ACTIONS
When time becomes an important factor in a game, the action rules determine how long it takes for your character to perform a task. Actions are particularly important in combat.
The tasks you can perform in a turn (or over the span of more than 1 turn) depends on what you are trying to do.
Actions can be performed in any order. The actions will always happen on the turn it is completed.
Most actions will take half a turn to complete, meaning you can perform two of them in one turn. Some actions can take more than one turn to complete.
For example, a 2.5 turn action will take two and a half turns to complete and can be interupted before it finishes.
Each turn represents about 3 seconds of game time. This is only a guide and not a hard rule. The precise amount of time that passes in a turn should be around 3 seconds, but the GM can interpret a turn as taking a second or so longer if the exact second becomes important to an event happening in the game.
When an action is referred to as free, it means it does not use up any of your turn or count towards you using any actions on your turn.
MOVEMENT & THE GAME BOARD
When needing to represent characters in a space and keep track of where everything is for combat, a square grid gameboard can be used.
Each square in combat is 1x1 metres (or about 3 feet).
Two combatants can occupy the same game board. When two battling combatants enter the same square, they both immediately gain the In Melee condition.
No more than 2 combatants can occupy the same square at one time. Obstacles and scenery can also occupy squares.
Blocking & Leaving Melee
If you are in melee, in the same square as another combatant, leaving the square will give all combatants sharing the same square a free shove or grapple against you.
If you perform a successful shove or grapple against a combatant, you can move out of the square on the same turn without that combatant getting a free shove or grapple against you.
LIST OF ACTIONS
Half turn Actions
Half turn actions take around 1 to 2 seconds.
One turn Actions
One turn actions take around 3 to 4 seconds.
Actions longer than one turn
Actions longer than one turn can take 6 or more seconds.
- Skill Check [1.5 turns]
- Hide [2 turns]
- Heal Teammate [2 turns]
Actions with variable length
There are many actions that can be short, normal or long depending on things like the weapon you are using or the spell you are casting. These actions will have their length detailed elsewhere.
ACTION DESCRIPTIONS
Run
1 turn
Move up to your total speed in squares.
Dash
1/2 turn
Dashing is a 1 square movement.
Aim
1/2 turn
Using one or more short actions to aim allows you to mulligan the last card you were dealt (discard the card and be dealt a fresh one instead) when performing a hit check.
You can choose to use up a short action to aim at any point you are dealt a card during a hit check.
Dodge
1/2 turn
When dodging, you perform a similar check to a Hit Check to use instead of the value of your facedown cards. Your maximum value is instead equal to 20 + your Agility.
Any hit cheks against you on the same round, AFTER you have used a dodge action, that have a lower total than your dodge total miss.
You cannot dodge while stunned, incapacitated or being grappled.
Dodging will not do anything if your initiative is the lowest in combat. The higher your initiative order, the more potential attacks you can dodge for that round.
Hide
2 turns
When you want to hide you perform a Stealth Check.
Stealth checks are checked a DC equal to a value depending on the environment with the total Perception of all enemies within sight range added to it.
The base environment DC values are:
- 75 in conditions that are very poorly suited to stealth or hiding
- 50 in normally lit conditions
- 25 in low light or hazey conditions
If you initiate on a target after being hidden, you get a free short action when you reveal your presence. After your free short action, initiative is determined normally.
Jumping
1 turn
You perform an Agility check for all jumps.
Vertical Jump
1/2 turn
Hopping up onto or grabbing a ledge or other object is considered a vertical jump. The DC 50 per metre.
Long Jump
1 turn Leaping across a gap has a DC of 40 per metre.
Interact
1/2 turn
This can be things like opening a door, picking up or throwing an object, drawing a sword or drinking something. When combat starts, any character who are not already holding their weapon must use an Interact action to draw it.
Reload
Variable
Each attack you make will use up 1 unit of your weapon’s ammunition.
When you run out, you will need to perform a reload action with your weapon to replenish it’s ammunition.
The time it takes to reload depending on the reload time of the weapon you are using.
Healing a Teammate
2 turns
Each time you use an action to heal a teammate, you must use up a medical kit and succeed on a medicine check with a DC of 50 to heal an amount stated by the medical kit you are using.
Assist
Variable
Use an action to give a teammate advantage on one of their actions, if there is a meaningful way you can help them with their action.
The viability of whether you can assist a teammate is decided by the GM.
Shove
1/2 turn
Make a Might check against an opponent’s Might check to attempt to prone that opponent when you are next to them. They are also knocked back by 1 square.
Get Up / Climb
1 turn
Get back on your feet and remove the proned condition, climb or mount a horse.
COMBAT & TURN ORDER
When combat starts, combatants determine the order of their turn using their Reflexes. Anyone can initiate combat at any time when they decide to perform an aggressive action or attack.
A round of combat is the time is takes for all combatants to complete at least one turn.
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Rounds of combat will repeat until combat ends.
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Combat ends when either team surrenders, succesfully retreats or is defeated by the other team.
The turn order of each is determined using initiative. The higher your initiative is during combat, the earlier you take your turn.
Initiative
To determine initiative when combat starts, all combatants must make a Reflexes check. The value of each combatant’s check becomes their initiative. Initiative stays the same throughout combat unless a special effect specifically changes it.
The order of initiative must always alternate between opposing teams.
The highest initiative combatant goes first, then the highest initiative from the opposing side, then the second from the first side etc…
If a combatant does not already have their weapon in hand and ready, they must use an interact action (1/2 turn) to draw their weapon before they can use it.
Combatants with the same Reflexes on the same team can choose the order they go in.
Successfully initiating after being hidden (and not being detected before you initiate) or getting a critical success for your initiative check grants you a free 1/2 turn action before combat starts.
A reflexes check of 100 or higher when determining initiative is a critical success.
Some unusual effects can even allow a combatant to have multiple turns with different initiative values in the same round.
EVASION & COVER
Evasion
Evasion represents how hard your character is to hit passively from a distance. When hit checks are made against targets, the target’s defence is represented by facedown cards. The amount of evasion you have represents the number of facedown cards you have.
Cover
The more cover you have the more your Evasion you will gain while you occupy that cover during combat against ranged attacks. Melee attacks ignore cover.
Easy Target: 1 evasion
When a target is in close range and unable to move, or particularly vunerable, they lose their base evasion amount.
No Cover: 2 evasion
The default level of evasion for all targets and characters.
Partial Cover: 3 evasion
Part of your Torso and limbs are covered behind a reasonably durable material or your cover material is not very durable. Most projectiles could potentially pass through your cover but may offer some resistance, or the covered part of your body is only partial.
Good Cover: 4 evasion
Your Torso and most of your limbs are covered behind a reasonably durable material. Strong projectiles can still potentially pass through your cover but offer good protection.
Substantial Cover: 5 evasion
Fully concealed or encapsulated in a space that allows you to return fire without worrying much about becoming exposed to anything other than highly accurate return fire. The cover is highly durable and only the most powerful projectiles have any chance of passing through your cover.
ATTACKING
When attacking you need to perform a Hit Check. Instead of rolling dice, you are dealt a card from a playing card deck that includes 2 jokers.
All combatant have their defence represented by face-down cards. The number of facedown card’s you have is equal to your evasion.
Hit Checks work similarly to blackjack except with different card values and a maximum of your weapon’s accuracy.
Hit Check Summary
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All combatants are dealt a card facedown for each point of evasion they have (they cannot look at these cards)
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Attackers risk for face up cards (are dealt a face up card and can keep choosing to be dealt more)
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The attacker will go bust when the total value of their cards exceeds their weapon’s accuracy and they miss their target
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If the attacker chooses to ‘stand’ before they go bust, they add up the total value of their cards, add their proficiency with the weapon they are using to that total. This becomes their final Hit Check value for this attack.
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The target reveals their facedown cards and if the attacker’s Hit Check is greater than the total value of the target’s facedown cards, the attack hits the target.
You can risk (be dealt more cards) to build a stack until either:
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You decide to stand on the cards you have
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Your stack size exceeds your weapon’s accuracy and you go bust (fail and miss your attack).
Going for more cards represents increasing the difficulty or riskiness of your attack. Particularly with low accuracy weapoms.
If you go bust in any of your stacks, your overall attack misses regardless of your other stacks.
When you decide to stand (no longer risk any more cards), you add your weapon proficiency to the value of all your stacks.
Once all attacks against your target this turn have been made, their face down cards are revealed. If you have a higher value than your target’s facedown cards, you successfully hit the target.
If your target used a dodge or block action in this round, they will get a chance to risk for cards instead of using their facedown cards as their defence value to beat. They must always do this after any attacks against them have been made.
If your total hit check is equal to your weapon’s critical threshold or higher, your weapon gets a special bonus for the attack that depends on the weapon.
Weapon Defaults
Weapons will have different critical thresholds and accuracy ratings. The default values when not specified for a weapon are:
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20: Default Accuracy
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30 or Higher: Default Critical Threshold
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Default Critical Threshold = Ignore the target’s armour when calculating damage
For ranged weapons, each square your weapon is out of range, its accuracy is decreased by 1.
Calculating Damage
If you hit your target, the damage check is done by adding the weapon’s damage to the hit check, reducing it by your target’s Armour and dealing the resulting amount of damage to your target.
Total Damage = Total Hit Check + Weapon Damage - Target’s Armour
Any resistances or vulnerabilities are calculated as the last step after armour reduction.
Melee Attacks
When making an attack in melee, you can optionally make a bet each time you hit for a new card during your hit check. This bet is usually represented with poker chips.
You must place your bet before you see the new card you get. The maximum amount you can bet is equal to the risk stat of your melee weapon.
If you succeed on your hit check in melee, you deal the amount you bet in additional damage to your target. If you missed your attack, and your target attacks you with a melee attack on their next turn, they can add the amount you bet to their hit check.
Incapacitating an Enemy
You can attack a target to Incapacitate rather than kill an enemby if you declare before making an attack or winning a showdown that you intend not to kill them. If you succeed in the attack, the enemy becomes Incapacitated and retains 1 HP.
GRAPPLING
Grappling is an attempt to restrain and physically control an opponent. To grapple, you make a grappling check (A proficiency based on either your Might or Agility) against your opponents equivalent skill check.
If your grappling check is higher than you opponents, the remainder becomes your grappling advantage. If it is the same or lower, neither you or your opponent gain any advantage. As you gain advantage, you gain additional control over your target as described in the table to the right.
In order for your target to gain any grappling advantage or lower your grappling advantage against them, they must perform their own grapple action against you.
The grappling advantage is a shared value between both grappling combatants, you target must lower your grappling advantage before increase their own and vice versa.
Unarmed Striking
When performing an unarmed attack against a target, you perform a normal hit check, but your accuracy is equal to 10 + your Unarmed Striking proficiency and there is no additional damage added.