Come up with a catchy title after playtesting • 2017 rpg

Your turn, roll to hit. Enemy’s turn, roll to dodge. What if you want to wait for an opening? Make a powerful attack at the cost of a windup? Emulate the beautiful tension of dodging a blow at the very last available second?

Action games measure time in “frames.” Windups, damage windows; a dodgeroll grants invincibility frames, but leaves you open for just as many. These mechanics make Dark Souls exhilarating. Smash Bros competitive. Why fighters EXIST.

Let’s not measure Turns, but Tenths (of a second). An Ogre gets the jump on Tim and Dave, begins to windup: 7 Tenths. Tim notices, stabs swifty- weakly, but only 4 Tenths- leaving enough time to Guard. Dave took a Tenth to react, so he waits... one Tenth... two Tenths... then ducks, followed by a Slash before the Ogre's lifted up his club. Tim finishes defending but spends a Tenth to listen- swore he just heard the drawstring on a bow...

You keep track of this with a Timeline. Everyone acting is on it, and the Tenth they can act, they must decide. Once you commit, it gets placed on the timeline, and there's no backing out until it's complete (or interrupted).