BMDev 2: Resolve and Morale

Building coherent parallel systems

If you’re not sure what BMD is, check here:

BMD: A True Contender TTRPG

A major element in any campaign is the waning and waxing willingness of men to keep fighting. Morale is something that always matters, whether in the moment or over the course of campaign events.

In BMD, there are two tools offered to help players answer questions about the fighting spirit of their troops: Resolve and Morale. Both systems have a direct effect on each other, but they also must support and work alongside other game systems.

Let’s take a detailed look at both to see what their objectives are and how they accomplish them.

(As a general warning, the design of the game is an in-progress effort, and some details—particularly names—could eventually change. I’m ever-watchful for smart, compact ways to evoke interesting ideas.)

Resolve

Firstly, Resolve is an attribute of a Force—not of a unit. It is a reflection of the Force commander’s management of the stress and circumstances that impact his troops. When new troops join a Force, they take on the effects of that Force’s Resolve. In this way, Resolve represents the collective feeling of confidence in the Force’s commander.

If we keep Resolve high, it means our commander is leading well and that our troops are confident and in good spirits. If we end up with low Resolve, it means that the commander has failed to manage the difficulties endured by the Force and that our troops are filled with uncertainty and hesitation.

Resolve can be lost through harsh trials like:

• protracted fighting

• encountering a demoralizing situation (most commonly, retreating from battle)

• experiencing a high casualty rate

Resolve can be gained through experiences like:

• downtime/rest from fighting

• skillful command and leadership

• victory in battle

• significant victories in the war

The levels of Resolve are [Fanatical, Bold, Resolute, Uncertain, Fearful] ranked as [5, 4, 3, 2, 1], carrying bonuses [+2, +1, 0, -1, -2]. Though symmetrical in bonuses, there is a serious asymmetry in the effort involved to improve Resolve beyond Resolute.

Moving Through Territory

Evasive, Hunting, Rapid, and Basic stances are options that specify how a Force can move through the Zones of a Strategic Location. The stances determine how swiftly the Force moves into the Zone, the chance of an Encounter, and sometimes the distribution of possible Encounters.

For example, Evasive stance minimizes the chance of an Encounter during transit, but the Force can only move at half-speed. We imagine that the Force is carefully positioning scouts who are identifying low visibility routes and deploying equipment to hide the Force from scanning techniques.

Avoiding Unwanted Encounters

The following assumes we are discussing transit through an enemy-owned Location.

Like other mechanisms in BMD, the Encounter Evasion (EE) roll is a test requiring a result of 10 or better on a D10. It is presumed that Forces on the move are attempting to avoid Encounters to reach their destination.

The Hunting stance (which works on a different principle) is instead for specifically seeking out Encounters; it does not apply to this discussion.

An EE roll simply checks whether a Force, when moving from one Zone to another, encounters something along the way. The stances [Basic, Evasive, Rapid] provide a [+5, +7, +3] bonus to EE. Thus, the [Basic, Evasive, Rapid] stances each require a result of [5+, 3+, 7+] to avoid an Encounter.

If the Force had a Resolve of rank 4 (Bold), they would receive a +1 bonus to EE—now a [4+, 2+, 6+] will avoid an Encounter. A Force with strong Resolve is cohesive and energized—they can coordinate more capably to avoid being detected.

If the Force was very small (like a recon force), they could receive up to an additional +2 bonus for their Force Size. This would place them at [2+, 2+, 4+] for avoidance.

Note that since 2+ is the best possible result, a very small force would receive no additional benefit from Evasive stance but would receive the movement penalty. The combination of “small Force” and “high Resolve” allows for choosing faster options with less risk.

In Combat

On the battlefield, Resolve translates directly into coordination checks and Morale checks. In this way, it is twice weaved into the Initiative system. Let’s examine them separately and then see how they’re contributing to combat resolution as well as modeling troop behavior.