Combat
Combat
Combat plays out largely the same as regular gameplay, with the exception of Momentum.
Momentum
While engaged in hostilities with an NPC, Momentum determines when the Players are Acting or Reacting.
- While the Players have Momentum, any Player can take an action, often involving a Check.
- While the Enemies have Momentum, any Enemy can take an action, often to force Players to React with a Check.
Momentum passes back and forth with the flow of Successes and Failures.
Gaining/Maintaining/Losing Momentum
A possible Consequence of a Check could be losing Momentum.
The enemy takes advantage of an opening, a mistake, or some other opportunity to strike back.
Examples:
- Gaining Momentum: An NPC attacks a PC. The PC rolls to dodge and roll a Minor Success.
They suffer a condition, but use their partial success to take back Momentum, shifting control back to the Players. - Losing Momentum: A PC attacks an NPC, they roll a Minor Success.
They deal damage, but as a consequence, the Enemy gets a chance to Act. The PC must now React or suffer. - Maintaining Momentum: A PC Attacks an NPC, they roll a Minor Success.
They deal less damage, but maintain Momentum. Another Player gets a chance to Act.
It is up to the GM to decide when the outcome of a roll shifts Momentum.
Follow the fiction, and treat it as an Advantage/Consequence like any other check.
Seize Momentum
If the Players find themselves caught in a spiral of failures, any player can spend an Action Point to Seize Momentum.
- The Player who spent the point describes what they do to disrupt the flow, and create a momentary distraction, or opportunity.
- Momentum shifts back to the Players.
- The player who spends the point decides who gets to Act.
- Losing Momentum is unavailable as a Consequence for this first check.
Acting
Acting is any active action taken by a Player Character. Some examples include:
| Action | Example Resolution |
|---|---|
| Attack | Roll a Check. Success could mean dealing conditions and wounds of increasing effectiveness. |
| Disarm | Roll A Check. Major Success knocks the Enemy’s weapon from their hands. Minor or Hollow might put you and/or the target in a worse position. |
| Reposition | Spend time getting into a more advantageous position, adding PLUS to later checks. |
| Talk | Roll a Check. Attempt diplomacy or intimidation, possibly inflicting a condition. |
| Use Gear/Aug | Use a feature of gear or an augmentation. Throw a Grenade, Use Meds, Hack something. Roll if needed. |
| Manipulate Scene | Fiddle with something in the scene to try and improve positioning, or add an exploitable detail. Roll if needed. |
| Recover | Do something to remove a Condition. Put pressure on a bleeding wound, shake off a stunning blow, etc. |
- GM Advice: When players roll a check to attack NPCs, ask the player how they would like the outcome of that check to manifest.
- For Example:
- On a Major Success, do they want to inflict a Level Two Wound, or a Level One Wound + Condition?
- On a Minor Success, do they want to inflict a Level One Wound or a Condition?
Reacting
Reacting is any action taken in response to an action taken against a PC. Some examples include:
| Reaction | Example Resolution |
|---|---|
| Block/Defend/Dodge | Roll a Check. Levels of success mean taking less, or no conditions/wounds. |
| Parry/Counter | Roll a Check. Levels of success mean taking full/less conditions/wounds, but also dealing damage in return. |
| Use Gear/Aug | Use a feature of gear or an augmentation. Roll if needed. |
| Resist | Attempt to stay on your feet after an earth-shaking explosion. Break free of a grapple. |
Turn Orders
Player Turns in Combat have no strict order. The GM and Players must work together to ensure that each player involved in the scene gets a chance to act.
Some general guidance here:
- Most of the time, you’ll follow the fiction. Which character would logically act now?
- If it is unclear, or that character has already acted recently, pick a different character. Decide as a group.
- If a Player hasn’t had a chance to Act or React yet, they act. Be sure to share the spotlight.
Remember: Even non-acting players, and characters far from the action can contribute with checks to create opportunities, improve position, and otherwise assist the acting player.
Be open to suggestions, and resolve these first.
Armour
Wearing Armour provides two major benefits:
- +PLUS to checks relating to Blocking/Defending
- When rolling to Defend in combat, you can add additional PLUS as part of the Advantages of your Armour. - Armour Track - See Below
Armour Track
Armour also provides a Track that increases as you equip Armour. Each piece of Armour will state how much of an increase it provides.
Players can opt to mark their Armour Track to reduce the consequences of a hit by one level per Armour spent.
Trauma -> Level Two Wound -> Level One Wound -> Condition -> No Damage
Weapons
All Weapons are equally as deadly.
Instead of variable damage, each class of weapon has its own Advantages and Disadvantages, listed beside them.
- The best weapon is whichever one best fits the context, and the one you have the most skill with.
- For Example:
- Short Melee weapons excel for quiet, close-range, intimate work.
- Blades might make a target bleed.
-Shotguns and auto-rifles can potentially hit multiple targets.
NPC Stats
Much like PCs, NPCs can suffer Conditions, Wounds, and Trauma.
However, NPCs track these things slightly differently. In addition, they also have a Toughness Rating, explained below.
Toughness
All NPCs have a Toughness Rating. This rating serves to abstract more granular statistics:
| Armour | Instead of tracking Armour for each NPC, the advantage of it is simply factored into their Toughness. NPCs cannot mark Armour to soak injuries the same way that PCs can. |
| Threat | Their relative Threat (combat stats, mobility, resilience etc.) is factored into Toughness. Players add MINUS equal to the Threat’s Toughness to any checks made against them. |
| Maximum Wounds | Instead of tracking individual, descriptive Wounds, the GM can simply tally up the total number an NPC has taken and compare it with their Maximum Wounds. An NPCs Maximum Wounds is equal to their Base Toughness x2. |
| Current Condition | As they suffer harm, their effectiveness will be reduced. Toughness is reduced by 1 for every 4 Wounds they suffer. |
Conditions
Conditions function the same as they do for PCs. The NPC can have any number of them, and the players gain PLUS in checks against them if they choose to exploit them.
Wounds
For ease of book-keeping, Wounds are tracked in a more abstract way:
- Keep a tally for each NPC.
- Each time an NPC suffers a Wound, add one or two tallies, depending on the severity of the wound.
(Level One = 1 | Level Two = 2) - Once an NPC reaches their maximum number of Wounds (Base Toughness x2), they suffer a Trauma.
- Reduce an NPCs Toughness by 1 for every 4 Wounds (tallies).
Trauma
A typical, regular enemy can only ever suffer a single Trauma.
- Once they do, they’ve been dealt with, definitively.
- Elite/Boss level enemies might be able to suffer 2 Trauma before succumbing.
- Meaning, they have 2 times the Maximum Wounds of regular enemies.
Defeating an NPC
In the case of regular enemies, once they suffer a single Trauma, they have been defeated.
However, this doesn’t mean that death is the only way to stop an NPC.
At the GMs discretion:
- An enemy suffering over 50% of their Max Wounds, and/or facing overwhelming odds may attempt to bargain for their lives, or simply run away.
- Suffering a single devastating blow (explosion, throat slit, shot to the head) might be enough to finish them off in a single check.
Generally, follow the fiction. Zoom in on the fights that are interesting, but feel free to play smaller encounters fast and loose.
NPC Features
Like Gear and Augs, NPCs might have features; actions and special moves they can trigger a number of times per combat.
These moves typically allow them to do something special when a PC suffers consequences while Reacting to it.
See Threats for a list of example moves.