alexandraerin

Since I'm testing the ACME system tonight, here are a few topics that the initial rules posting didn't really deal with:

"The Nearest Enemy"

Some abilities only affect the nearest enemy. In the standard game, this means you can pick an enemy that no enemy is nearer to than you... i.e., if you're adjacent to three, you pick one. If two enemies are both five squares away and none are closer, you pick one. In this same spirit of simplicity and generosity, the ACME system lets you decide which of any enemies at the same approximate distance is the closest, so long as none are known to be closer.

For example, if there's a whole cluster of enemies at close range, and none nearby, a Ranger may declare any of the enemies in the cluster to be the Hunter's Quarry. But if one of those enemies is guarding another, then it must be assumed that enemy is closer, having put itself in the way. The Range would have to move to "go around" to get into position.

Enemies can also be explicitly arrayed in ways that foil this. If a cluster of goblins is described to be warriors encircling a goblin mage, then the goblin mage will never be the closest enemy.

In short, the question of "who's the nearest enemy" is resolved with general generosity towards the players, and specific exceptions based on common sense.

Narrative Style

In the absence of an actual battle map with grid squares on it, it can make more sense to describe things in terms of feet. With a grid square being about 5', then "Far Range" constitutes within about 50', "Close Range" about 25', and so on.

Jockeying For Position

You can spend a Move action to accomplish anything you might normally do by moving, even if you don't have a clear Point A and Point B you're moving between. For instance, if you're a Warlock who is engaging enemies at Close Range, you can say "I move to get Shadow Walk." If there is some ambiguity about which enemy or group of enemies really is closer to a character they can spend a Move action to resolve it to their liking. If they had to move immediately before to get into that position to begin with, it can be assumed that they positioned themselves accordingly already.

In other words, the use of Move actions is interpreted to represent all the jockeying for position that might normally go on.

Specific situations may engender common sense exceptions: if for some reason there is no room to move around, (the Warlock is standing on top of a crumbling stone pillar, for instance), then a Move action can't be used to represent such "abstract maneuvering".

Summoning and Conjuring Into Position

When you use a summons or conjuration, you can place the creature/effect anywhere within its range, as normal. This means you can drop it adjacent to an ally or enemy (or both, if they're nearby to each other), you can place it directly into a flanking position with an ally, etc. If there's a question of how many enemies in a cluster you can get a conjuration or summoning to be adjacent to, it's resolved the same way a Burst 1 would be.

Zones

Determining who is inside a zone when it is created is the same as determining who is inside a burst/blast. If the zone is created by a power which uses a burst/blast attack, anyone who was targeted by the attack is within the zone. Once a zone is in play, it's assumed that movement into it will be voluntary or forced... not accidental. There is no "Oops, you forgot there was a giant roaring fire covering half the battlefield." on either the PC or NPC side. The zone becomes a terrain feature for combatants to hide behind, hide inside, avoid, push each other into, etc.