Most of cards take 2+ rounds to recharge and majority of combat is done in 1-3 rounds (at least you'd hope them to be as the longer combat usually does not mean more fun but only more real-life exhaustion).

This would suggest the following simplification:

• Each special action can be used once per encounter (exhausting it by tapping it)
• Each basic action card can be used as many times as needed
• Each card relying on recharge tokens as game mechanic for duration will last the whole encounter
• Each card relying on recharge tokes as game mechanic for power will have the full power the whole encounter

Simply and not game breaking by any means.

"Too powerful" cards could be either discarded altogether (hey, you are GM afterall!) or simply ramp up the odds and give each player one super-card for them to to have their own speciality.

I have this in my house rules, page 5. http://db.tt/aWjASN2

Hmm dont forget there are a number of ways to remove recharge counters - ei. many actionscards like the shield fighting style or leadership actions, warning shoot etc has a big part of thier attractiveness being the ability to recharge other actions - ei. typically reaction actions. Likewise several talents and conditions modify the recharge rate by either letting u remove an extra token or adding extra tokens to your actions.

While I agree that the whole token game can get a bit fiddly, I dont really see how u can do away with it without redoing a lot of actions, talents etc. at the same time … as I see it its just really part of the core mechanic. A mechanic I actually like (though it IS fiddly) … since the usage of recharge altering effects can really have a big impact on your playstyle. 

One of the main points/reasons for the recharge mechanic is to encourage (even to actually force) a diversity in actions that a PC can take on a turn. With recharge, all but the most basic actions cannot be taken two rounds in a row.  Consider that removing the recharge mechanic will allow a PC to use Rapid Fire every round, or Trollfeller Strike, or Double Attack, or Immobilizing shot, or Sniper shot, or any number of other powerful combat abilities. Every Single Round.

A player will have little incentive to purchase multiple actions. One powerful ranged and one powerful melee is all the actions that they really need in that case. It way overpowers the PC, and makes purchasing more actions (and a diverse number of actions) less necessary.  It also affects the mechanic of the DELAY on the conservative dice.  One of the options for the GM is to increase the recharge on an action card when a PC rolls a Delay symbol. Very handy to make the PC have to use a different action, or prevent the use of a defensive card.

Add in that there are abilities, talents, spells, and actions that reduce recharge, plus players can use Fortune points to reduce recharge.

IMO any attempt to eliminate rechage needs to address these points adequately.

If you must eliminate recharge, I would err on the side of making actions more difficult. Simply put, I would suggest something like this:

Using an action "taps" it. An action is unusable while tapped. In order to "untap" an action, the PC must suffer Fatigue/Stress (depending on whether it is a physical or mental action) to untap it, with a value equal to the recharge value on the card.  There is no new recharge bonus each round. Characters can always spend a turn to Assess the Situation during combat to restore some fatigue/stress.  This has the added benefit of essentially adding another turn delay for using multiple high-cost abilities, as well as making Assess The Situation a more useful (and more used) action overall.

Yes, most powerful combat actions have a recharge cost of 3, meaning they can essentially be used twice in a row. However, the PC does run the risk of gaining additional fatigue/stress during combat from other things (like fear)  which might put them over their Threshold if they take the risk.

As another option, use a mechanic similar to spellcasting. Each PC has "combat points", similar to Favor or Power, equal to their relevant stat (or highest stat of ST/AG).  Using an action costs a number of these points equal to the recharge of the action. These points have "equilibrium", and will replenish one point per round like Power/Favor. Since there is no "channel power" or "curry favor", powerful actions will naturally be resticted in how often they can be used. You could also allow a character to suffer fatigue for additional "combat points" on a one for one basis, for example, simulating a heroic/extra effort to perform an expensive action that the character doesn't currently have points for.

Personally, I think that I like the second option … but it is something else that needs to be tracked (in a sense) as it is another pool, so is still a little fiddly.

As a last option, any action with a recharge of more than 1 is only usable once per encounter, although you could allow one or more action to be refreshed (ie- useable again) during a rally step. This is the simplest option, with the least tracking required. It is a bit harsh on actions, however. Again, though, I would err on the side of being more restictive than less and risking unbalancing the game by allowing powerful combat actions being used too often.

dvang said:

I like this too, and have considered something like it. But it still involves tracking points. And one would probably have to redo some more of the rules (for example on-going actions, and how delay result affects the pool). Also dual tracking for wizards/priests is a bit inelegant.

dvang said:

I toyed with the possibility of creating something call adrenaline, similar to the rage or rogue points that you can find in WoW.

Essentially, as you mentioned, it would work as power or favour, just that they are used only to fuel non-spell action cards. You would start with a certain amount of adrenaline points (say equal to a certain characteristic), and each time you perform an action it will drain your adrenaline. Equally to power or favour, you will move towards equilibrium each round. Finally, instead of channeling /currying adrenaline, you will build up adrenaline by suffering fatigue and by recvieving wounds.

I never got close even to implement the idea.

Cheers,

Yepes

heptat said:

You're supposed to fix your recharge at the end of your turn. If a player is forgetting, that's on them. It's done at the same time and totally unambiguous.