I am currently designing an RPG/Mission/Level-up card based game, and it is currently missing it's combat system. This system should be minor compared to the other mechanics, though it will be used often. I will be using Arcadia Quest styled dice. There are both ranged and melee weapons the players can receive. The attacker is the creature with the most speed, he/she rolls their attack dice, and the opponent rolls their defense dice. Defense dice shields cancel out one hit from the attacker's successful hits. The problem is that the ranged attacks are no different from the melee attacks without some determination of distance. Are there any mechanics out there for determining distance without the need for a large board, and are what are they?
Minor Combat System?
Here's something you may want to try.
Simply allow those with Missile weapons attack first (or, if two opponents have missile weapons, the one with the highest Speed value goes first). Once one round of Missile combat has completed, then initiate Melee combat.
If you want to allow for maneuvering and/or long-range Missile weapons, give each missile weapon a Range Number, like 1 or 2. The Range Number is simply the number of attacks permitted with that weapon before Melee combat begins.
If you want things to become more complex then allow Missile attacks to be nullified by opponents with a high Speed value, and/or those with a Stealth/Surprise ability.
High Speed: if an opponent has a Speed twice as fast as the average Speed value of the typical combatant, they close in on their opponent before a shot can be fired.
Stealth/Surprise: this combatant can sneak in and close the distance between them and their opponent before a shot can be fired.
You can combine these abilities and properties to determine special cases, but I have no idea how complex your attack system is as of right now, so you'd be the best judge of it.
I'm personally fond of simple combat systems that provide a solid foundation for conflict resolution, but at the same time they don't bog down the game with fiddly complications and exceptions. That dice system of yours seems very simple, so if you don't want it to be a game-dominating mechanic, then maintain the simplicity and decisiveness (and lethality) of it as much as possible.
Hope this has been useful in some way. Best of success to you and your game!
In my opinion, the main difference between melee and ranged combat is the chance to counter-attack.
Maybe one additional dice can be rolled to see if the defender only defends, or counters, a melee attack. Of course this does not happen when defending against a ranged attack.
This option of differentiating melee and ranged combat however, might require you to balance the game such that melee is more damaging due to the risk of taking damage instead of dealing it.
Sorry I'm not familiar with those dice. Can you explain how they work?
Example of very simple ranged vs melee difference with a basic d6 and no physical board.
All attacks deal 1 damage as long as the attack roll is same or higher than defense roll.
Ranged 1s ignore defense roll to deal 1 damage. Melee 6s deal 2 damage.
Make a R-P-S system out of it by adding a third combat archetype (cavalry? magic? airborne?)
Wow! Great suggestions! Thank you very much!