@faraday said in World of Darkness -- Alternative Settings:
A, B and C are fighting. They each (in parallel) declare an action meant to take their opponent out. Then you resolve the actions. B goes first. He takes A out. A doesnât get to actually do his intended action.
Well, they don't declare in parallel in WoD; they declare in inverse to the initiative order. Supposing A, B, and C are sequential in initiative, the players declare in order of C, B, and A. C can change his or her action based on what B or A declares at a penalty, as can B, based on what A declares.
Now that we have the actions set, we can then resolve it. For simple attacks, this isn't an issue; however, WoD have numerous modifiers that could apply to the rolls. For instance, if A is a vampire, then she may decide to activate Vigor, which would be on top of its passive effect. If A was attacking B, then B may have bonuses to her defense based on Merits, some of which may need to be activated to work. If A is working in conjunction with C, there is a negative modifier to B's defense based on numerous attackers. Next, we have to consider what weapons are being used, and whether certain specialties would apply to add further dice.
I understand what you're saying: you could build a combat engine for the World of Darkness. At that engine could calculate and apply initiative in order to figure out whether a PC can make an attack or not. But it would be an undertaking of gargantuan, epic proportions, for arguably little benefit because, in all honesty, a good World of Darkness game won't require a thorough combat engine.
The designers have created a "Down and Dirty" combat system for PC v. NPC combat that can be used. The designers have also created a "Beaten Down" mechanism that should be implemented to make combat less deadly and much quicker.
None of this stuff existed for oWoD or nWoD. But, again, this is why nWoD 2E is superior. And if people would just read and follow the rules you would not have combats that last a lifetime.