Party and Regular Combats, Using a No Talking Rule

During most of my gaming years the main gaming group I have been involved with has had some type of open, sandbox, campaign world. We started with an open world with gaming club back in the early 80s and we still have one that anyone can run an adventure in. The gaming club had over 30 members so we the open format allowed players to mix and match in the adventures ran by different game masters (GMs). And, with this set up, character clashes were a regular possibility. We knew about party-killers way before the on-line games were around

Character combats can be bad and good.

Some of these encounters left scars on characters, and some emotional scars on players as well. I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have a group of players who can handle having their character taken out. But, it didn't always go bad for the good characters. Players soon learned to track who their characters knew and trusted, and who were known enemies. This in itself added a new and different element to the campaign world.

The tracking of friends and enemies would sometimes lead to adventures completely off the script the GM had planned. We even had some adventures start and end in the same common room of a tavern as known enemies entered. The two characters would end up squaring off against each other leaving everyone else to figure out not only what was happening, but who's side they were on, or if they should even be on a side.

Other times the adventure would happen, with the unspoken knowledge that at some point there was going to be a party break down. This usually happened right after the last major battle took place and the treasure was in sight. Leading up to that truly final combat of the adventure was usually a lot of role-playing as sides were being recruited. Even then, some people around the table didn't know who was on which side, or if they were being targeted as being on one side or the other. It was during one of these final encounters we came up with an idea that has worked well in figuring out what action people were taking.

We started running what we called a silent combat.

Most groups usually have a rule about table talk, what is said is done or heard. When the party structure dissolved we enforce this rule that whatever is said at the table is heard by everyone. If you wanted to talk to a specific individual, while the party was all in the same area, you had to do it in a note conversation, and others could try to listen in. At first there were some complaints. Eventually people were expressing how they enjoyed what was happening. We also implemented a method for controlling actions.

Before initiative, every player wrote down on a piece of paper what they were planning on doing at that moment. As the round unfolded players revealed their action, but were allowed to make some changes based on what had already occurred. This didn't play a big part how the combat played out, but it did give the players time to think a moment about everything leading up to that moment. With newer systems using one initiative roll per combat there is much change after that. However, in ones that have initiative every round, writing down the action can add some unexpected twists.

The biggest impact to the combat was anything a person said was heard by everyone. There was no hidden planning or bargaining. This same aspect works well in other combat situations as players suggest play, or direct it, for other players. Intelligent encounters who can understand was is being said should be able to react in the same manner as another player's character.

There is one drawback. New players who don't understand what their character is capable of usually can benefit from verbal help. We always work at providing the different options the player has and the benefits/problems of those options. Then, let them make the decision.

But, when you have knowledgeable players and someone speaks up across the table of setting up the thief for a sneak attack, it can change the combat in a hurry.

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