Rules Basics

This is a reference section for both the basic rules as well as house rules.

Success Rolls

A success roll means to roll 3d6 against a particular target, be it skill value, stat, or other special value.

Example: to stop a heavy door, you might need to make a success roll against strength (ST). If your character has a strength of 12, any roll on 3d6 of 12 or less would be considered a success.

Note that some difficult tasks may impose a penalty (e.g. -2) and some easy tasks may grant a bonus (e.g. +2). These apply to the target of the roll. Stopping a particularly heavy door may require a success roll against ST-2. If your ST was 12, then the target would be 12 - 2 = 10. Any roll of 10 or less would be a success.

Contest Rolls

When two people are in conflict, a Contest Roll is used. In this case, each person makes a roll against a skill, and then the two "levels of success" are compared.

Example: a thief is attempting to sneak past a guard. The two must roll a Contest between the thief's Sneak and the Guard's Perception.

In this case, the thief's Sneak is 14, and he rolls a 12. A success by 2pts.

The guard rolls a 14 against his 15 perception. A success by 1pt.

The thief wins the contest (he succeeded by more than the guard), so he wins the contest.

Combat

The Combat Round

Combat rounds are one second and proceed in "initiative" order. Each character chooses one maneuver to perform.

Turn Sequence

This is determined by the "Speed" stat of each character and does not change during combat.

Combat Maneuvers

These are the actions you can perform each round of combat.

Do Nothing

The character sits around, stands still, or otherwise does nothing for a round.

Move

The character moves a number of yards up to your "Move" stat.

Aim

This is a full-turn maneuver

Choose a weapon and a target and spend the entire turn aiming the weapon at that target. At the end of your turn, you can add the weapon's Acc to your skill to hit the specified enemy. Bracing the weapon gives an additional +1 to hit.

If you Aim for more than one second (round), you get a bonus to your Aim. +1 for two seconds, +2 for three (or more) seconds.

Attack

This is the basic attack maneuver for melee, ranged, and other basic attacks. You make make one square of movement during an attack action (a "step").

Feint

Spend your turn and make a "false" attack with the intent to trick the opponent. This maneuver can only be performed with a melee weapon, and the target must be in range.

Roll a Contest of melee weapon skills with the target. If you win the contest, add the difference in win margins to your next attack roll against the target.

All-Out Attack

Make an attack against a foe foregoing all efforts to defend yourself. When you make this maneuver, you must choose which version you are using:

Determined: one attack at +4 to hit
Double: make two attacks if you have two readied weapons or one that does not require readying after an attack. Note that off-hand weapons take a -4 penalty to hit unless you've got Ambidexterity
Feint: Make a feint and then an attack
Strong: make a single attack and get +2 to damage, or +1 damage per die (whichever is better)
Determined (Ranged): a single attack at +1 to hit

Charge (Move and Attack)

Move as per the "Move" maneuver above, and then make a poorly aimed, wild swing. For ranged, this means you lose all aim bonuses and take -2 to your skill. For melee, any attack other than a Slam gets a -4 to effective skill, and the total cannot exceed 9.

All-Out Defense

Forego all attacks and focus solely on defending yourself. You must choose one:

Increased Defense: +2 to one active defense of your choice until your next turn
Double Defense: allows you to use two active defenses against a single attack (e.g. if you fail to block an attack, you can attempt to dodge)

Concentrate

Focus on one mental task that may have some small physical component. Operating a computer, commanding and leading an army, casting a spell, etc.

Ready

This maneuver is a catch-all for small thing you may want to do on your turn:

Draw a weapon from a scabbard or holster
Grab a potion from a belt
Drink a potion
Flip a switch
Other, long-term actions: pick a lock, hack a computer, etc