Grand Guignol

2 min readNov 18, 2021

Tactical theatre (of the mind)

This is a modular rule that brings gamey tactical combat to your OSR system of choice.

Core assumptions

Fights take place in regions that are split into abstract zones. Anyone can engage in melee combat with anyone in the same zone. You can’t fire missile weapons at anyone in the same zone.
During tactical combat, certain events inflict distracted or exposed states on the combatants. Distracted creatures take a -2 penalty to attacks and skill rolls, and are at risk of backstabs / sneak attacks. Exposed creatures grant a +2 bonus to anyone making attack or skill rolls against them. These states stack and can be applied multiple times.
Combatants who are outnumbered two-to-one in their zone are exposed.

Rounds last one minute and are handled simultaneously, with the round split into phases.

Combatants get one action each round, which might be tracked with tokens. Combatants do not have to declare intentions at the outset of the round.

(Rarely, powerful foes such as dragons may have multiple action tokens per round or may be able to store tokens between rounds.)

Magic: Combatants spend their token to cast a spell or use a spell-like effect. Until the end of the round, they are distracted.
Missile: Combatants spend their token to fire a missile at a target they can see in another zone. They become distracted this round if firing into a crowd.
Melee: Combatants spend their token to attack someone in the same zone.
Movement: Combatants spend their token to move to any other zone (Rarely, some zones may be inaccessible on foot.)
Other: Combatants spend their token to somehow influence the zone in which they are in. This can often distract or expose an enemy for the next round, and it should not require a roll or allow a save since someone has spent their entire round to do this.
Cleanup: Combatants who were distracted or exposed for a round are no longer. Everyone gets their tokens back.