Difference between revisions of "Dramatic Scenes"

Revision as of 17:36, 17 August 2014

This section describes the mechanics required to run Dramatic Scenes, that is any scene where time is and physical danger are both important factors. Typically this will refer to combat but these rules can just as easily apply to a situation such as disarming a bomb or jumping across train cars.

Keeping Time

In most instances where dramatic action is taking place it is usually helpful to track time and FateWalker uses a concept called Ticks. A tick is a unit of time equal to half of a second and all actions have a “Tick Cost” listed in total ticks required to complete the Action. Dramatic scenes typically begin at Tick 1 and the GM simply counts upward until either a Player or NPC has their "Action Tick" come up when they can initiate an Action. After resolving any Action the player increments their Action Tick by the cost. Players are expected to track their next Action Tick (scrap paper or a MTG life meter help with this ... dice are strongly recommended against).

When a character's Tick comes up they must choose their next action (holding is still an action). Every Action has a Tick Cost and whenever a player resolves an action (makes the roll, witnesses the effects) they simply add this cost to their current Tick. Thus if a character's next Action Tick is 4 and then they resolve an Action that has a cost of 7 ticks, they could not declare another Action until 11. However they can still declare any reactions they desire.

Action/Reaction/Preemptive Action

There are three basic categories of actions characters can take: Actions, Reactions, and Preemptive Actions. The following rules dictate how and when they can be taken.

• Actions can only be initiated when a character's Tick comes up, but otherwise have no other prerequisites.
• Actions resolve the second they are initiated, regardless of tick cost.
• Reactions function similar to Actions however they require a trigger Action to occur that the character is aware of and able to react to.
• Reactions resolve simultaneously with the Action they are responding to.
• Reactions can be done at any point, even if the character’s Tick has yet to come up.
• Reactions still have a tick cost and thus will increment the character’s next Tick.
• Preemptive Actions function almost exactly like Reactions only they can potentially interdict the trigger Action by resolving first.
• Preemptive Actions preclude the character from taking a Reaction to the same Action.
• Most normal Actions can be Preemptive actions if a character is currently performing a Hold Action.

Declaration vs Resolution

When a player Declares an action they simply state their intended action. This does not involve a die roll as all reactions or preemptive actions must then be declared. Resolution occurs after all declarations.

Action Order

During an individual tick many things can happen so the following rules dictate the order of Actions within a single tick.

1. Any events triggered by a specific tick count occur.
2. Any character whose Action Tick has come up or who has a "Held" action can Declare an Action.
3. Any character whose Action Tick has come up can Declare an Action.
4. Any characters with a "Held" action can resolve a Preemptive Action in response to the Declared Action (if possible).
5. Repeat (1-4) for any other Characters who wish to Declare an Action and who still have their Action Tick equal to the current tick.
6. Resolve all character actions that do not require an Action Tick (free actions).

Ties

Whenever two characters wish to Declare an Action on the same tick, the character with the higher Awareness gets to go first. If they have the same Awareness then they must resolve their actions simultaneously. This is done by secretly submitting the actions to the GM. Any character performing a simultaneous action cannot React or Preempt any other actions occurring at the same time. Anyone else who IS able to react or preempt can only do so to a single one of the simultaneous actions.

Initiative

All Dramatic scenes are started with an Initiative roll that determines each character's starting Action Tick. A character resolves their starting Action Tick as 10 - Awareness(4) roll (minimum of 1).

Late to the Party

Not everyone is necessarily aware that combat has begun when it first starts. Whenever a new (N)PC becomes aware of a combat scene they roll initiative and join the fray at Current Tick + Initiative roll.

Surprise/Ambush

There are plenty of scenarios where one party is surprised by the sudden outbreak of violence. In this case the GM must assign a penalty, in Ticks, to the party that was not expecting the event. So instead of resolving Initiative as 10 - Successes it will instead resolve as (10 + penalty) - Successes for the surprised party. Ambush works the same way (though usually the penalty is significantly nasty like +10) however one member of the Ambushing side (or some event such as a trap or bomb going off) gets a free, Pre-Initiative action that effectively begins the combat.

Position and Movement

Movement in a dramatic scene can have as much of a role in dictating the action as the passage of time itself. Fatewalker manages movement in a somewhat abstract sense to keep the game from quickly devolving into a tactical miniature game yet still attempts to leave enough resolution such that player decisions about how their character is moving still have a meaningful impact on a scene. All characters have a Speed attribute that dictates how far, in meters, they can “walk” in 6 Ticks (3 seconds). The average is 5 which roughly translates to a pace of around 3.7mph. Most other movement types are based off of the character's Speed attribute. Movement itself generally isn’t considered an Action (one can run and attempt to swing a sword at the same time), though it does provide penalties to most Actions. That said the act of changing movement rate does have a Tick cost.

Time and Space

Regardless of movement type or distance covered, movement is always broken down into these 6 tick segments during which the character is considered to be moving for purposes of bonuses/penalties to any Actions taken by or against them. For positional purposes a character covers the entire distance at the end of the movement. A character can obviously move for more than 6 ticks but movement is always broken down into their 6 tick segments. If a player wants to move for less than 6 ticks this is up to the GM to arbitrate (in general round up, so it would take 3 ticks to go 2 meters with a 5 move), but as a basic rule it’s fine to force all move actions to occur for a minimum of 6 ticks.

Movement and Actions

To initiate movement of any kind requires a 2 tick Action called "Begin moving", which allows a character to either go prone and begin crawling, begin climbing, begin swimming, or begin walking/running. Otherwise once a character is already moving they can always opt to change movement type or stop without needing their Tick to come up (these movement changes still have a tick cost, just they don't require a character's Tick to occur to perform them). The basic types of dramatic movement are Walking, Running, Climbing, Crawling, Riding (a mount/vehicle), or Swimming. Other types of movement are generally considered their own Action which precludes a character from performing a simultaneous action (Jumping, Sprinting, Falling, etc …). Very small movements can be freely rolled into other actions - characters can always alter their position by a meter as part of another action for free.

If a given Action requires movement to complete ("I want to run over to the Dragon and hit it") then the Action doesn't resolve immediately. The GM must first determine the distance covered and how many ticks it takes (just use multiples of 6 ticks if math isn't strong). While the character is moving they can resolve other actions along the way but the soonest tick they can resolve their intended action is when they arrive. It is important to note that unless they spend the ticks necessary to stop moving then their Action will be at a penalty when they arrive. Additionally even if a character doesn't want to stop BEFORE taking an action, unless they intend to continue moving they must still pay the tick cost to stop AFTER the action.

Rules For Movement

• To begin moving requires an Action.
• Most movement doesn't require an Action and therefore has no tick cost, though they often levy penalties to Actions initiated during the movement.
• Despite this movement is still tracked as occurring in 6 tick intervals during which the character is considered moving.
• All of the movement for each 6 tick interval occurs at the end of the 6 tick span, or as soon as they change movement type (whichever occurs first)
• At the end of each 6 tick interval of movement, a character must declare if they are changing movement type or continuing.

Senses, Awareness, and Range

Situational Awareness

It is important to note that while in a real world high stress situation information is limited, this does not easily translate to tabletop games. As with movement the awareness system attempts to split the difference between the ruleless abstract and a more direct rules-heavy approach. The following rules presuppose a moderately loud and chaotic or tense combat scenario (and can thus vary depending on how bright, loud, or tense the situation is relative to normal combat).

• Characters should always be considered able to “hear” sounds approximately as loud as normal speech up to their (Awareness) meters away, even behind them.
• Characters can “see” all non-stealth activity that involves a motion roughly the size of a hand wave up to (2x Awareness) meters within their field of view (say roughly 270 degree arc in front).

These values can vary dramatically but this is a good rule of thumb. Additional observation based actions can allow characters to see farther or smaller or hear more precise sounds (and notice stealth activities).

Attack Resolution

The Attack Roll

For most maneuvers and weapons the attack roll will resolve as Prowess(weapon specific skill). Attacks completely miss if they do not generate 2 successes on the roll and can critically fail if they generate less than 1 (GM discretion using Margin of Failure). If the target chose to perform a Reaction this is then resolved after the attack and will usually reduce the Attack's successes. If a Reaction reduces an attack to less than 0 successes the attack will fail as though less than 2 successes had been achieved in the first place, however if 0 or more net successes remain the attack is considered successful. Net successes on the attack roll after resolving any Reactions typically will increase the damage TN for the subsequent damage roll.

Damage Dice

Damage is rolled in the same fashion as any other roll using a specific number of dice and attempting to roll under a specific Target Number and counting successes. There is one difference and that's when it comes to damage there is usually more than 1 dice pool and depending on which pool a die is in each success can represent more than one point of damage. This concept is represented in the way that damage is listed under a specific attack or weapon, for instance a fairly average knife may list its damage as: 3x3/3x1. What this means is when rolling damage for the knife you will roll three dice whose successes will each represent 3 damage, and 3 dice whose successes will each represent 1 damage, for a maximum of 12. There can only ever be 2 types of damage dice for an individual damage roll.

Promoting/Demoting Damage Dice

It is possible to either increase or decrease the values of each damage die. Damage dice come only in odd numbers, therefore 1s promote to 3s, and 3s promote to 5s and likewise in reverse for demotions. If all of the lower dice have been promoted to higher dice and further promotions are necessary simply begin promoting to the next highest value (1->3, 3->5, etc). Similarly if all of the higher dice have been demoted to the lower dice, simply step down a level. In the event that all of the dice are already demoted to 1s, then further demotions simply remove a damage die from the roll (and can potentially eliminate the roll entirely).

Attack Roll Successes

Generally speaking net successes (after subtracting any successes for defensive maneuvers) from the attack roll promote damage dice on the damage roll. This means that for every net success on the attack roll one damage die will be promoted. This can dramatically increase the amount of damage done on in individual attack

Damage Types

All damage comes in one of three types: Physical, Ballistic, or Energy. This has no effect on how much damage the attack does but does directly affect how efficient armor Deflection can be against the attack.

Armor Penetration

All damage dice that come up as 0's should be set aside, as these will ignore armor (this can be significant against heavily armored targets). This damage cannot be Absorbed by armor (it can however go directly to Temporary Wounds).

Armor

Armor in Fatewalker offers protection in two ways; the first being that all armor has an Absorb value which simple flat out reduces the damage of all attacks by this value. The second is called Deflection and is split into three categories (Physical, Ballistic, Energy). The Deflection value demotes a number of damage dice equal to the value for the given damage type. So if an attack with 6x1/6x3 came again armor with a deflection of 4, it would be demoted to 10x1/2x3. Deflection directly counters attack roll successes.

Combat Systems

The following special systems apply directly to combat scenes. They offer systems to manage sticky, common combat situations.

Range and Visibility

Range is difficult in that both the projectile weapon and the character play a role in determining the range. All characters have a listed “Visible Range”, this indicates how well the character can see unimpeded. Additionally all weapons have three range listings which indicate the upper limit of Short, Medium, and Long range. Maximum Effective range is calculated as 2x Long range. These values are determined by the limits of the weapon and have nothing to do with the character using it. Unfortunately these two distinct values (visible range, and weapon range) do not always align. Lighting, weather, image magnification, etc... can all affect maximum visible range regardless of whether a character is using a sniper rifle or a palm pistol. For the purposes of penalties the character suffers the worst of the two. If the limit of range is their weapon, then regardless of their eyesight they will suffer range penalties as per the firearm. If the limit of range is their eyesight, then regardless of their weapon they will suffer range penalties as per their visible range.

The following chart offers modifiers on a character's visible range. Range and Visibility Chart

Ranged Combat

Beyond just visible range, ranged combat is subject to a great many other modifiers such as movement, distance, and cover. The following chart offers all bonuses and penalties to ranged combat.

Ranged Combat Modifier Chart

Barriers

Shooting or attacking through objects isn't easy. Essentially objects form whats called a "Barrier" and this serves as a form of armor in addition to anything the target is protected by. Barrier simply functions as Armor-Deflection against any attack going through it equal to it's rating. It doesn't (usually) care about damage type although creative GMs are welcome to be colorful in this regard. The following chart lists some rough barrier ratings for common objects characters may decide to hide behind.

Barrier Chart

Melee Combat

Melee combat is subject to fewer modifiers than ranged combat, but it does still have a few that matter.

Ranged Combat Modifier Chart

Melee Combat Range

These rules dictate how to manage the various states that melee and unarmed combat can occur within. Ideal combat range is dictated by weapon size. Unarmed kicks are considered M and Unarmed strikes S, and all grapple/close maneuvers XS. Combat always begins at maximum range and unless the characters perform the special maneuvers required to change this (Engage/Grapple/Takedown), it will stay at maximum range.

The following chart illustrates the various ranges. The penalties apply to all offensive maneuvers performed.

In addition to the above, the following rules apply to melee/grapple combatants.

• Ranged attacks against someone in any kind of melee combat are at -1
• Ranged attacks against someone in any kind of grapple combat (ranges 1-3) are at an additional -1
• Ranged attacks against someone in melee combat which miss hit the other person if margin of failure is equal to current melee range.

Ground Combat

In addition to the 6 ranges of standup combat, there's 3 ranges in scramble/ground combat as well. Ground combat differs from upright combat in that there is a top and bottom position, each with unique properties. Ground combat is usually initiated by a successful Takedown maneuver, however it can also be initiated when an attacker performs a Grapple maneuver on a prone target. Ground Combat has 3 levels just like Grapple (1-3) and begins at 3. Grapple maneuvers from the top position can reduce this number, effectively making it harder for the bottom combatant to escape. Sweep maneuvers from the bottom can increase this number, with escape essentially occurring whenever the group combat reaches 4.

Top Position

• Cannot evade attacks from anyone but bottom without immediate yielding ground combat.

Bottom Position

• -1 to all maneuvers.

Unarmed vs Armed Combat

This particular scenario is handled quite easily given the combat range rules above. Essentially kick maneuvers are considered M for ranged purposes, whereas all other strikes/grapples, and other maneuvers are S.

Wounds

All characters have a Wound Chart used to track damage with three distinct sections: Glancing Damage, Wounds, and Mortal Damage.

Temporary Wounds

Temporary Wounds represent the ugly, but otherwise unimportant cuts, scrapes, bruises, and bumps that happen during combat. For each source of damage a character can put up their Resilience worth of damage into the Temporary Wounds section of their chart (until it's full). This is "free" damage in that Temporary Wounds completely disappear at the end of a dramatic scene, or ~600 ticks (5 minutes) for protracted scenes.

Normal Wounds

For every attack, any damage that spills over beyond Glancing Wounds has to be applied to the Normal Wounds section of the Wound Chart. Damage is applied to the Normal Wounds section one vertical column at a time, thus filling from top to bottom before advancing right. Each vertical column is associated with a wound and movement penalty that is applied to all actions a character undertakes.

Mortal Wounds

Once the Wound chart is completely filled up any additional damage taken goes into the Mortal Wounds section of the chart. Every point of damage in the Mortal Wounds section adds an addition wound penalty (in addition to any taken from Normal Wounds). Additionally from this point forward the character will take an additional point of damage every (Prowess + Will) Ticks. This damage can go to Glancing if there is any left, but without significant medical assistance death is imminent. A character expires the moment they run out of Mortal Wounds.

Stun Damage

Certain, specialized types of attacks deliver Stun damage. Whenever an attack delivers Stun damage a player should fill it in as with normal damage, however use a different mark (it's recommended players use X's for regular damage and /'s for stun damage. Stun damage does not overwrite normal damage, instead add stun damage to the end of the Wound chart. That said stun damage follows the rules below

• Stun damage induces the same movement and wound penalties as normal damage.
• There is absolutely no differentiation between stun and normal damage on either the Glancing or Mortal Wound charts. Any damage type applied to either chart should be applied as X's.
• The moment a character has at least half of their Normal Wound Chart filled (with any kind of damage) and has stun damage to allocate, they must roll for consciousness after applying the stun damage (this will apply to every successive stun attack that occurs from this point forward)
• If a character's entire Normal Wound Chart is filled with some or all Stun damage and they have further Stun damage to allocate, they then convert 1 Stun damage to 1 Normal damage starting at the beginning of the chart.
• If a character with a Normal Wound Chart with some or all Stun damage has to allocate Normal Damage, they convert 2 Stun damage per point of normal damage they must allocate until there is no more Stun damage to convert. Any leftover damage is then applied as normal damage to the chart (there should be no more stun damage at this point). If it works out that they have "half" a point of damage left after converting all of the stun damage to normal damage, simply apply a final point of stun damage.

Damage over Time

Some special types of damage don't inflict all of their harm up front. Things like poison or fire or other nefarious effects can take a long time to taper and this will result in the character taking damage after the initial application. Technically speaking the "bleeding out" effect of mortal wounds is a damage over time and this is how they work. Essentially every X ticks, a character will take Y damage. Armor may or may not apply, depending on the effect, but otherwise it functions as standard damage.

Wound Penalties and Wounded Dice

Wound penalties are built into the Wound chart and have a unique effect in that they "Wound" die rolls. For each wound penalty a character must "wound" one die in every skill roll they make. A "wounded" die rolls at half (round down) the Target Number for the roll (a TN of 4 becomes 2, 3 becomes 1, etc ...). When suffering wound penalties a player should use two distinct die pools/colors (just like damage rolls). If for some reason ALL of a character's dice for a given roll become "wounded" then any further wound penalties simply subtract a die from the roll. Wound penalties have a secondary effect in that every 2 wound penalties suffered reduces base speed by 1 (this will quickly hobble a character).