Combat Actions

Combat actions are the things you do during your turn in combat. There are four types of actions, each taking up a different span of time. With combat actions you do things like move to different locations, attack opponents and use skills.

Action Types

During their turn, characters can perform actions. There are four types:

• Standard You can have one standard action during your turn.
• Free You can take as many free actions as you like. But you can not use the same free action more then once during the same turn.
• Ongoing An ongoing action is a standard action that ends your turn. If you do an ongoing action, you receive a consistency penalty of two on all defensive rolls until the start of your next turn.
• Upcoming An upcoming action is a free action that ends your turn, and is continued as a standard action in your next turn. An upcoming action can be interrupted if you are attacked, if you receive an effect, or if you use a skill. If this happens, the upcoming action is cancelled. You do not lose the standard action of your next turn when this happens. If your upcoming action was not interrupted, you can decide to cancel the action at the start of your next turn.

Some actions can occur simultaneously. You can only use one simultaneous action per turn.

List of combat actions

The following is a list of the combat actions you can take during your turn. For some of these actions a more complete description is available in this and the next chapter.

Attack and defence related actions

• Weapon attack Standard:
  Make an attack roll for the weapon you wield. If you wield one weapon in each hand, you can make an attack with both weapons. See Weapon attack.
• Use a skill -:
  The action type depends on the skill you use. Some skills can not be used as a combat action. Make sure the skill prerequisite is met before using the skill. You can only use or prepare for the use of one skill at a time.
• Brawl attack Standard:
  Use your brawl ability to make an attack on an opponent to grab them or do 1 HP damage. See Brawl attack.
• Charge Ongoing:
  Use the Move action to go to a different square and make a melee weapon attack or brawl attack against an opponent in that square. You can not charge across a border if it has a challenge requirement.
• Guard Free:
  Block an opponent from moving to a different square or attacking an ally. See Guarding.

Movement related actions

• Move Standard:
  Go to a different location. This might require a passing challenge requirements. Or leave a combat cluster, while remaining in the same square.
• Run Ongoing:
  Go to a different location which does not require passing a challenge requirement. Until the start of your next turn, you can not be charged from the location you ran away from. Two characters running after each other starts a chase.
• Climb Ongoing:
  Your character moves one height up or down. Anything other then stairs or a ladder will likely have a challenge requirement. If you fail the challenge requirement you fall. Unless you reach the top or bottom of what you are climbing, you are in a climbing position. You must have at least one free hand to climb.
• Jump down Free:
  You jump from a higher position to a lower position in the same square. See Environment about falling damage.
• Drop prone Free:
  Your character is now in a prone position.
• Crawl Upcoming:
  While prone, move to another square. You enter the other location as part of the standard action during the next turn. You can only use crawl if you have been in the same square from the start of your turn. Because of this you can only crawl once every two turns. You can not crawl to a square if there is a challenge requirement to pass.
• Hide Free:
  You move somewhere in your location to a place where you have concealment against opponents you wish to hide from. Roll survival to become hidden. This becomes the challenge requirement perception checks have to overcome. You can not hide from an opponent if you were in the same combat cluster at the start of your turn, or from opponents who attacked you with a ranged attack during their last turn. You can not hide while you are in a combat cluster.
• Dodge Standard: If you know a ranged attack is coming, you can ready your dodge defence. If you do this, you receive a potential bonus of two to your dodging roll.

Item related actions

• Draw a weapon or ammunition Standard:
  Draw a weapon or ammunition you carry. The item must be easily accessible. If not, use Draw an item instead. This combat action can be done simultaneous with a move action (but not a charge).
• Put a weapon or ammunition away Standard:
  Sheath or put away your weapon, and store your ammunition in a place where it is easily accessible for you to draw. This combat action can be done simultaneous with a move action (but not a charge).
• Drop item(s) Free:
  Drop any number of items your character holds in their hand.
• Get an item Ongoing:
  Take an item from your pouch, beg or any other place it is stored. Or pick an item off the ground, off a table or any other place it may lay in your location.
• Hide or conceal an item Ongoing:
  Conceal or hide an item you hold, so that an opponent can not see it.
• Swap items Free:
  Move an item (such as a weapon) from one hand to the other, or swap the item from one hand with the item in the other hand.

Other actions

• Taking a breather Ongoing or upcoming:
  Reduce your fatigue by two. Fatigue can not be lower then the base fatigue.
• Observation Free:
  You can do one of three things:
  • Roll perception on a square to spot anything or anyone that might be hidden there. If you are in the same location, you gain a bonus of two to potential. If the location borders your location you have a bonus of one to potential.
  • Roll perception on a character to see if they carry a hidden item.
  • Roll insight on an opponent to gage their willingness to fight (or surrender).
• Speak Free:
  You can speak a few sentences to whomever is near you, giving them instructions, negotiating with them or threatening them. The GM might require you to roll a sociability based ability.

Weapon attack

There are two types of weapon attacks, melee attacks and ranged attacks. Which type of attack you can do depends on the weapon your character is wielding. You can make an attack roll for every weapon you wield while making the weapon attack action. You can only attack one target per action. At the end of every character's turn, they must roll their next defence. Because it would be obvious to your character how good your opponents are currently defending themselves, you can ask how high a character's defence roll is, before choosing the target of your attack.

How many weapons you can wield depends on the weapon. Characters have a sword hand and an off-hand. Some weapons require both hands to wield it. Other weapons can only be wielded in the sword hand, or in either hand. One and a half handers can be used either in your sword hand, or with both hands. In the medieval armoury module, examples are given of how this might work. Other themes or settings might work different.

Brawl attack

With a brawl attack you attempt to punch, kick or grab an opponent. If a brawl attack hits, the target receives either a hit 1 or bind effect. You must decided which effect before rolling. To do a brawl attack, roll the brawl ability. You need one free hand to do the bind effect. Just as for weapon attack, you can ask your opponent's defence before choosing a target. If the attack was equal to the defence, or was one less then the defence, the attack can be considered a 'hit', but it wasn't strong enough to effect hit points.

Attacking an opponent who wields a melee weapon with a brawl attack is very dangerous. In order to make a brawl attack you must get close to your opponent. The only way to do this is to get past his or her weapon by dodging an attack. If in his last turn your opponent made a melee weapon attack against you, which you successfully dodged, you can roll the brawl attack.

If your opponent did not make a melee weapon attack against you in his turn, or you didn't dodge the attack, doing a brawl attack gives the opponent the opportunity to make a melee weapon attack against you, as if they had readied that action. If you do not dodge the weapon attack, you can not roll the brawl ability and the brawl attack fails. The provoked attack does not change the initiative order.

If you have an opponent grabbed using bind, you can not make any defensive rolls. You can choose to release the bind at any time. The body part you bind is the one you roll for with the brawl challenge. If you have an opponent grabbed, you can stop any of their actions that require a physical dice challenge, by rolling the brawl ability. The result of your brawl roll counts as a challenge requirement for the action. If your opponent passes the challenge requirement, the bind effect is lost. In addition, the bind effect also ends if you receive an effect, or if the character you have grabbed successfully attacks you.

Targeting a body part

The D6 that is included in every attack roll, determines what body part is hit with the attack. This influenced where characters receives their injury and how they are effected. The following table shows what body part is hit based on the result of the die:

Rather then simply attacking an opponent wherever you can hit them, you can target a body part for your attack. Targeting a specific body part has a consistency penalty of two to the attack roll.

Movement

Positions

At the beginning of a battle, the DM will define the positions that combatants can be in during the fight. The DM also defines which position borders with which other position.

Example: The DM starts a fight and defines the following positions:

• Outside the pub, Borders with: At the door
• At the door, Borders with: Inside the pub, Outside the pub
• Inside the pub, Borders with: Behind the counter, On the stairs, at the door
• Behind the counter, Borders with: Inside the pub
• On the stairs, Borders with: Upstairs, Inside the pub
• Upstairs, Borders with: On the stairs

Positions can have terrain attributes and features. These terrain features will always be defined by the DM at the start of the combat.

Standard movement

During his turn any combatant may use a move action to move from one position to a bordering position. This can be blocked by guarding.

Example: A player uses a move action to move from "Inside the pub" towards "Behind the counter" and describes his heroic jump across the wooden serving table.

Block movement (guarding a border)

During his turn any combatant may designate the fact that he is guarding a border from the position he is in, towards another bordering position as part of a move action. (You need to make a move action before you can designate you are guarding a position's border. You can also move to a position you are already in.)

If you guard a border, enemies can't move trough that border, to a different position (they can still move towards your position, though) unless you are already occupied. You are occupied if you block movement of somebody, if you make an attack or if you get attacked with a melee attack. If you make a melee attack yourself (this only counts for the last melee attack of your turn) or if you designate that you want to block movement of a specific enemy, you are only blocking movement for that enemy, not the rest. If you block an exit with multiple people all these people need to be occupied before enemies can use that exit.

Example: A few players are behind the counter and they want to help their comrades who are inside the pub. However two enemy players move to behind the counter and designate that they guard the exit toward inside the pub (They boldly stand on the counter itself, blocking movement from behind the counter). The two enemies need to be dealt with first before the players can move. The first two players that move from behind the counter towards inside the pub are blocked by the enemies. However, the third player can move to inside the pub freely. Alternatively, two players behind the counter can choose to attack the enemies with melee attacks, giving the rest a chance to lower their initiative and move to their comrades after the attacks have been made.

Some terrain features (like narrow doorways, windows, and stairs for example) gives you the ability to block multiple enemies at the same time, since you block the entire way, before you are overrun by the sheer weight of enemies. These terrain features will always be defined by the DM at the start of the combat.

Rounds

Rounds are a way to divide combat into easily manageable chunks. A round is a predetermined amount of time, during which actions happen. (See Actions) In this system, each round is about 6 seconds. A round in this system starts when the DM posts that it starts and ends when the DM posts that it ends. You are only allowed to post actions once during a round. In your post you describe what you do during that round. For example, you can move and use a power, while screaming at someone to move as well. See Actions and Powers for more details.

The usual sequence of events during a round is the following:

1. DM Posts round start*
2. Players post their actions
3. DM Posts round end*
4. DM Determines Initiative order*
5. DM Resolves actions*
6. DM Posts results*

* The DM generally posts all this into one post. Thus, in general a new DM post means a new round.

If there are conflicts during the resolving of actions, usually because your target disappeared, the DM will determine the best course of action. This usually means your targeted action is resolved against a random other target. You can prevent this by listing alternative actions.

Special Rules

This section contains all special rules. Special rules are things that modify the base flow of the combat system, for example modifying the sequence of actions during a turn.

Tactics

Different styles of fighting during a combat.

Initiative Manipulation

Change the order in which turns are played out.

Conditions

Different states for combatants.

Environment

What effect does environment have on the combat?

Hero Points

Special rewards used to perform exceptional things.

Willpower

Put a little extra effort into your actions.

Statistics

Statistics

The system features seven statistics. Combat Skill, Agility, Dodge and Initiative are mostly used during simulated combats. There are three additional statistics, Charisma, Wealth and Knowledge. These are not usually used during combat, except for some small abilities granted by charisma.

At creation of a new character you must choose the height of of your statistics. If you choose not to use this system all of your statistics will be automatically put at 5. Every character has 35 points he can spend on 7 statistics. The maximum height of any statistic is 10 at character creation. If you create a character with a statistic that is higher than 7, or lower than 4, make sure to explicitly note in your background how you got this extreme statistic.

Statistics are sometimes abbreviated. The following table lists these abbreviations:

Modifiers

Several statistics can receive modifiers during certain situations, like the weapon bonus you receive from a drawn weapon during combat. These modifiers are listed as a bonus or penalty. There are several types of bonuses. As a general rule, bonuses from the same type do not stack, instead, the highest applies. Note that penalties from the same type do stack. There are exceptions to this rule, but they are always specially mentioned. The type of a bonus or penalty is always listed. If not, assume they do not stack.

The following table lists common modifier types and their abbreviation:

The abbreviation is appended to a modifier to describe the type.

Powers

Powers are special actions you can take during combat. These special actions are not yet available, although you can look and marvel at the sight of the two examples already posted in this rulebook.

Modules

• Blind spots module
• Medieval armoury module

Environment

Editor note: This chapter isn't finished yet.

Combat does not happen under ideal circumstances. The environment can have a great impact on the outcome of a battle. Those who know the environment they fight in, can have a great advantage. Any number of things, such as having the high ground, knowing where to hide your archers and knowing the escape routes can make all the difference between victory and death.

Difficult terrain

Some types of terrain are more difficult to manoeuvre in. Things like mud, loose snow, low water, sloping and tall grass make it more difficult to fight in. Characters moving in difficult terrain will either have to be more careful where they step, or are slowed by the ground they walk on. This effects how fast they can respond to opportunities and threats coming their way. Characters standing on difficult terrain have a consistency penalty of one to melee attacks, parry and dodge. Difficult terrain is a property of a location. This means that any character in that location will be effected by the penalty. Multiple locations of a battlefield can have difficult terrain.

Movement limits

Some borders, like doorways or thick vegetation can not be crossed with many characters at the same time. These limits form barriers, that can be used to hold off a larger force. Allowing defenders to deal with fewer opponents, while others have to wait. Movement limits will be specified by the GM as part of a battlefield.

The count of the limit starts at the first character who moves through the border. This character counts as the first on the limit. As soon as the limit is reached, no more characters can move through the border. The count is reset to zero at the start of the first character to move through.

Some examples are:

Crossing challenges

Crossing challenges occur when characters might find it difficult to cross a border. For instance if they have to climb or jump. The GM will provide a challenge requirements for the players to meet. If they fail the character can not go across the border, and characters fall prone.

Structural barriers

Structural barriers make it impossible to cross a border. Barriers can always be destroyed, but most of the time players will not have enough destructive power with them to break down a barrier. All barriers should have a toughness number so players could break them down.

Height

Standing higher then your opponent gives you a significant advantage during combat. There might be a height difference within a square, or between squares characters can take advantage of. You can freely move around as long as the height difference is no more then one, which is somewhere between a meter and one meter fifty. You can attack characters with melee who are one position higher or one position lower. Attacking with melee against a target who stands higher has a consistency penalty of one. Attacking with melee against a target who stands lower has a consistency bonus of one.

When there is a height difference of two or more, you must climb to get to that height. If this height difference exists between squares, you must climb to the right height before you can enter the square. These climbs may be difficult or nearly impossible, for instance when faced with a defensive wall with a height of four. In that case you'll need some sort of ladder to get up. Most climbs will have a challenge requirement. If you fail this challenge you will fall from the height you attempt to reach. For every climb action, you move one height up or down. In addition, when you are hit with an effect or an attack, you must make a climb check with a consistency of one to see if you can hold on.

When you fall or jump from a height of two or more, you must make an agility check to see if you become injured from the fall. The challenge requirement for jumping is two times the height difference. So with a height of 4, the requirement is 8. The challenge requirement while falling is two plus twice the height, so with a height of 4 the requirement is 10. If your character fails this challenge requirement their HP is reduced to three minus the height from which you felt. So, falling from a height of six will reduce you to -3 HP. Wearing armour does not protect characters from fall damage. The injury you receive is to the legs, and to the torso if reduced to -4 or -5 HP.

Challenge requirements for climbing:

Concealment [90%]

Concealing from your opponents can be important for many different reasons, such as ambushing them, retreating when you are injured, or to avoid getting hit by their ranged attacks. Unless the GM specifies what direction your concealment is effective in, concealment will work against any opponent, except those in a combat cluster with you.

Any kind of concealment requires some relatively large object of some density. How dense an object is determines how effective it is as concealment. Merlon on a castle wall for instance, are specifically designed to provide concealment against oncoming attacks. Because they are solid stone blocks, it is very hard for an archer to hit someone hiding behind them. Where as something like tall grass will not make much difference to the archer.

Extreme weather and darkness also provide concealment. One that can be gained anywhere on the battlefield. Lighting, such as a torch or a camp fire can be used to avoid darkness. Torches light everything at a distance of one, and a camp fire over a distance of two. Any kind of roof helps against the concealment extreme weather provides. A complete inability to see the opponent provides a concealment of three, like in a blinding sandstorm, underground cave or moonless night. Darkness or extreme weather improve the effectiveness of other concealment.

Examples of concealment:

Dice challenges

Most of the challenges put to the players will be resolved by dice roles. The Heimr Tabletop RPG Core uses one six-sided die (d6) and multiple ten-sided (d10) dice, where number range 1 to 6 or 1 to 10. Every dice roll in the Heimr Tabletop system follows the same basic format. To make a dice challenge in this system you need to know two things, the consistency (C) of the challenge and the potential (p). These values can be either positive, zero or negative. The dice challenge works as follows:

You roll one d6, and any number of d10 equal to the consistency of the dice challenge. If the consistency is less then zero, use the number in the consistency (with -3, you roll three d10). From that, if the consistency is more then zero, use the result of the highest die. If the consistency of the dice challenge is less then zero, use the result of the lowest die.

If you have a consistency higher then zero and you roll 10 with multiple dice, the bonus is the number of dice with which you roll 10, minus one. If you have a consistency lower then zero and you roll one with multiple dice, the penalty is the number of dice with which you roll 1, minus one. Then add the potential to get the result of the dice challenge.

Which translates into the following rules:

• if (C) is higher then zero: highest dice(1d6, (C)d10) + bonus for every extra 10 + (P) = result
• if (C) is zero: 1d6 + (P) = result
• if (C) is less then zero: lowest dice(1d6, (C)d10) -- penalty for every extra 1 + (P) = result

Side note:

• The closer a consistency is to zero, the more random the result. The further away from 0, the more consistent the result.
• A consistency of 5 is very likely to get a 9 or 10 as the highest die. (67%)
• A consistency of -5 is very likely to get a 1 or 2 as the lowest die. (89%)
• If the consistency is less then zero, your can't roll 7 or higher as the lowest die, since you always roll one d6.
• You can only have a result of zero or less, if the potential is less then zero, or if the consistency is less then zero and you roll one on multiple dice.
• When choosing between increased consistency or potential, think of consistency as reducing risk, and potential as creating opportunity.

Some examples:

• C: 3, P:3. You roll: 1, 4, 9, 10. So the result is: 10+0+3 = 13
• C: 5, P: 6. You roll: 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 10. So the result is: 10+1+6 = 18
• C:0, P:0. You roll: 3. So the result is: 3+0 = 3
• C:4, P:3. You roll: 1, 1, 2, 4, 6. So the result is: 6+0+3 = 9
• C: 2, P: -3. You roll: 3, 10, 10. So the result is: 10+1-3 = 8
• C: -4, P: -4. You roll: 1, 1, 1, 4, 9. So the result is: 1-2-4 = -2

Situational penalties

There are a lot of things that can result in characters functioning under less then optimal conditions. For instance a character might be fighting in darkness, or they might have a hangover while trying to solve a puzzle. Under these circumstance the GM should give players situational penalties. A situational penalty reduces the consistency of a dice challenge. For example if a character has a situational penalty of two on a dice challenge with a consistency of three, the dice challenge must be rolled with a consistency of one (3 -- 2 = 1).

Situational penalties can be applied to abilities, attributes or even attribute groups (physical and mental). If a situation penalty is applied to an attribute or attribute group, all abilities base on that attribute are also effected. So if a character has a penalty on the dexterity attribute, the athletics ability is also affected.

Challenge requirements

When characters oppose each other in any kind of challenge, they will both roll and compare the results. But when a character is faced with an environmental challenge, such as climbing a tree or picking a lock, they must roll against a predefined value. This is called the challenge requirement (CR). Characters roll an ability or attribute to see if they can overcome the challenge. For this they have to roll a number which is equal to or higher then the CR.

Failing a CR might, depending on what the challenge is, have negative consequences. For instance failing a CR on climbing a rock wall could result in a character falling and injuring themselves.

Most CRs do not have these kind of consequences. When characters make a CR, this means they attempt to the best of their ability to pass the challenge. Characters are allowed to re-roll a failed CR at the cost of one willpower for each roll. This is because they are attempting to push themselves beyond their own (previously shown) limitations.

Dice rolls on attributes

When rolling for an attribute (for example a strength check), the GM decides the consistency (how many dice the player gets to role), based on how reliable the type of activity can be accomplished. For example arm wrestling is an activity which is fairly consistent (4 to 6). The strongest person is most likely to win. Therefore a high consistency is applied. An activity that has a higher degree of uncertainty, such as gauging the emotions of a character with sociability has a lower consistency (0 or 1).The attribute it's self is used as the potential of the check.

Characters

Characters in the Heimr Tabletop RPG are similar to characters created for the LARP. They have hit points, willpower, skills, conditions and items. In addition to these, the Tabletop RPG core also has two additional properties which are used in dice challenges: Attributes and abilities. Rules about Hit Points, Willpower, Skills, Condition and items can be found in the LARP rules documents but the rules for attributes and abilities are explained here as they are only used in the tabletop version of Heimr to simulate some of the challenges a LARP player would normally face with their out of character skills (like swing a foam sword).

Attributes

Attributes are fundamental properties of a character, they are relatively hard to change and train when compared to abilities and most likely won't change much during the campaign. Attributes effect every roll your character makes. You can either roll an attribute directly, or you can roll abilities, which are based on attributes. For more information on dice rolls, see Abilities. The set of six attributes mentioned below is the standard used in most Heimr roleplaying campaigns, however a DM may choose to use different sets of attributes for their campaign. For example if a campaign will gloss over combat and focus on political intrigue DM's might choose to have more social attributes (like "manipulation" or "composure") and "Strength, dexterity and stamina" might simply be folded into "Physical" and if a campaign will feature players as members of a football team, certain physical attributes that are less important in combat might come to the fore or split up from main attributes (like "Kick strength" vs "run strength" or "accuracy" vs "reflexes")

There are six attributes in the Heimr Tabletop RPG core:

Abilities

Abilities are things that all characters can do to some extend, but how good a character is at them can vary greatly. Differences occur either because characters have a natural advantage through their attributes or because they have trained that ability.

For instance someone with a high intelligence will naturally be better at intelligence based abilities like maths or history. Secondly if someone has trained in an ability, such as maths will make she better at it, even if she has less intelligence.

Things such as using a type of weapon, entertaining a crowd, running, sculpting, waiting tables and mathematics can all be considered abilities. There is no fixed set of abilities (although there are a lot of examples later in this booklet), although some DM's might give a set of abilities that will be relevant during this campaign. Players should only write down those abilities in which they have training, or which they will need frequently. Example sets will be available too.

Abilities are relatively easy to train up when compare to attributes.

Fatigue

Players must keep track of how fatigued their characters are. Characters with poor stamina will get tired quickly, which will impair their effectiveness in combat. Any roll based on a physical attribute has a Challenge requirements equal to the fatigue, on the result before adding potential. This means that the roll must be equal to or higher then the fatigue of your character. For example, if a character has a fatigue of 7 and rolls 6 (not counting potential) this means the action automatically fails, even if the challenge would have been 7 or higher when adding potential. If this is an attack, the opponent does not have to defend.

In addition to having a situational penalty, a character's fatigue increases when they are performing physical activities without the opportunity to take a breather. This happens for example while a character is running, fighting, climbing or swimming. Every dice challenge includes a roll with one D6. If the value of the D6 is lower then the fatigue of a character, the fatigue is increased by one. Fatigue can not be higher then twenty or lower then one. Because of this, players can keep track of fatigue using a D20 die.

Example: A character has a fatigue of four. With the D6 she rolls three, this means for the fatigue is increased to five.

Base fatigue

When characters get the opportunity to take a breather, their fatigue returns to it's standard level. This standard is called the base fatigue. Returning to base fatigue only takes a few seconds, up to half a minute or so maximum. The base value of fatigue is four minus the stamina attribute of a character. So:

• 4 -- stamina = base fatigue

A character with a stamina of three will have a base tiredness of one (4 -- 3 = 1) and a character with a stamina of -2 will have a base tiredness of six (4 - -2 = 6). Both fatigue and base fatigue can not be less then 1. So even if you have a stamina of 4, base fatigue is still 1, not 0.

When a character's fatigue is higher then six, they will gain one fatigue point every time they make a physical roll. This is because you can never throw seven or higher with a D6. For some characters, reaching this point will take many rolls. A character with a base fatigue of seven (stamina of -3) will have one extra fatigue every time they roll, because they can never throw seven with a D6. And because the fatigue is a challenge requirement, it will very quickly become impossible to make any successful actions.

Chasing

Chasing characters is done purely on the basis of fatigue. Based on the kind of terrain characters are chasing each other on, the GM decides what attribute or ability to roll. Characters take turns rolling this dice challenge. If a character rolls three or more points higher then her target, she moves one square closer. If the a character rolls three or more points lower then the target, the target moves one square further away. During the roll in which the chaser would surpass the chase target, he or she can take an action against the target instead of moving ahead of the target. The grid should be used to keep track of the distance.

When one of the characters fails to pass their fatigue check, they are unable to continue the chase. If this is the target, this means the chaser will reach the target. If this is the chaser, this means the target has escaped. You can not lower fatigue during a chase, only by standing still can fatigue be restored to it's base.

During the chase, the GM can present the chase target with terrain decisions, for instance the target might decided to climb a building or to jump in the river and continue the chase swimming. This way the chase target has the opportunity to choose a terrain favourable to their abilities. This makes determining an escape route important in choosing a location for battle.

Fatigue during combat

During combat you'll be making many different rolls. Most importantly for attacking and defending. All the physical dice challenges you make (any roll based on a physical attribute), can increase your fatigue. Your fatigue can only increase by one every turn. This includes any action you take during your turn, and any defensive roll you make until the start of your next turn.

Because of this, the more physical dice challenges you have to make, the greater the chance you're fatigue will increase. This opens the possibility for multiple attackers to wear down a much stronger opponent, until his fatigue is so high he will be unable to defend himself. By taking a breather (see List of combat actions) characters can lower their fatigue.

Moving from one square to another doesn't increase a character's fatigue, because it doesn't require any physical dice challenge. Only if there is a challenge requirement based on a physical attribute can fatigue increase while moving. When characters are chasing off the grid, their fatigue does increase. If you use a ranged attack against a target in a combat cluster, and have to make multiple dice challenge, only the first dice challenge can effect fatigue.

Using the grid

Both inside and outside of combat, players use a grid of at least three by three squares. Each square in the grid represents a location. While moving around in the game, players should move character identifiers of the characters they control, to indicate the current location of a character. During combat this helps to get a general feeling of where characters are in relation to each other and their surroundings. Outside of combat the grid helps players to keep track of where all the characters are, and thus who they can talk to.

Locations

Every square in the grid represents a location. One square could be "north of the forest" or "in building A" or "In town X". Outside of combat it does not even matter if the squares are in the same relative position to one another. You can easily have adjacent squares representing locations that can only be reached by moving through a different square. Outside combat the GM designates empty squares as new location available for characters to enter. The squares in a grid do not indicate any specific size, but rather a location. Different locations have different sizes.

Squares in the grid are identified just like on a chessboard, going from A1 to C3 (in case of a three by three grid). GMs can choose to use a larger grid if they find the number of characters in play can't accurately be represented on the grid. For a normal four player game the three by three grid should be large enough.

Borders

Characters are free to move anywhere within a location. Locations are separated by borders. So to go from one location to another, you have to cross the border between those two locations. Outside of combat, a location can have any number of borders. During combat, each location has no more then four borders; the squares up, down, left and right. Borders often represent barriers. A border could be a door leading to another room, a road leading to another town, a castle wall or a river. All barriers in the game must be borders between two locations.

There are three types of barriers. Barriers like doorways, that limit the number of people who can move through them at the same time. These are called movement limits. Secondly, there are barriers that are crossing challenges, such as a rope bridge, which require players to make a dice roll to see if they can pass it. And thirdly there are structural barriers, these are things like walls. Which you will have to either bust through or climb over. Details of barriers are given in the chapter on Environment.

Combat grid

During combat, all locations represented on the grid are in the same relative position as the squares are on the grid. This means that if two characters move in the same direction (for instance north), the character identifiers will also move in the same direction, regardless of which square they move to. So if moving left on the grid means a character moves to a location in the north, any character moving to north will move their character left. And any character moving south will move their character identifier to the right. This makes it much easier to retain an overview of the combat situation.

Health

A character's health is of critical importance. Once a character has zero or less hit points, they become injured, which will likely require medical attention. You can restore hit points by taking a short rest, as long as you are uninjured.

Short Rest

By taking a short rest, a character will restore hit points to it's maximum and regain the free use of their rested skills. You can only be restored by a short rest, if your character has one or more hit points remaining. The short rest must be uninterrupted for at least five minutes of in character time. If a character makes any dice challenges or uses any skills, the short rest is considered interrupted.

Injury Effects

When a character is hit with an attack that causes an injury, they receive an effect based on what body part got hit by the attack. The effect lasts as long as the character is injured. Characters can have additional effects from injuries, if they are hit on multiple body parts while injured. The effects are as followed:

Injuries

There are three levels of injury, depending on how low your HP is. The three levels are:

Some skills allow characters to be Stabilized. When a character is stable they are no longer dying and regains consciousness. Moving the injured body part will reopen the injury. Restart counting your injury from zero when this happens.

Effects

Effects are ways in which a character is influenced by the game. Effects can be called by players (only with a corresponding skill) and by a Game master. Effects have a number associated to them, this is either two (as in seconds) or one (as in point). If a number is called with the effect, use this number instead of the default. For example "Stumble four" is a stumble effect that lasts four seconds and "hit two" is a hit effect that costs two hit points. The following effects are known in this system:

• Hit You lose one hit point. If this effect is called after you are hit with a weapon, the effect replaces the normal damage done.
• Drain You lose one willpower.
• Fall You fall to the ground. After two seconds you can stand up again.
• Drop You let go of the item in the hand, it drops to the ground, after two seconds you can pick it up again.
• Stumble You stumble away from your opponent. See Effects during combat for more details.
• Daze You are disorientated. You can not attack, defend or use a skill in this state. See Effects during combat for more details.
• Break This effect can be called on items. If the break effect is strong enough the item is destroyed. See Items for more on destroying items.
• Bind This effect is called on a body part. Binds can be done on the following location:
  • Hands: You cannot pick up any items or use your hands. Keep your hands together.
  • Arm: Keep your arm attached to whatever it is touching at the moment.
  • Feet: You can not walk or run, keep your feet together. You can only jump or crawl.
  • Leg: Keep your leg attached to whatever it is touching at the moment.
  • Body: You can not move from your current position.
• Weaken Your character feels ill for two seconds. During this time Skills cost one willpower in addition to the normal cost of the skill.

The following two are reaction effects. These can be used in response to effects.

• Resist The effect of an attack was negated / blocked / resisted.
• Miss An opponent's attack didn't do damage and the effect was resisted.

Actions

Actions determine what you do during a round of combat. Actions take a predetermined amount of time. There are four basic types of actions: Free Actions, Half Actions, Full Actions and Reactive Actions. Free actions take almost no time and are therefore free, you can take as many of these as you like. Half actions take up half the time of a round. You can take two of these during a single round. Full actions take all the time of a round. Reactive actions are reactions on someone else's actions. You can take one of these during a round, regardless of your other actions.

Gaining XP, loot, and other goodies.

Gaining XP

For every month you actively play with a character you gain 20 xp. Actively playing a character means you either post in the In-character forums that month or join a game with this character this month (this could be a larp, a turn in underbelly, a battle in fleet wars, etc). This is currently the only way to gain xp, but more ways will become available at later dates.

Spending XP

With XP you can higher statistics in the following way:

Gaining money

For every month you actively play with a character you gain your monthly income. Actively playing a character means you either post in the In-character forums that month or join a game with this character this month (this could be a larp, a turn in underbelly, a battle in fleet wars, etc). You can also gain money in-character by performing jobs/quests or looting bodies etc.

Spending money

You can currently spend money in Freelinking: Unknown plugin indicator , or you could buy services or items (including, sometimes, vortex currency! ;)) from other players.