The Flow of the Game (part 3)

Another aspect of Solar Echoes that keeps it fast moving is the game system itself. Actions don't happen until the third phase, the resolution phase, where everything happens at once, regardless of who stated their actions first or last. Once everyone has declared their actions, events play out through a series of quick die rolls. If a player is attacking an enemy, he will roll the dice and quickly add in any of the simple modifiers he might have available (up to a maximum bonus of +4, allowing for quick and easy mental calculation.) His opponent will do the same, and the resulting numbers will be compared: the highest wins, ties go to the attacker unless the defender is a lower-level character, in which case, he wins the tie (our “underdog” rule.) Once this has been determined, the enemy can attack the player, using the same method--even if the enemy died from the player's attack, everything is happening simultaneously, so he still calculates his attack as if nothing happened yet. This system keeps the focus on the action, and actions resolve quickly.