COMBAT
Last updated 8 November 2001
Last updated 8 November 2001
We are using a utility called CyberBoard
for resolving combat - this allows a graphic representation of the battlefield,
and generally makes it a lot easier to see
where everyone is. Unfortunately, CyberBoard only works on the
PC at the moment. Screenshots may be the best that folks on Macs
and Linux systems can get in this
game. I am working on finding a solution, but have come up with
nothing better yet. Here is a list quick-start
instructions on using the CyberBoard game files.
Before combat the leader of each group rolls a Leadership test against a Threshold value of 4. The Margin of Success = the number of Command Points available during the combat. The current leader of the party, Nochehuatl, does not have the skill Leadership, so I roll 2d6 and take the lowest - in this case a "2". The Spirit Warriors will have no Command Points during this combat (Command Points allow you to take an extra action without penalty - see below for actions).
Everyone rolls a Combat Sense roll. Highest roll goes first, next highest second, and so on. Botching your Initiative roll has two effects -
1) you always go last in the round,
2) you get no "free" action (see "Actions" below)
Generally speaking, PCs go before unnamed NPCs, named NPCs go before PCs. In the event of a tie, I look for who has the higher governing attribute.
An action is anything that a character does during the course of a turn which requires considerable attention. Firing a weapon, driving a vehicle, searching for hidden enemies - all these are actions. You can get a good judge of what is an action by asking "does it involve a skill roll? If it does, then it is an action. Generally speaking, characters receive one "free" action per round. Characters may choose to perform more than one action during the round, but if they do, all actions are at -1, cumulative, per additional action that the character takes. So if a character decided to fire his atlatl three times in a round all the rolls would be at -2. The maximum number of actions that you can attempt during the course of a round is ten (if you can make ten rolls at a -9 modifier, I will be very impressed). Characters who fumble their initiative roll receive no "free" actions during the round. They may take actions if they want, but will be at -1 cumulative for every action that they take. All actions must be declared before any are resolved. For example, a character who wanted to jump over a pile of rubble and hit a foe on the other side would have to declare two actions - one to jump over the pile of rubble (an Acrobatics roll) and another to hit the foe on the other side. Depending on the nature of the situation you may or may not be able to perform subsequent actions if you fail your first action. In the example above, it would be impossible to hit the foe if the test to leap over the rubble failed. On the other hand, if you declare you are shooting someone three times, a failure on the first roll will not prevent you from rolling for the second and third attacks. An exception to this - whenever you fumble a roll, you lose all subsequent actions. So if you declare that you are shooting at someone three times and fumble the first attempt, you don't get to roll for shots 2 & 3.
Generally speaking, movement does not count as an action. Characters may move a distance (in meters) as follows:
Human sized hexes are around 2 m. Warrior Skin-sized hexes
are around 50 m.
This action gives the character an additional +2 to defense. The character may not perform any actions other than moving.
(To be continued)
EXAMPLE OF COMBAT (it goes here when I get done writing it)
SCENARIO-SPECIFIC COMBAT REFERENCE CHARTS:
Last updated November 9, 2001