MonBuilder – Stealth and Sneaking Concept

Flat-Footed – Any character that is not aware of an enemy’s presence and not actively searching for them. Prime targets for ambush. If an enemy can be neutralized silently then other enemies may not be alerted.

Sneaking – A character trying to avoid detection by moving quietly out of sight or under cover. Can only make 1 move action as their turn.

Hiding – A character attempting to avoid detection by not moving in a place out of sight.

Camouflage – A character uses clothing, patterns or pigmentation to match the colors and patterns of their surrounding. Reduces chances of being spotted or hit even when in the open.

Invisibility – Either through magic, augment or technology a character becomes almost totally transparent. The character cannot be targeted unless an opponent has the ability to pierce the invisibility. Remaining invisible uses Energy. Attacking breaks.

Shapeshifting – Some creatures can change their shape into any number of things, making them nearly indistinguishable from their surroundings or other beings. Movement can reveal or hint at the creature’s true nature.

Illusion – A spell, psychic effect or technological trick that creates a sound or image to deceive a target. Caster places a token in the desired area and maintains the illusion by spending energy. Attacking the illusion or the caster dispels the effect. Can be used in a variety of ways to confuse, conceal or distract.

Disguise – A character wears clothing or adjusts their appearance to look like someone/thing else or appear to belong where they are. A perception or interrogation may foil the disguise.

Stealth – How difficult a character’s presence or actions are to detect.

Ninja Step – A defensive special ability. By spending Energy a character that is being attacked dodges damage and disappears. They reappear a number of spaces away, giving up their movement on their following turn.

Noise – A character makes noise when they move, so when sneaking while being actively pursued they must roll Stealth (based on their size and environment). A failed roll reveals that character’s current location, but they may attempt to sneak again on their next turn if they can

Vision – A character can only see as far as they can shoot/strike. If a character is within striking distance of an opponent they cannot attempt to conceal themselves.

Facing – The direction a character is facing on a grid/hex. MonBuilder does not use facing to determine things like side or back attacks. Tokens that occupy more than one space must specify orientation (wagon and horses, huge creatures, multi-part constructs, etc) but attacking the rear component does not grant any bonus by itself.

I’m having difficulty working these kinds of actions into the game in a practical sense. Ambushing players with hidden models or removing models that are out of sight by the GM is not so difficult, especially online. But when players attempt to sneak up on each other while their pieces remain clearly on the table, it’s hard to conceal them and move them about in a fashion the opponent cannot guess.

Some of the above ideas have some in-game or rather in-combat merit to trick and dodge opponents. Some work as abilities, spells or armor mods while others must be role-played as honestly as possible.
In ‘Thing’ Like situations where monsters are indistinguishable from heroes or NPCs and only appear when they attack, they can be devastating when controlled by the GM. However if controlled by an unknown player, depending on the number of players (minimum 3) can be difficult or even impossible to conceal.

I have to assume that GMs and players would be truthful and honorable, but taking tokens off the map in the interest of ambush seems ripe for cheating.

I have to believe that there are simpler consistent ways to handle this mechanic. Monsters Sneaking in the darkness is a critical element in the themes of MonBuilder, but it cannot simply be the GM poofing the beast into a space behind the player/s at will. However I may be approaching it from the wrong angle.