Revisiting the MERP round sequence time intervals

This post will try to examine the MERP time that each round sequence occurs and compare it with some of the other games that I have reviewed.

MERP uses 10 second round intervals. While representing a larger chunk of time compared to many games, some games use abstract, variable, or summary time which can represent much larger chunks of time.

Here are some round intervals for several games.

Standard times
MERP and Rolemaster Express rounds are divided into 10 second intervals.
For D&D and Star Frontiers, each round is 6 second intervals.
OpenQuest and Legend use 5 second round durations.
JAGS uses 1 second rounds or segments.

Variable time
Hackmaster uses variable action speed measured in seconds based on each specific weapon, armor, or spell. Weapons range from 7 to 14 seconds per attack. Most spells are 1 or 2 seconds. Some are up to 10 seconds. A few have minutes or hours for casting times.

Abstract time
Dungeon World uses abstract time for moves which varies according the story created from the fiction conversation.
HeroQuest RPG focuses on the outcome  or summary of the story rather than the play-by-play of actions.

ABS12: Action Speed

All the changes from this page will be added to the complete master game page at A Basic System 12 (ABS12).

Looking at a few different variable systems, I think I want to try something relatively simple. By using Speed/5 I am guessing that the normal range will end up.

With EL = 1 to 12 and bonuses equaling 1 to 3 so far ( with some plans to maybe go to 6 or 7

Speed 1 to 5 = 1 action
Speed 6 to 10 = 2 actions
Speed 11 to 15 = 3 actions
Speed 16 to 20 == 4 actions

Speed
Speed is the speed of a character used for initiative, action speed, and movement which if no bonus is shown then there is no bonus. Receiving a speed bonus from special verb actions depends on the situation. If a character has fly 3, then the 3 speed for flying only applies if they are flying.

Speed = 1 + EL + speed bonus for description + speed bonus for special verb actions if the situation fits the bonus.

Action Speed

Action Speed is based on the characters speed for that EL. It represents how fast that they act and how many times. It is the number of actions the character can do

Action Speed = Speed/5 rounded up

Movement
I'll work on distance another day.

None of the creatures in the system have had their speeds changed to reflect these changes. I'll have to spend time to change them in the future.

A Basic System 12 (ABS12)

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