narrative Combat: Story-Driven Action for the d20 System
Narrative Combat, a d20 System product from Adamant Entertainment, is a set of optional rules for combat that step away from the complex miniatures skirmish battles that d20 has become and tries to integrate combat with the narrative flow of the story. The great thing is that these rules don't change the character sheet at all, so Narrative Combat can be used "as needed". If you feel that the evening's first combat would be better served with a map and minis, go ahead. If you think the next fight would be faster or more dramatic using Narrative combat rules, you can do that. The Narrative Combat rules are designed so that "map-specific" feats like Spring Attack or spells that increase movement rate are still definitely useful, perhaps even more-so in certain situations. They also give the player characters options other than "kill or be killed". Need the rogue to sneak past the army of 2000 orcs and assorted baddies to backstab the enemy caster on the hill while the fighter helps the troops man the walls and the cleric heals the injured and the wizard lobs death down into the enemy army WITHOUT having to make 500 spot checks, 100 attack rolls, and 50 saving throws per round until everybody on one side or the other is dead? Good luck handling that with a battle-map. I'll stop by in a week to see how it's going. Using the Narrative Combat rules, that fight is not only possible, but shorter and can have meaningful consequences other than death.
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"If you fudge dice rolls, your system is failing you!" -Sons of Kryos