gameworld.thesnakefarm.com: star wars: rebel scum

Introduction | Basic Rules | Advancing Characters | Combat Basics
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The following may sound like a lot, but it's just details. Here's what you really need to know:

Whoever has the lowest Perception declares actions first. This person may not be the one acting first, but more observant characters can get an idea of what he or she is doing before they decide what they are doing.

You do more than one thing in a combat round, you suffer -1d penalty for each thing you do. You do three things, you get -2d on everything.

If someone does more than one thing in a combat round, we break the round down to action segments. Everyone who does one thing gets to do their one thing. Then, after everyone has gone, whoever is doing two things does their second thing. Then, after everyone else has gone, whoever is doing three things does their third thing. And so on.

You can declare a Dodge or Parry action in the middle of a combat round. This means you roll your Dodge to increase the difficulty number of a shot. This is considered an additional skill use, so this roll and everything else is at -1d if you are doing something else this round.

A Dodge only works for the current action segment. If you're being shot at in the next action segment, you can attempt to dodge again if you can handle the additional penalty.

Damage is resisted by Strength. When resisting damage, you want to roll high on your Strength die to avoid taking damage.

Got it? Good. Here's some of that (and more) in detail.

At the beginning of the combat round, each player must declare what his character is doing -- if he is moving, and if so where; and what non-reaction skills he's going to be using.

Combat rounds are divided into action segments. During each action segment, each character may use one skill or stat, or move. However, reaction skills don't take any time to use. You can use a reaction skill in an action segment and still move or use another skill. Movement and skill or stat use occurs in the order declared, one per action segment. You cannot hold an action to a later action segment.

For example, Jericho is going to run, then tackle the big bruiser across the room. Talia is just going to run outside. In the first action segment, Jericho runs and Talia runs. In the next action segment, Jericho tackles the bruiser.

The character with the lowest Perception declares their actions first. This represents the the most observant character seeing what everyone else is doing.

Whoever goes first, it doesn't really matter unless it will affect another person's skill use. For example, if Jericho and Talia are fighting each other, if Jericho strikes first and wounds Talia, she may not be able to strike and wound him.

If two people are doing things that affect each other, make a skill or attribute rolls for both. If a character is moving, make a dexterity roll instead, as there is no skill code for movement. The high-roller goes first. Then, the character with the next highest roll goes, and so on. The same roll is used to determine whether the skill or stat use succeeds.

Talia (blaster skill of 5d+2) and Jericho (blaster skill of 5d+1) have decided to shoot at each other. The difficulty number is 16 for each shot. Talia rolls a 19, Jericho rolls a 17. Talia gets her shot off first and hits Jericho. After rolling for damage, we find that Talia had stunned Jericho; Jericho never gets a shot off.

If there's a tie and one of the characters is a player character, he gets to go first. If they're both non-player characters or both player characters, re-roll.

You can walk five meters in any direction, turning as much as you want in one round. If you run, you can move up to ten meters but only be able to turn up to 90 degrees. Remember, when running, you suffer a 1d penalty to all actions when running.

Each weapon has a damage code. When you hit your target, roll the damage code. Most melee weapons have damage codes based off of your character's strength.

The target rolls his strength dice to resist taking damage. Note that this is not considered a skill action. If the strength roll is greater than the damage roll, the target is stunned. If the damage roll is greater than or equal to the strength roll, but is less than twice the the strength roll, the character is wounded. If the damage roll is at least twice the strength roll but less than three times the strength roll, the character is incapacitated. If the damage roll is at least three times the strength roll, the character is mortally wounded.

Here's an easier way to look at it: Your damage roll is 12. If the target's strength roll is 13 or more, he's stunned. If he rolls between 7 and 12, he's wounded. If he rolls a 5 or 6, he's incapacitated. If he rolls four or less, he's mortally wounded.

A stunned character falls prone and can't do anything for the rest of the combat round.

A wounded character falls prone and can't do anything for the rest of the combat round. Anytime he rolls skill or stat dice, he has a 1d penalty. A wounded character that gets wounded again is incapacitated.

An incapacitated character falls prone and is unconscious. He cannot do anything until healed. An incapacitated character that becomes wounded or incapacitated again is mortally wounded.

A mortally wounded character is prone and unconscious. He cannot do anything until healed. At the end of every combat round, the player rolls 2d. If the roll is less than the number of rounds since the character was mortally wounded, the character dies.

Armor adds to your strength for resolving damage only. Armor imposes a dexterity penalty based on the strength bonus. If you are wearing 1d armor, your strength is 1d better for avoiding damage, but your dexterity and all dexterity related skills are at -1d.

As mentioned earlier, dodging is a reaction skill. When targeted by a ranged weapon, you can attempt to dodge out of the way. The number you roll is added to the shooter's difficulty number. For example, Talia has that blaster and fires at Jericho. Jericho dodges, rolling a 14 (his dodge skill is 4d+1). This changes her difficulty number from a 16 to a 30. She rolls that 19 -- a miss.

You don't have to dodge, but you must declare that you are dodging before your opponent rolls his attack dice. If you dodge and multiple people are firing at you, your dodge affects every ranged attack that action segment. You can dodge every action segment, but each time you do, it's considered a skill use, reducing your subsequent dodges by 1d for each dodge attempted.

If you are near your opponent, you can attack in hand-to-hand combat. If you are unarmed, you roll your character's brawling skill. If armed, you use the melee skill. Unlike ranged weapons, the base difficulty is based on the weapon used. Instead of dodging, a character can parry in close combat. It works just like dodge, but uses either the brawling parry or melee parry skill. Brawling parry only works against brawling attacks. Melee parry works against both. Again, it depends if you're armed or not when parrying.

Using grenades and grenade-like objects use the throwing skill. The difficulty number depends on the range. If you roll over the difficulty number, your grenade lands right where it's supposed to. If your roll is lower than the difficulty number, it might wind up in bouncing right back to your feet. Grenades do damage to everything within a blast radius. Some blast radii are as large as 10 meters, some are as small as one meter.

If a grenade lands near you, you can dodge to avoid injury. It's a bit tricky, just know it works very similarly to a normal dodge, except you end up prone after jumping out of the way. If you dodge in an action segment, it affects all ranged weapons fire and all grenade attacks in the same segment.