GM's Glossary Part 2: Everything you can do with Space

Space space, not outer space.

If the title wasn’t clear enough, this is part 2 of my Game Master’s Glossary series, which was supposed to be a list of system neutral status effects but has expanded out into what I guess is a system-neutral glossary of mechanics, statuses and effects. My heart tells me this will add up to something coherent and it’s only wrong most of the time.

You can read Part 1 here.

This week we’re talking about space. Previously we’ve been doing everything inside a sort of abstract combat void. Today we’re bringing space into the mix. Some of this might apply to abstract representations of a combat space but I’m trying to simulate a 3D environment starting with:

Terrain

I’m sticking to terrain that exists in some form in real life but any of these could represent whatever weird fantasy nonsense you can conjure. I’m thus excluding any sort of magic terrain effects lest I be here all day. So the beach that makes you old didn’t make the cut.

Covering

Terrain offers protection against damage and blocks lines of sight.

• Uses: Trenches, barricades, low walls.

• Consider what type of damage it protects against.

• E.g your big pavise shield might protect you from arrows but not high caliber bullets.

Damaging

Terrain deals damage to those who move through it.

• Uses: Fire, poison clouds, barbed wire.

• There’s a few variations on this:

• Damage if you enter this terrain on your turn

• Damage if you end your turn in this terrain. E.g. You could hold your breath and pass through a poison cloud.

• Damage according to how much you move through this terrain. E.g. You receive 1 point of damage for every 5 ft of bramble you walk through.

• Damage might occur if you move through this terrain. E.g There’s a trap here somewhere but I’m not sure where.

• We could also flip all the numbers around and make it healing terrain, although we’re verging into fantasy territory now.

Slowing

Terrain can only be moved through slowly.

• Aka, difficult terrain.

• Usually at half normal speed, but you could always make it worse.

• Uses: Thick mud, snow, or undergrowth.

• Accelerating terrain that characters move through at greater speed is it’s theoretical opposite. I can’t really think of a use case for that, aside from like speed boosters in mario kart?

• Don’t let me stop you from going for it though.

  
  

Engulfing

Terrain swallows those who move through it.

• Uses: Quicksand, deep mud, swamps of sadness.

• This could be a slow sinking or a sudden plummet.
  

  

  
  

Slippery

Terrain is difficult to grip or stand on.

• Uses: Oil, ice, those weird frictionless rooms in old D&D dungeons.

• If a character approaches quickly they may be unable to change their direction or slow down once they start moving.

• They might also have trouble speeding up without something to push off.

• Although usually just a slipping hazard, consider how characters might use it to move faster. The fastest ice skater can outpace the fastest sprinter.

• Sticky terrain is it’s opposite but I can’t think of any special way to rule that other than slowing terrain or a trapped terrain that stops you dead in your tracks.

Cushioning

Terrain negates or lessons fall damage.

• Uses: Water, safety nets, piles of hay.

• You may need to clarify how effective these are before a PC does an orbital dive into one.

Bouncy

Terrain pushes characters back up after falling.

• Uses: Trampolines, springs, bouncy bogs.

• Verticality my beloved.

• Consider powered bounces from supernatural materials or powered springs that push a character further than their fall distance.

Unsteady

Terrain is difficult to balance on.

• Uses: Swaying bridges, narrow tightropes, ship’s mast in a storm.

• Unsecured characters risk losing their footing.

• Leads to interesting interactions, like dropping your weapons so you can hold on for dear life.

Fragile

Terrain collapses as it’s moved across.

• Uses: Rotten floors, collapsing buildings, thin ice.

• In classic platformer fashion you might rule that the platform collapses only after a character steps off, leaving a trail of holes behind them.

• It might also only collapse under sufficiently heavy characters. I love a good goblin-only escape route.

Sloped

Terrain gradually slopes up or down

• Uses: Stairs, hills, rooftops.

• Not very exciting if it’s a shallow slope but steep slopes that characters will roll down as they lose their footing are just the sort of dynamic terrain we’re looking for.

• Combine with drops or hazards at the bottom for more excitement.

• Also consider how different items, like falling donkey kong barrels, might interact with slopes.

• You might want to consider rulings for moving up or down steep slopes.

• Wait, I think I’ve found a use case for accelerating terrain.

Stretchy

Terrain bends under the weight of heavy objects.

• Uses: Tarps, giant membranes, spider webs.

• Essentially creates slopes in the direction of anything with weight.

• Super heavy objects might also risk breaking through.

Liquid

Terrain is water or some other liquid.

• Can be moved through in a couple of interesting ways: swimming, floating, sinking.

• Water’s the obvious use case but consider other liquids that might have different densities or thicknesses.

• Usually impedes movement unless the character has a body suited to it, e.g. fish.

• Might also impede weak missile fire and non-streamlined weapons.

Climbable

Terrain is only traversable by climbing.

• Uses: Forest canopies, ship’s rigging, scaffolding.

• I’d usually rule that characters move through these at half speed but that’s just me being human-centric again.

• Gibbons can brachiate at 55 km/h, so I’d rule that similarly specialized creatures have a faster climbing speed than walking speed.

Mobile

Terrain moves along with it’s occupants.

• Lots of use cases, probably enough to deserve a section of it’s own.

• Just a few uses: Elevators, escalators, treadmills, giant wheels, trains, ships, boats and so forth.

• Remember that vehicles are a type of mobile terrain.

Obscure

Those with this terrain are difficult to see clearly.

• Uses: Fog, darkness, tall grass.

• Consider whether or not the terrain is mutually obscure.

• E.g If I’m in a thick fog I can’t see anyone and they can’t see me, but if I’m hiding in the bushes I might be able to peep out without being noticed.

• Also consider terrain that obscures other senses: e.g Stinking bog that covers your scent, Sound-proof room to hide your footsteps.

Deceptive

Terrain has a misleading appearance.

• Uses: Hidden traps, illusions, facades.

• Combine with other terrain for a surprise.

• Or combine with nothing for a disguised hole to fall into.

• Perfect disguises aren’t fun to play against. Always leave a little clue or method of discernment.

Combat with Space

So now that we have all this fun space to play with, we can’t just melee our way through everything. Our attacks, effects, spells and explosives finally have some room to differentiate themselves. Here’s every way you can make them interact with space.

Ranged

Damage from a distance.

• So basic I feel it barely needs mentioning but here it is.

• Usually limited by ammunition, lower damage or cover compared to melee.

• Usually requires a direct line of sight unless the shot is arced or doing some weird portal shit.

Area of Effect (AOE)

Effects all targets within an area.

• Typically AOE shapes include the line, sphere, cone, cube, cylinder, and wall but you can get weird with it. Consider combining these for more interesting shapes.

• This includes small AOEs like cleaving weapons that hit adjacent targets and arrows that pierce through one foe to hit another.

• Consider it’s little known opposite: the Area of Immunity. Everyone not inside this magic circle receives the effect.

Aura

An AOE centered around a specific character or object.

• Usually persists across time and can be moved.

Chain

Effects a secondary target within range of the first target, effect can repeat.

• AOE adjacent but I feel it deserves a category of it’s own.

• Uses: Lightning arcs, chain reactions.

• Consider 0 range chains that require targets to be physically touching for fun fleshwarping shenanigans.

Contagious

Effects spread from one target to another over time.

• Similar to chain but chain but not all at once.

• Physical proximity spread the condition but some other triggers could also work.

• Uses: Disease, fire.

Reflect/ Bounce:

Area or line of effect is redirected when it comes into contact with a surface.

• Uses: Ricocheting bullets, bouncing bombs.

• Could move in predictable arcs or deflect randomly.

Falloff

Effect varies over the length of it’s target area.

• Could represent projectiles losing momentum or energy dispersing from a point of impact.

• It could also be inverted: Damage increases over distance, like a boulder gaining momentum.

• The type of effect could also vary along the length of the area: an AOE might heal the target in the center while damaging everyone outside.

• This could also be varied in weird ways, damage might peak halfway through a line’s length or deal double damage every second square, get freaky with it.

Offset

Target area is moved from where the player targets.

• This could be a character ability where an enemy interferes with your attacks like a hacker getting control of your targeting systems.

• It could also be randomised to represent things like wind interference or inaccurate weaponry.
  

Now that’s everything I can think of but I’m ever eager to hear your suggestions. If you have something that’s not super-specific or just a combination of what we’ve talked about before, I’ll throw it on the list.

Next time on the GM’s Glossary: Movement.